When it comes to people I’d want standing beside me in the field when the identification of a bird was needed, two of those in the top ten of my list would be Steve N.G. Howell and Brian Sullivan. I’ve been afield with both these gentlemen and I can say from experience their respective skills in putting names to most anything with feathers passes “uncanny” and approaches “supernatural.”
Although I’ve long been a bit doubtful about American books that propose to teach one how to be a better bird watcher (aside from the fact that there are simply too many species across the U.S. to be mastered without years of time afield, too often backyard species are downplayed while the hair-splitting required for many gulls, shorebirds, and other confusion species is overly belabored), George Armistead’s and Brian Sullivan’s Better Birding; Tips, Tools, and Concepts for the Field caught my eye.
Unless you’re a scuba diver or have access to a diving bell, the only in-the-wild view you’re likely to get of the world’s oceans is from above their respective surfaces. Consequently, views of the free living creatures in those oceans will also only be from above the surface of the waters. So when it comes […]
Not long after The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds was first published, enthusiastic early adopters of its revolutionary new visual learning method for mastering the art of field identification began asking “When is the next volume going to be published?”