Identify Yourself: The 50 Most Common Birding Identification Challenges.BILL THOMPSON III ET AL. Beginning bird-watchers can be easily tricked: Many common bird species resemble one another. The novice who spies spies n. Plural of spy. v. Third person singular present tense of spy. a lesser scaup scaup Any of three species (genus Aythya, family Anatidae) of diving ducks. The greater scaup, or big bluebill (A. marila), breeds across Eurasia and most of the Nearctic region. The lesser scaup, or little bluebill (A. affinis), breeds in northwestern North America. and a ring-necked duck ring-necked duck n. A North American duck (Aythya collaris) having a distinctive light ring behind the tip of the bill and, in the male, a light chestnut ring around the neck. Also called ring-bill. , for instance, can be left scratching his or her head and wondering which bird to claim for a sighting. Help is at hand in this new book by Bill Thompson and five other editors of Bird watchers" Digest. The book's explanation of differences in bill shapes, body and head markings, and the color of legs, backs, wings, and tails will have novice birders sorting out sparrows, gulls, warblers, ravens, finches, cuckoos, and many other types. Excellent illustrations by Julie Zickenfoose are especially helpful. The authors intend their book to provide "beginning and intermediate-level bird-watchers with a clear and logical path" to identifying what they see through their binoculars. Houghton Mifflin Houghton Mifflin Company is a leading educational publisher in the United States. The company's headquarters is located in Boston's Back Bay. It publishes textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers , 2005, 416 p., color illus., paperback, $19.95. |
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