Book Review: National Geographic's Field Guide to the Birds of North America (7th Edition)

Well for some reason I've been asked to review the newest (7th) edition of the National Geographic (Natty Geo) field guide after it has been out since September of 2017, but why not? No need for any suspense: this is a great book and I'm happy to have it!

I started birding in the mid 90s, and the one field guide that has been with me this entire time has been Natty Geo, in one edition or another. A plethora of other field guides covering birds of the United States and Canada have been released in the intervening years, but Natty Geo continues to lead the pack in many areas.

I do have the 6th edition handy as well, which was released in 2011, so can compare with the 7th edition for updates. So what is new in the 7th edition?

*Hundreds of new maps and illustrations.
*Many illustrations replace existing versions that were not aging well, others were added for recently split species, "new" rarities that had enough recent records to include, or to help further suss out ID issues.
*The lumps and splits that have occurred from 2011-2017 are incorporated, though notably it went to press before Iceland and Thayer's could be lumped in the book.
*The taxonomic order of our birds seems to get a significant reshuffle almost every year, but Natty Geo #7 now offers the most up to date order of any field guide. This is arguably not a strength, the optimal way to organize field guides is pretty subjective, but that is a different conversation.

How about we do a sample comparison between some 6th and 7th edition plates? There are probably some other birders, like me, who already have the 6th and are curious about upgrading.

On the right (click to enlarge), you will see a couple pages from the 6th edition...four hummingbird species, eight bird illustrations, 4 tails. The illustrations are...ok. There is room for improvement, both in regards to the text and quality of the illustrations. In particular, take a look at the Rufous and Allen's Hummingbirds.

Now, take a look at what the 7th edition shows (click to enlarge) for Rufous and Allen's Hummingbirds...they get their own spread! Hot damn! So for two species, we now have 8 "complete" individuals, 6 heads, and 8 tails...and text that has doubled in length! Of course not every species got this kind of impressive overhaul, but I think this is a good illustration of some of the improvements the 7th edition offers.


For the record, even before the 7th edition came out, Sibley and Natty Geo have been the field guides I recommend to all birders regardless of skill level. In my opinion (only the Global Birder Ranking System's #7 U.S. birder), these are the two best, most comprehensive field guides available. Sibley looks consistent throughout, the illustrations are almost all great, and it's really handy to have every single species illustrated in flight. Natty Geo #7 covers more species, is more up to date (Sibley #2 came out in 2014), and takes up less space than Sibley's big book that covers both the east and the west, which is my preference to use over the smaller eastern or western guides. As far as the artwork goes, some of the Natty Geo plates aren't as good as Sibley's version of the same species (i.e. White-tipped Dove), but in some cases the Natty Geo plates are better (i.e. the three SoCal/Mexican murrelets). Most of the time they are close to equally good in quality.

For an honest book review, gotta list some gripes though? I can think of a few, though nothing that should prevent anyone from buying this book. We can start with what is on the cover...why is it still called a Field Guide to the Birds of North America? Most people will tell you North America is not confined to the United States and Canada.

One of the strengths of this book, the excellent new illustrations, are actually distracting - some of the recently updated illustrations are so good that they make many of the original mediocre illustrations a little too easy to spot. I was hoping some specific plates would be updated this time around (i.e. the Red Crossbills and almost all the Song Sparrows are a bit wonky looking, as are a number of the large gulls) but to no avail.

Speaking of gulls, it seems time to include some more plates of loathsome hybrids...here in the bay area, one can go out and find 4 different Larus hybrid combos with regularity. The book only illustrates Kelp x Herring (super rare) and Western x Glaucous-winged (super common), which seems pretty arbitrary. Various Larus hybrids are far more frequently encountered by birders than most of the mega rarities included in the book. I don't think I need to expound upon how difficult it is for birders to identify these hybrids correctly, so field guide treatment is warranted.

I don't expect total perfection in such a large body of work though...overall Natty Geo is a high quality book and I will be happy to use it. My position on field guides for the United States and Canada has not changed with the 7th edition - every birder should have either the newest Sibley or the newest Natty Geo, and preferably both. I hope there will be an 8th edition, though it is impossible to say if the combination of Dunn/Alderfer/Lehman (Paul "E." Lehman is the map mastermind, and there is perhaps no one better for this role) will be at the helm again. If not, there will be some big shoes to fill.

Pale Male and the Infertile Girl

Pale Male and the Infertile Girl
by Clark Casey
No Dead Trees Press
2011

So. Although I cannot understand why, I've received a number of inquiries regarding advertising and reviewing various products on this slipshod blog of mine. I typically turn them down, or they just haven't worked out for some reason. However, I decided to go ahead and review Pale Male and the Infertile Girl, based on its unusual premise, and the fact that I have occasionally been known to read a book that wasn't written by David Sibley.

A quick primer: Pale Male is a Red-tailed Hawk that has nested adjacent to New York City's Central Park ever since the early 90's. Birders and other Pale Male fans keep a close eye on him and his mate every spring, as they openly nest on a building on Fifth Avenue. He has been the subject of 2 documentary films and at least 3 childrens' books. He is, without a doubt, the world's most famous Red-tailed Hawk. Watch this if you want to get an idea of what I'm talking about, and to learn more about one of this story's main characters.

Pale Male and the Infertile Girl is fiction though, and the protagonist of this story is not hawk, but human. A quick read at 49 pages, this novella follows a couple's long relationship in New York, their highs and lows, told from the perspective of Scott, an average-looking, middle-class guy. The story essentially begins when Scott meets Kim, an incredibly attractive woman who comes from a lot of money. After a lot of kinky sex, they take the next step and shack up together in a giant, extremely expensive apartment in an exclusive building overlooking Central Park in Manhattan. Soon they find out Kim is incapable of having kids, an affair is had, and both Scott and Kim struggle with the idea of Kim's inability to bear children. It's kind of the All American Story, isn't it? Amirite?

The twist, of course, is that there are an A-list pair of Red-tailed Hawks nesting right out their window, and neither Scott nor Kim can ignore the avian and human spectacle outside.

I have to admit, it seems to me that Pale Male and his various mates are not a necessary part of the story of Scott and Kim. The trials and tribulations of Central Park's celebrity Red-tailed Hawks (which, admirably, appear to be described here more or less accurately) seem to have little direct bearing on the overall plot. Sure Pale Male's impressive and unrelenting drive to reproduce gets into the heads of Scott and Kim, but do they really need to be watching hawks to be reminded that they want a child? Does Pale Male's regular rotation of mates really reflect on human infidelity? However, if one views Pale Male's activities as a sort of parallel plot, this issue disappears. Perhaps it simply depends on who you are more interested in...the hawk or the human?

Those reservations aside, author Clark Casey does a commendable job of intertwining Pale Male's life and times into the story, and I can't say I've read anything similar enough to offer any really relevant comparison. In this respect, Casey succeeds in making something unique. For any birder who reads this, the descriptions of the hawks do offer a new and interesting dimension to the story...hopefully, nonbirders will feel the same as well. Casey's accounts of Pale Male's history seems to be largely based on actual events, such as the destruction of their nest and the huge public outcry that came immediately afterwards. This narrative is quite interesting in its own right, whether it bears directly on the plot or not.

A couple other minor quibbles: Although worthy of a few smirks, I could have done without the cliche rough/kinky sex that is frequently mentioned (i.e. the device known as "Mister Naughty"). Don't get me wrong, I am a big proponent of rough sex, even gnarly sex, but in novels it often comes off more as a trite ploy than something that contributes to the story. The character of Sarah, the (figurative) ghost that haunts Scott on and off throughout Pale Male, is discussed so briefly that her inclusion is usually more distracting than anything else.


Although not without its shortcomings, Pale Male and the Infertile Girl makes a quick, entertaining and informative read. And it's only $3 as e-book! Hella affordable.

Pale Male is available from Smashwords and Amazon, in e-book or paperback form.