At first glance, there’s not a huge difference between the weighty fifth edition of the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (2006) and the “smaller” Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America (2008). The editors for this regional volume (hereinafter referred to as ENA) are the same as for the “big book” (BNA): Jon L. Dunn and Jonathan Alderfer, who have been at the helm for the last several editions of the BNA, and have done an excellent job.
On the outside, there’s not much to distinguish the “little” ENA from its big brother, the BNA. Trim size is the same (nominally 5×8, it’s actually 5-3/8 x 8). The background to the front and back covers of the ENA are white, where those of the BNA are black, but apart from that, it’s a bit tough to tell them apart at a quick glance. Even the spines look similar, with the exception of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird nestled into the D on the ENA. Hard to tell them apart in the hand, too–despite being 70 pages shorter, the heft of the ENA is about the same as that of the BNA.
In addition to their obvious similarities in size and looks, several of the improvements made to the BNA for the fifth edition carry over into this first edition ENA (I’ll get to the Western guide, WNA, in a later post):
- So-called “placeholder flaps” with useful information on them (i.e., the quick-find index, which is now on the back flap, rather than the front, but that’s an improvement in my book. I expect an index to be, well, back matter, not front matter). As far as actually holding a place in the book, I wouldn’t ask that much of the binding, despite its relative sturdiness; I certainly wouldn’t expect the flap to stay in place for more than a few seconds.
- Printed inside covers
- Thumb tabs for major groups (Hawks, Sandpipers, Gulls, Flycatchers, Warblers, and Sparrows all made it in; Finches didn’t make the cut for ENA)
In addition to the carryover from the BNA, there are some all new features. Well, all new to National Geo, at least; all of these new features debuted elsewhere to good success. The first one you’re likely to encounter is the visual index to bird families on the inside front and back covers; this style, if not this particular placement, has been seen in several recent state field guides–both Pranty’s Birds of Florida and the 2nd edition of Herb Kale’s Florida’s Birds: A Field Guide and Reference have this useful feature, and it’s not surprising that National Geo is following suit. The visual guide is a good reply to those who charge that the BNA is not new-birder-friendly, and I expect to see it in the sixth edition of the BNA. While including this on both inside covers relegates the “Bird Topography” lesson from the front inside cover of the BNA to page 10 of the ENA, the trade-off is worth it. A beginning birder needs to be able to place a bird to a family before knowing the difference between an eye stripe and a supercilium.
Another improvement is moving the key to the map symbols to the back flap; its location on page 18 of the BNA rendered it nearly impossible to find, and since map colors vary from guide to guide, it’s very useful to have the key handy. Sibley’s guides have the map key on the flaps, and it serves well. (Unfortunately, much of the useful space of the flaps on those otherwise excellent guides is taken up with marketing copy; I sincerely hope that they will ditch that in future editions.)
OK, enough judging books by their covers; time to move to the interior.
One change that strikes the eye right away is the new format of the thumbnail range maps: in the BNA, they’re a roomy 7.5 picas wide (that’s 1-1/4 inches), while in the ENA, that width has been pared down to 6.5 picas (1-3/32 inches), with no loss of readability. In fact, this one change has rendered the text accompanying the maps infinitely more readable: the right margin is no longer caught in the “gutter” (the inside margin where it’s hard to read because the binding is grabbing the page, keeping it firmly in place: an important asset for a field guide, which is going to see lots of abuse), making the last few words of many of the text sections hard to read.
Many of the maps have been updated (Swallow-tailed Kite has inexplicably vanished from the Florida Keys, perhaps because they are only migrants there?), while others have been “condensed” (Turkey Vulture’s range in the west has been cropped out to enlarge the eastern range). In addition to the updates, many of the maps have been greatly improved: For example, we now see Blue-winged Warbler’s winter range, which is in the Caribbean and Latin America. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been leading a trip and the uncomfortable question comes up: “Where exactly do these birds winter” and I have to say “Hmmm, it’s not on the map; I’ll look it up when I get home and let you know.” At last someone has had the wisdom to help me out of this jam.
Apart from the redesign of the maps, the text itself just looks more roomy: in fact, I was so struck by the apparent difference that I had to whip out my pica ruler and find out just what had happened to make the text so much more readable. It’s not the text column itself; that remains firm at 18 picas (just over 3 inches; call it 3-1/32). I finally concluded that it’s a result of two changes: the reduced width of the map, which moves the text column more into the center of the page, and the simple fact that the number of species in ENA is less than that in BNA. Fewer species on most page spreads has enabled the editors to chunk up the text into a more readable format: for example, descriptions of voice and range now start on a new line, instead of being run into the text, as in the BNA. It also greatly improves the art layout; Broad-winged Hawk and Red-shouldered Hawk now have much more room to soar on the page, now that they no longer have to share with Gray Hawk. These little format tweaks have made the guide much easier to use.
But there’s more to this new regional guide than a minor text redesign. The species accounts have been updated as well, although most are unchanged or have only a sentence or two edited or added (Pink-footed Goose now gets a voice description “High-pitched cackling calls given in flight”). Hard-to-distinguish species get a 2-column “Identifying” section, separate from their individual species account descriptions. A couple of examples:
- The section on Yellowlegs tells us that identification by size alone is easy, when you happen to have both species together, “but identifying single birds can pose problems, even for experienced birders.” The guide then goes on to give the standard field marks and behavioral cues (Greater has a longer, slightly upturned bill [strangely, the advice about “equal to head length = LEYE, 1.5x head length = GRYE is absent]; feeds more actively than Lesser), and mentions the diagnostic call notes: tew or tew-tew for Lesser, while Greater “gives a ringing and descending three-note call.” These new sections will be quite helpful for beginning and experienced birders alike.
- The section on western hummingbirds wintering in the east looks to be a godsend for those of us benighted easterners who haven’t had the chance to lounge around the feeders in Arizona and New Mexico learning these species. The section runs across the bottom of a full-page spread, detailing the possibilities: Rufous, Black-chinned, Ruby-throated in Louisiana; Rufous, Broad-tailed, Calliope, and Black-chinned in the Plains; Buff-bellied, Calliope, Broad-tailed, and Allen’s in the Gulf Coast and Southeast. Basically, pay heed to this section’s final sentence: “In sum, any late-season hummingbird in the East should be closely scrutinized!”
Minor reorganizations have in most cases improved, but sometimes muddied, the representations of taxonomy. In the BNA, Common Black-Hawk and Harris’s Hawk appear under the Buteos head. In the ENA, they still appear on the same plate and text page, but the Buteo section now begins after those two species’ text descriptions, apparently on the assumption that Buteogallus and Parabuteo, by “definition,” cannot be Buteos. The problem is, this leaves those very buteolike species lumped in with the Accipiters from the previous page. Now, I’m not sure whether or not COBH and HAHA are buteos, but I’m quite sure they’re not accipiters…
Another reorganization occurs in the warblers: Yellow Warbler now brings up the rear for the Dendroica genus in the ENA, rather than being near the front as in BNA. Not sure why, but species order within a genus is not something to worry about, and the resulting plates are a bit less “busy” than their counterparts in BNA, so it’s an improvement.
So we’ve discussed the covers, the maps, and the text. What’s left but to talk about what everyone uses a field guide for in the first place? The pictures! Here, too, there are some marked improvements over the BNA.
First, of course, is the major difference: little pointers highlighting key field marks, right on the page. This is by no means a new system; Roger Tory Peterson did it back in 1934, and his field guide enjoyed a modicum of success. David Sibley’s guides, both the “big book” from 2001 and the regional guides of 2003, have the pointers as well, and added an innovation: text descriptions of the pointer’s significance, right on the plate, instead of over in the text column. Very nice idea by Sibley; the only surprise is that it took National Geo this long to copy it. According to David Gersten’s detailed review on Amazon, these ID tips are better than those in Sibley; I haven’t had the chance to compare in detail, but they do seem a bit more descriptive. It probably comes down to personal style and experience level whether you prefer a longish pointer to a concise one.
Next is the inevitable resizing and reshuffling that comes with winnowing the guide down to eastern-only species. Some drawings have been enlarged (Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk), while others have shrunk (American Kestrel, Merlin). Overall, I find the ENA to be easier to use than the BNA; plates have been “flopped” to allow for easier comparison between species. Moving Prothonotary Warbler from the front of the line made it much easier to read the Blue-winged x Golden-winged hybrids page; I’m not sure whether there’s any taxonomic significance to the change.
I’ll let one minor quibble take the place of several I could mention: in the “pointer” for leg color of breeding Blackpoll Warbler, the text reads “yellow legs”; at least down here in Florida, where we see this bird frequently in spring migration, we think of the legs as bubble-gum pink, not yellow. Cornell’s Birds of North America describes them as “pale orange-yellow,” which is at least slightly better. (On the other hand, USGS’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center ID page calls them jest plain yellow, though, so go figure…)
In the final analysis, this is without doubt the new leader in regional field guides. More current than Sibley, and with excellent reader-friendly features lacking in those otherwise excellent single-author guides. National Geographic has hit on a winning combination for a regional guide at last. (Please don’t remind me of those horrible one-state photographic guides they’ve put out; the one for Florida was about as useless as I could imagine a guide being.)