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THE AUDUBON SOCIETY HANDBOOK FOR BIRDERS by Stephen W. Kress

THE AUDUBON SOCIETY HANDBOOK FOR BIRDERS

By

Pub Date: April 1st, 1981
Publisher: Scribners

An indispensable companion to the field guide, this supplies birders with the details of birdwatching from selecting binoculars and spotting scopes to assembling a slide presentation. Kress, a lab associate in Ornithology at Cornell, tells why shape, posture, and behavior are better identification clues than color, and how to use size for comparison; he also discusses how to organize observations on body-care behaviors, feeding strategies, and social displays; reviews field etiquette; and even suggests what pens and papers are most suitable for field notes. For the most devoted, there is advice on photographing birds, recording their songs, and joining research programs that welcome amateurs, along with lists of recommended books and periodicals. Drawings are used frequently to illustrate or clarify special points--the clock technique for describing bird location, practice in estimating flock size, sample entries from journals. One of a kind, and highly likable.