The Crossley ID guide

Birders and casual backyard bird-watchers will find a new species of bird guide in The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds. The book is more a reference book and instructional guide than a field guide, partly because of its dimensions and weight. More than 10,000 photographs were used in preparing the information on 660 species. Each species page is a composite photograph of images showing various postures and angles that may be typically seen for that bird. The front image is the largest, and a fairly natural perspective has been applied to images as they retreat on the page. Computer-imaging software allowed a new way of presenting large amounts of information in each image. Among the information provided for each species is the American Ornithological Union four-letter code (for example, SOSA, for solitary sandpiper), not found in most other guides. The index includes these abbreviations. One desirable field-guide convention that is missing is the use of field marks to point out distinguishing features on the illustrations. However, the text does mention many of the features. Species accounts are categorized and grouped by behaviors and habitats rather than by scientific relationships; for example, waterbirds are subdivided into swimming, flying, and walking. The photographic Quick Key to Species at the front of the book serves as a table of contents. In addition to bird-watchers, artists may find the extensive number of photographs useful as guides for drawing natural postures of birds they may not have seen but can imagine and portray in their work. This is a reasonably priced reference book with many uses.--Scarth, Linda Copyright 2010 Booklist

Vibrant and bursting with life, this revolutionary bird guide's big virtue is its hundreds of photographic color plates, the majority full-page. For most species there are a dozen or more photos that place birds in diorama-style contexts and show them feeding, flying, perched, displaying, diving, singing, or otherwise behaving as one sees them in life. They almost seem to move. Acclaimed birder and photographer Crossley's text features identification tips, and maps show distribution. The use of four-letter alpha codes for similar species in the text saves space but will bewilder many, necessitating a look at the separate index for this shorthand. Outsized (8" x 10") and heavy for a true field guide, this is best kept in a car or at home. Crossley's boundaries for the east are expansive-they extend farther west than most guides-and include more rare species. -VERDICT For its richness of color illustration and affordability, this makes an excellent supplement to standard field guides (although they do have the big advantage of portraying many similar species on the same page). Highly recommended for medium-sized to large public and academic libraries and for any avid birder.-Henry T. Armistead, formerly with Free Lib. of Philadelphia (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.