Regional Field Guide to Birds: Central East Coast and Ranges Coast

I also have Sibley's Bird Behavior Guide for reference, as noted above, as well as the Stokes Bird Behavior Guides , plus too many other "about-birds" books to mention, i. It's sometimes nice to have more than one representation of a bird when figuring out a difficult one, so I leave all my field guides in my car But on all my local outings, I only take my Western Peterson Guide. If I visit the East I take N. Hope you've enjoyed this review of bird field guides. Now get your field guide, go outside, find some birds, and enjoy the bliss!

There are two major bird identification field guides that many birders use: Geographic Coverage of Field Guides: National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America The Nat Geo Guide includes all species known to breed in North America - described as the land extending northward from the northern border of Mexico, plus adjacent islands and seas within about miles of the coast. The Western guide covers North America west of the th meridian.

Nat Geo and Peterson Advantages and Disadvantages: There are advantages and disadvantages to each guide book. Peterson is the only bird field guide that has both. Nikon Monarch 5 Best mid-priced bird watching binoculars. Waterproof, shockproof, multi-coated ED-Glass. Squirrel-Proof No batteries, adjustable, easy to clean Bird Bath Heater Keeps your bird baths ice-free down to F. Books in the regional field guide series are: Red Centre to the top End - All of the Northern territory and adjacent seas.

Read more Read less. English Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download. Product description Product Description Practical, portable and easy to use, these fully illustrated regional field guides are the ideal companion for all experienced and beginner birdwatchers in Australia. Kindle Edition File Size: HarperCollins 15 October Sold by: Share your thoughts with other customers. They build several eyries within their territory and use them alternately for several years. The nest consists of heavy tree branches, upholstered with grass.

Old eyries may be 2 meters in diameter and 1 meter in height, as the eagles enlarge their nests every year. If the eyrie is situated on a tree, supporting tree branches may break because of the weight of the nest. The female lays two eggs between January and May depending on the area. After 45 days the young hatch. They are entirely white and are fed for fifty days before they are able to make their first flight attempts and eat on their own. In most cases only the older chick, which takes most of the food, survives, while the younger one dies without leaving the eyrie.

Adult Golden Eagles have an average length of cm , a wingspan of cm , and a weight of kg. As in all birds of prey, the females are generally slightly larger than the males. The plumage colors range from black-brown to dark brown, with a striking golden-buff crown and nape, which give the bird its name. The juveniles resemble the adults, but have a duller more mottled appearance. Also they have a white-banded tail and a white patch at the carpal joint, that gradually disappear with every moult until full adult plumage is reached in the fifth year.

Golden Eagles often have a division of labor while hunting: They have very good eyesight and can spot prey from a long distance. The talons are used for killing and carrying the prey, the beak is used only for eating. The talons of a Golden Eagle are thought to be more powerful than the hand and arm strength of any human being.

In its stoop, the Peregrine Falcon attains the highest speed of any animal. The fledglings practice the roll and the pumping of the wings before they master the actual stoop. Peregrine Falcons live mostly along mountain ranges, river valleys, coastlines, and, increasingly, in cities. They are widespread throughout the entire world and are found in all of the continents except Antarctica.

Peregrines in mild-winter regions are usually permanent residents, and some birds, especially adult males, will remain on the breeding territory. However, the Arctic subspecies migrate; tundrius birds from Alaska, northern Canada and Greenland migrate to Central and South America, and all calidus birds from northern Eurasia move further south or to coasts in winter.

Australian Peregrine Falcons are non-migratory, and their breeding season is from July to November each year. Peregrine Falcons feed almost exclusively on birds, such as doves, waterfowl and songbirds, but occasionally they hunt small mammals, including bats, rats, voles and rabbits.

Insects and reptiles make up a relatively small proportion of their diet. On the other hand, a growing number of city-dwelling Falcons find that feral pigeons and Common Starlings provide plenty of food. Peregrine Falcons also eat their own chicks when starving. Peregrine Falcons breed at approximately two or three years of age. They mate for life and return to the same nesting spot annually. Their courtship flight includes a mix of aerial acrobatics, precise spirals, and steep dives.

The male passes prey it has caught to the female in midair. To make this possible, the female actually flies upside-down to receive the food from the male's talons. Females lay an average clutch of three or four eggs in a scrape, normally on cliff edges or, increasingly, on tall buildings or bridges. They occasionally nest in tree hollows or in the disused nest of other large birds. The average life span of a Peregrine Falcon is approximately eight to ten years, although some have been recorded to live until slightly more than twenty years of age.

This is one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk". It is the most common North American hawk and the raptor most frequently taken from the wild and later returned to the wild for falconry in the United States. Birds of this species have a dark mark along the leading edge of the underwing, between the body and the wrist. Most, but not all color variations have a dark band across the belly.

In most, the adults' tails are rusty red above, and juveniles have narrow brown and pale bands. The main western North American population has bands on the adults' rusty tails as well and has varied plumage, organized into three main color types or morphs. Immature birds, or birds that are only a few years old, can also readily be identified by having yellowish irises.

As the bird attains full maturity over the course of 3—4 years, the iris slowly darkens into a reddish-brown hue. The breeding habitat is open country with high perches. They build a stick nest in a large tree, in a cactus, or on a cliff ledge 35 m or higher above ground; they may also nest on man-made structures.

Both sexes build the sturdy nest, made of different sized twigs and sticks, lined with fresh green foliage and evergreen sprigs. The fresh sprigs are regularly replaced during incubation. Up to four eggs may be laid at daily intervals. The shells are colored a dull or bluish-white with a granulated or smooth surface, never glossy.

There may be some splotches of various shades of brown. Incubation is by the female from 28 to 35 days, during which time she is fed by the male.

Bird Field Guides - Which One Is Best?

The young are able to fly at about 45 days. In most of the United States, Red-tailed Hawks are permanent residents, but northern breeding birds migrate south in winter. Throughout their range in the U. They have a complex relationship with humans, capable of both controlling rodent and other mammalian pests, and on occasion taking valuable fowl which has led to them being one of the species described as a Chickenhawk.

Red-tailed Hawks prefer to wait on a high perch and swoop down on prey; they also patrol open areas in flight. They mainly eat small mammals, birds and reptiles. Their favorite prey varies with regional and seasonal availability but includes most types of rodents, rabbits, pheasant, grouse, quail, rattle snakes, copperheads, lizards, and, when near the water's edge, carp and catfish.

Those that live in cities may prefer pigeons and starlings, both of which are plentiful in many urban areas. In flight, these hawks soar with wings in a slight dihedral, flapping as little as possible. They sometimes hover on beating wings and sometimes "kite", or remain stationary above the ground by soaring into the wind. The Red-tailed Hawk is common and widespread, partly because it has benefited from the historic settlement patterns across North America. The clearing of trees in the east of North America provided hunting areas, and the practice of sparing woodlots left nest sites.

Conversely, the planting of trees in the west provided nest sites where there had been none. The construction of highways with treeless medians and shoulders and with utility poles alongside provided perfect habitat for perch-hunting, so Red-tailed Hawks are now a common sight along highways. This high, fierce scream is often featured in the background of adventure movies to give a sense of wilderness to the scene.

However, the cry is more commonly used for the Bald Eagle, whose own vocalizations are quite different. The Osprey is cm long with a cm wingspan.

Regional Field Guide to Birds: Central East Coast and Ranges

It has mainly white underparts and head, apart from a dark mask through the eye, and fairly uniformly brown upperparts. Its short tail and long, narrow wings with four long "finger" feathers and a shorter fifth give it a very distinctive appearance. Juvenile birds are readily identified by the buff fringes to the upperpart plumage, buff tone to the underparts, and streaked crown. By spring, wear on the upperparts makes barring on the underwings and flight feathers a better indicator of young birds.

Adult males can be distinguished from females from their slimmer bodies and narrower wings. They also have a weaker or non-existent breast band than the female, and more uniformly pale underwing coverts. It is straightforward to sex a breeding pair, but harder with individual birds. In flight, Ospreys have arched wings and drooping "hands", giving them a diagnostic gull-like appearance. The call is a series of sharp whistles, cheep , cheep , or yewk , yewk.

Near the nest, a frenzied cheereek! The Osprey is particularly well adapted to its fish diet, with reversible outer toes, closable nostrils to keep out water during dives, and backwards facing scales on the talons which act as barbs to help hold its catch.

It locates its prey from the air, often hovering prior to plunging feet-first into the water to seize a fish. As it rises back into flight the fish is turned head forward to reduce drag. The 'barbed' talons are such effective tools for grasping fish that, on occasion, an Osprey may be unable to release a fish that is heavier than expected.

This can cause the Osprey to be pulled into the water, where it may either swim to safety or succumb to hypothermia and drown. The osprey breeds by freshwater lakes, and sometimes on coastal brackish waters. The nest is a large heap of sticks built in trees, rocky outcrops, telephone poles or artificial platforms. In some regions with high Osprey densities, such as Chesapeake Bay, USA, most ospreys do not start breeding until they are five to seven years old, and there may be a shortage of suitable tall structures.

If there are no nesting sites available, young ospreys may be forced to delay breeding. To ease this problem, posts may be erected to provide more sites suitable for nest building. Adults have blue-grey wings and back and a white head with a black cap and a long black plume. The face is white, with a black streak extending from behind the eye to the back of the head.

They have a long neck, streaked with white, rust-brown, and black, which is generally held in a s-curve while wading, and a short tail. The beak is yellow, long, and and tapers to a point. Legs are long, and greenish-yellow in color. In flight, the head is held close to and aligned with the body by a downward bend in the long neck. The long legs trail behind. This bird flies with strong deliberate wing beats.

• Second-order Nonlinear Optical Characterization Techniques: An Introduction.
• Die Räuber (German Edition)?
• Birds of Kangaroo Island : a photographic field guide in SearchWorks catalog.
• A Cat in the Wings: (InterMix);

The males and females appear relatively similar, but males have a puffy plume of feathers behind their heads, and tend to be slightly larger than females. Great blue herons can be found in a range of habitats, in fresh and saltwater marshes, mangrove swamps, flooded meadows, rivers, lake edges, or shorelines, but they always live near bodies of water. Generally, they nest in trees or bushes that stand near water. It feeds in shallow water or at the water's edge during both the night and the day, but especially around dawn and dusk.

Herons locate their food by sight and generally swallow it whole. Herons have been known to choke on prey that is too large. It uses its long legs to wade through shallow water, and spears fish or frogs with its long, sharp bill. Its diet can also include insects, snakes, turtles, rodents and small birds.

Navigation menu

It is generally a solitary feeder. Individuals usually forage while standing in water, but will also forage in fields or drop from the air, or a perch, into water. As large wading birds, Great Blue Herons are able to feed in deeper waters, and thus are able to exploit a niche not open to most other heron species. This species usually breeds in colonies, in trees close to lakes or other wetlands; often with other species of herons. These groups are called heronry more accurately than "rookery". The size of these colonies may be large, ranging between 5 — nests per colony, with an average of approximately nests per colony.

Great Blues build a bulky stick nest, and the female lays three to six pale blue eggs. One brood is raised each year. If the nest is abandoned or destroyed, the female may lay a replacement clutch. Reproduction is negatively affected by human disturbance, particularly during the beginning of nesting. Repeated human intrusion into nesting areas often results in nest failure, with abandonment of eggs or chicks.

Both parents feed the young at the nest by regurgitating food. Parent birds have been shown to consume up to 4 times as much food when they are feeding young chicks than when laying or incubating eggs. Eggs are incubated for approximately 28 days and hatch over a period of several days. The first chick to hatch usually becomes more experienced in food handling and aggressive interactions with siblings, and so often grows more quickly than the other chicks.

Birds east of the Rocky Mountains in the northern part of their range are bird migratory and winter in Central America or northern South America. From the southern United States southwards and on the Pacific coast, they are year-round residents. The Great Egret is a large bird with all white plumage, as much as cm long and weighing up to grams. It is only slightly smaller than the Great Blue or Grey Herons. Apart from size, the Great Egret can be distinguished from other white egrets by its yellow bill and black legs and feet.

It also has a slow flight, with its neck retracted. This is characteristic of herons and bitterns, and distinguishes them from storks, cranes and spoonbills, which extend their necks. The Great Egret feeds in shallow water or drier habitats, spearing fish, frogs or insects with its long, sharp bill. It will often wait motionless for prey, or slowly stalk its victim.

It is a conspicuous species, usually easily seen. The Great Egret is partially migratory, with northern hemisphere birds moving south from areas with cold winters. It breeds in colonies in trees close to large lakes with reed beds or other extensive wetlands. It builds a bulky stick nest. The call at breeding colonies is a loud croaking "cuk cuk cuk". Adult Herring Gulls are similar to Ring-billed Gulls but are much larger, have pinkish legs, and a much thicker yellow bill with more pronounced lower bill. First-winter Herring Gulls are much browner, but second and third-winter birds can be confusing since soft part colors are variable and third-year Herring Gull often show a ring around the bill.

Such birds are most easily distinguished by the larger size and larger bill of Herring Gull. Adults are easily identified by their size, pale grey back and the red spot on the beak. Legs are pink at all ages. The bird depicted is the western European race Larus argentatus argenteus. The Scandinavian race L. The North American American Herring Gull is similar to argentatus , except that immature birds tend to be darker and more uniformly brown.

These are omnivores like most Larus gulls, and will scavenge on rubbish tips and elsewhere, as well as seeking suitable small prey in fields or on the coast, or robbing plovers or lapwings of their catches. Eggs, usually three, are laid on the ground or cliff ledges in colonies, and are defended vigorously by this large gull.

The loud laughing call is well-known in the northern hemisphere. Adults have black legs and a short stout straight dark bill. The body is dark grey-brown on top and white underneath. The head and neck are tinged light grey-brown. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds, in particular the Western Sandpiper; these are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints". Their breeding habitat is the southern tundra in Canada and Alaska near water.

They nest on the ground. The male makes several shallow scrapes, the female chooses one and adds grass and other material to line the nest. The female lays 4 eggs; the male assists in incubation. After a few days, the female leaves the young with the male; the young feed themselves. They are long distance migrants and winter in coastal South America with some going to the southern United States.

They migrate in flocks which can number in the hundreds of thousands, particularly in favored feeding locations such as the Bay of Fundy and Delaware Bay. This species is a rare but regular vagrant to western Europe. These birds forage on mudflats, picking up food by sight and feel bill. They mainly eat aquatic insects and crustaceans. Although very numerous, these birds are highly dependent on a few key stopover habitats during their migration, notably, Shepody Bay, an arm of the Bay of Fundy.

During the months of July and August you can go to one of two information centers run by the Nature Conservancy of Canada about the shorebirds in either Johnson's Mills or Mary's point. The black head and neck with white "chinstrap" distinguish this goose from all except the Barnacle Goose, but the latter has a black breast, and grey, rather than brownish, body plumage.

There are seven subspecies of this bird, of varying sizes and plumage details, but all are recognizable as Canada Geese. Some are hard to distinguish from the Cackling Goose Branta hutchinsii , with which the Canada Goose was long assumed to form one species; the name Lesser Canada Goose is, confusingly, often applied to B. This species is cm long with a cm wing span. The female looks virtually identical but is slightly lighter at 3—5. Exceptionally, weights of These birds feed mainly on plant material.

When feeding in water, they submerge their heads and necks to reach aquatic plants, sometimes tipping forward like a dabbling duck. Flocks of these birds often feed on leftover cultivated grains in fields, especially during migration or in winter. During the second year of their lives, Canada Geese find themselves a mate. Most couples stay together all of their lives. If one is killed, the other may find a new mate. The female lays eggs and both parents protect the nest while the eggs incubate, but the female spends more time at the nest than the male.

The Best Field Guide to Birds

During that time, they lose their flight feathers, so that they cannot fly until after their eggs hatch. This period lasts for days. Adult geese are often seen leading their goslings in a line, usually with one parent at the front, and the other at the back of the "parade". While protecting their young, parents often violently chase away nearby creatures, from small blackbirds to other geese, to humans that approach, after warning them by giving off a hissing sound.

The young do not leave their parents until after the spring migration, when they return to their birthplace. This well-known species is native to North America. It breeds in Canada and the northern United States in a variety of habitats. However, the nest is usually located in an elevated area near water, sometimes on a beaver lodge. The eggs are laid in a shallow depression lined with plant material and down. The Great Lakes region maintains a very large population of Canada Geese.

Like most geese, the Canada goose is naturally migratory with the wintering range being most of the United States. The calls overhead from large groups of Canada Geese flying in V-shaped formation signal the transitions into spring and autumn. In some areas, migration routes have changed due to changes in habitat and food sources. In mild climates, such as the Pacific Northwest, due to a lack of former predators, some of the population has become non-migratory. From Wikibooks, open books for an open world.

There is 1 pending change awaiting review. Retrieved from " https: Views Read Latest draft Edit View history. Policies and guidelines Contact us. In other languages Add links. This page was last edited on 24 May , at By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.