Steve N. G. Howell - Peterson Guide to Bird Identificationin 12 Steps

Whether youre among a group of teenagers in the Colorado Rockies (top) or a group of adults taking a two-week cruise around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America (bottom), birding is a great way to get outside and see the world. Few hobbies offer so much for all ages of people from different cultures and walks of life. The twelve-step program we cover in this book outlines a pathway to enable anyone to get into, or get more out of, the world of watching, identifying, and enjoying birds.

The good news is that you already know a lot about birds, whether you realize it or not. One of us is from Wales, and among other things the Welsh have been defined as simple machines for turning beer into urine. This may help explain why we often like to start from the simplest level and move upwardits the only way to go.

The twelve steps thus start with the basics, things that many people dont think about or simply take for granted; then we build logically into a manageable framework that can help anyone in his or her goal to identify and appreciate birds. We offer this book as a resource to people at all levels of interest, because one of the great things about birding is the infinite capacity for learning. If youre fairly new to the world of birds, this book will help you understand the fundamentals of observation and the identification (or ID) process. If youre a more experienced birder, this book will help you step back from your years in the field and refresh your thoughts on how you watch and identify birds.

We include some things that may be challenging for beginning birders, and others that may seem too basic for those more advanced, but this is intentional. We have attempted to organize the fundamentals in a way that can help a broad range of people who are enthusiastic about birds. So bear with us if a concept such as oscine is completely new and daunting, or if we have belabored something obvious from your first days of birding.

Last, but importantly, this book isnt intended as a one-stop shop for how to identify birdsit should be read and used in conjunction with your field guides. But field guides cover only so much (or so little) of the story, and here we expand upon the information they provide. So without further ado, lets step right into the process of bird identificationits easier than you might think!

You dont need to be a professional taxonomist or even a birder to identify this as an owl. Thats because a lot of basic taxonomy is part of the being-a-human package. The twelve-step program includes things that many people know and often take for granted, and shows how they can be used to help you identify birds.
A quick look might make some birders think Long-eared Owlthe slim build, rusty face, and upright ear tufts; but a second look confirms Great Hornednote the barred underparts and lack of a black vertical band through the eyes.