This book holds a lot of memories for me growing up in southwestern Idaho. The memories of my mother helping me see birds as individual species at a bird feeder that she and I built. Memories of me coming in from the hay field to tell her I saw a bird that she had never seen such as the eastern kingbird and the horned lark. Memories of me riding through Malheur Wildlife Refuge with a cousin and my mom, adding more species of birds to my list which is a part of the index in the back of the book.

I pulled the book off of the shelf for the first time in years today so I could call my mom to tell her of the unusual varieties of birds that I saw outside in my yard today. The book is now ragged with pages falling out (my mom keeps her book with a rubber band around it), but it is special for all of the lessons that I have learned through it and the memories that I have from it.

Obviously, the guide is easy to use. The pictures are easy to use for identification. The descriptions are brief so that they can be quickly read, but also thorough so that they are useful. The maps, which are a trademark of Golden Press guide books, also aid in quick identification. This all adds up to a book that can be used by anyone to identify birds and maybe create a few memories along the way. ( )

My favorite bird identification guide! I've tried others and always come back to this one.