Birds of Canada
Published by Lone Pine
Tyler L Hoar, Ken De Smet, R. Wayne Campbell, Gregory Kennedy
Hardcover with jacket, 528 pp, $39.95
Birds of Canada is an excellent resource for anyone with more than a passing interest in Canadian birds. The book's layout has been designed with birders in mind and the organization allows for quick reference to identify or confirm avian sightings. The actual jacket as well as a colour-coded chart at the beginning is an indicator of the author's knowledge that ease and speed are some of the foremost considerations of a bird watcher's reference. The chart displays a coloured illustration of the targeted bird, as well as its estimated length and the specific page the reader can access the detailed information.
All birds are given one page for an entry, which provides a large illustration and actual (and extremely well done) photograph of the bird in the pages corner. Other information provided is means of identification, size, habitat, nesting, feeding, voice, and lastly similar species with notes on the differences. Very handy.
The authors also provide interesting facts in the bird's description, as an example we have the Shakespeare society to thank for the introduction of the European Starling who released about 100 of them in New York City in 1890 and 1891 as part of an ill-fated effort to introduce all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's writings. There are now approximately 200 million of them now in North America.
Or consider the Purple Martin, long viewed by many as superb mosquito eaters, actually feed on a variety of flying insects and rarely eat mosquitoes.
Also included in the book are suggested birding sites, Canadian World record setters, a glossary, recommendations for beginning birders, and listings of National Organizations which concern themselves with birds.
Near the end is an appendix of rare and accidental species and naturally, a checklist.In total there are detailed accounts of 451 species.
- D.M Badowich
