Field
Guide to Birds of Colorado
by Floyd, Ted and Brian E. Small
2014, 320pp, ISBN: 9781935622437
BASICS: flexcover; an attractive photo guide to 298 (90%) of the
species routinely seen in Colorado; half of the birds are shown
with 2-3 good photos; photos show the adult breeding
plumages of the male and female for the more common species and the male for
some of the less common; one paragraph
of material for each of the more common birds
covers descriptions of the bird, habitat preference, some habits, and sounds
with only 1-2 sentences for the less common; a short sentence of identification
notes is used as a legend with each photo; good guide for the newer birder
wanting to focus on just the birds of Colorado
REVIEW: This is the second of at least four bird books
planned to focus on a single US state (New Jersey, Colorado, Florida,
Massachusetts). It appears the primary
focus of these books is to focus on not just the birds of a particular state
but, those that are more likely to be seen.
This tactic will help the newer birder become acquainted with the more common
birds while avoiding the potential confusion of the other 200 species not
likely to be seen.
Like this book's predecessor (New
Jersey), the highlight of what is inside is the selection of 491 color
photographs that show 298 species. This
accounts for about 90% of the birds routinely seen in Colorado and 60% of all
species ever documented in the state. As
typical for the quality photography of Brian Small, there are some excellent
photos within this book that will be both enjoyable to examine and useful to
identify the birds.
Each of the birds is shown with 1-3
photographs. The selection of photos
varies in size from a stunning half-page to a smaller shot that barely covers
10% of the page. Nearly half (48%) of
the birds are shown in only one photo; and, 20% of the species are shown in
smaller photos of less than 2 inches. It
is typically the less common birds that are shown in the smaller photo or the
species with a less varied plumage shown by only one photograph.
Accompanying each of the more common
birds is a full paragraph that provides a brief description of the bird along
with notes on the preferred habitat, comments on habits or behavior, and, a
description of the vocalizations. For 33
of the less common species, the full extent of text is limited to only a single
short sentence that addresses the bird's seasonal status or abundance in
Colorado. Additional text is inserted
into a small box -- kind of like a caption -- alongside most of the
photographs. This information gives tips
on what should be examined about the bird to help with identification.
The book does not contain range
maps. Instead, a brief description is
mentioned in the text for each bird.
These descriptions are often generalized such as "in the foothills
from the Front Range westward" or "in the Front Range foothills and
widely scattered across the eastern plains and western valleys".
A nice feature of this book is the
inclusion of the proper subspecies found in the state. As an example, the correct subspecies of the
Curve-billed Thrasher (oberholseri) is shown as are the six different
subspecies of the Dark-eyed Junco. I'm
glad to also see the correct species and name of the newly split Sagebrush
Sparrow.
One of the trickier aspects of
creating a state-dedicated bird book is balancing the right number of species
with a nice presentation of large photos versus a not-too-big book. The balance with this book has tipped towards
increasing the number of species which reduces the number and size of the
photos. The difference between the two
sister books is readily visible when flipping through the pages. To quantify this, the Colorado book has 34
more species but with 72 fewer photographs in 54 fewer pages of photos than the
New Jersey book. And, it has nearly
three times as many species shown by only a single photo (143 in CO vs. 50 in
NJ). No doubt, the high number of
species in Colorado in combination with very diverse habitats makes it
difficult to pick just the right number (or percentage) of birds to include or
exclude.
This book is definitely recommended
for any Colorado birder that wants to focus on just that state's birds or, who
wants to begin with a book that has a more manageable number of species. This is definitely the best photo guide
available for just the birds of Colorado.
I look forward to seeing the other two books scheduled to be published
for Florida and Massachusetts. -- (written by Jack at Avian Review with sample
pages, June 2014)
