Shirley L. Scott

nonfiction/bird guide illustrated with color paintings and helpful range maps

found this old 4th ed (2002) in the used pile and picked it up to help with my casual (very amateur) birding. As mentioned in other reviews, the names and taxonomies of various species are updated annually so some of this info will be out of date, but then again climate change probably makes even the newest editions out of date. Supplementing with eBird resources (online and app) as well as Cornell's Merlin app (for identifying songs and calls by sound, since most birds are hard to actually spot) helps a lot.

My edition doesn't have thumb tabs, but there is a handy "Quick-find" index at the back of the book to point to relevant pages.… (more)

This is an excellent reference book, invaluable for both the novice and expert birder. The brief but informative introduction is well written and well illustrated. The thumb tabs for the major bird families help speed access to the desired species. The individual descriptions of species include an overview, range maps and data, voice characteristics, and clear, colorful illustrations. My only gripe is that the book is a bit too big and cumbersome, for me at least, to comfortably use out in the field.… (more)