Synopses & Reviews
Warblers are among the most challenging birds to identify. They exhibit an array of seasonal plumages and have distinctive yet oft-confused calls and songs.
The Warbler Guide enables you to quickly identify any of the 56 species of warblers in the United States and Canada. This groundbreaking guide features more than 1,000 stunning color photos, extensive species accounts with multiple viewing angles, and an entirely new system of vocalization analysis that helps you distinguish songs and calls.
The Warbler Guide revolutionizes birdwatching, making warbler identification easier than ever before. For more information, please see the author videos on the Princeton University Press website.
- Covers all 56 species of warblers in the United States and Canada
- Visual quick finders help you identify warblers from any angle
- Song and call finders make identification easy using a few simple questions
- Uses sonograms to teach a new system of song identification that makes it easier to understand and hear differences between similar species
- Detailed species accounts show multiple views with diagnostic points, direct comparisons of plumage and vocalizations with similar species, and complete aging and sexing descriptions
- New aids to identification include song mnemonics and icons for undertail pattern, color impression, habitat, and behavior
- Includes field exercises, flight shots, general identification strategies, and quizzes
- A complete, page-by-page audio companion to all of the 1,000-plus songs and calls covered by the book is available for purchase and download from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library by using the link at www.TheWarblerGuide.com
Review
"The Warbler Guide is a fine book crammed with photographs, tips, expert advice, innovation and information designed to help identify a unique and beautiful set of birds."--Phil Slade, Another Bird Blog
Review
"Fantastic and, yes, ground-breaking. . . . There will be no birder north of the Rio Grande who would turn down this book. There will be few who intend to visit North America that would not want to spend time familiarising themselves with the Wood Warblers, and there is no better way for them than to open these pages and get lost in their cornucopia of detail. . . . Everything from sonograms to seasonal variations, confusion species to aging and sexing and with pretty detailed distribution maps as well. The term 'tour de force' sits well upon its wide shoulders."--Fatbirder
Review
"The Warbler Bible has come forth! This is easily the most comprehensive and fantastic warbler specific guide covering North American Warblers. I am amazed and impressed with each of its features. . . . [A] must-have book."--Robert Mortensen, Birding is Fun
Review
"A warbler feast for the eyes, the answer to the prayers of every birder who has seen a glimpse of yellow, black, and white and said, 'If only that leaf wasn't in the way, I'd know that warbler's name.'. . . The Warbler Guide, by Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle, is not just another bird identification book. . . . The authors have thought long and hard about what makes an identification guide work and then approached it their own way. The auditory descriptions of bird song and chips, based on scientific analysis rather than a subjective translation of sound, present a very different approach to identifying birds by ear. The abundance of photographs, the plethora of charts and finding guides, all printed in brilliant color on lovely paper, the clarity of design, make this book a joy to look at and to use."--Donna Schulman, 10,000 Birds
Review
Thoroughly detailed. . . . I'll keep this guide close to me and make my warbler identification a lot more simple. Donna Schulman - 10,000 Birds
Review
The Warbler Guide is a must-have book for every birder. It is comprehensive, easy-to-use, and absolutely gorgeous. H.J. Ruiz - Avian 101
Review
Stupendous. . . . Each of the 56 species accounts contain at least a dozen photographs, emphasizing various plumage variations--in all, over 1000 stunning color photos grace the book. . . . One of the unique features of this book is that many of these photos are taken from below, which is how you really see warblers in the field. . . . This relatively inexpensive book will aid birders of all abilities in identifying the warblers of America. Eddie Callaway - Birdfreak.com
Review
The Warbler Guide is Music to My Eyes! . . . By the coming fall migration The Warbler Guide 'will' be considered the ultimate, must-have guide for any birder serious about identifying the 'butterflies of the avian world.' Dan Tallman's Bird Blog
Review
"The Warbler Guide is a reference book which you will want to have on your desk, your night stand or in your car, for contained within its pages is more treasure than any birder could ever hope for. . . . Bravo to authors Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle for raising the bar by which we judge specialty guides."--Wayne Mones, AudubonMagazine.org
Review
Honorable Mention for the 2013 PROSE Award in Single Volume Reference/Science, Association of American Publishers
Review
Winner of a 2014 National Outdoor Book Award in Nature Guidebooks
Second Place for the 2013 BB/BTO Best Bird Book of the Year, British Birds and the British Trust for Ornithology
Honorable Mention for the 2013 PROSE Award in Single Volume Reference/Science, Association of American Publishers
Review
andldquo;Doreen Pfostandrsquo;s personal homage to Nebraskaandrsquo;s Platte River is a powerful collection of twelve essays encompassing a year, bounded by its spring crane migration. They reveal a Willa Catherandndash;like affection for the place and its people and an Aldo Leopoldandndash;like capacity to describe its wildlife, especially the iconic sandhill cranes.andrdquo;andmdash;Paul A. Johnsgard, author of Seasons of the Tallgrass Prairie: A Nebraska Year
Review
andldquo;This articulate and compelling account of the history of crane country in Nebraska follows the seasons over a landscape that hosts in spring the planetandrsquo;s greatest gathering of cranes. Doreen Pfost elegantly weaves together the story of these magnificent ambassadors for things wild and free in a part of our planet that humans have transformed in recent centuries, but where ancient wildlife spectacles still happen.andrdquo;andmdash;George Archibald, cofounder of the International Crane Foundationand#160;
Synopsis
A field guide that revolutionizes warbler identification
Warblers are among the most challenging birds to identify. They exhibit an array of seasonal plumages and have distinctive yet oft-confused calls and songs. The Warbler Guide enables you to quickly identify any of the 56 species of warblers in the United States and Canada. This groundbreaking guide features more than 1,000 stunning color photos, extensive species accounts with multiple viewing angles, and an entirely new system of vocalization analysis that helps you distinguish songs and calls.
The Warbler Guide revolutionizes birdwatching, making warbler identification easier than ever before. For more information, please see the author videos on the Princeton University Press website.
- Covers all 56 species of warblers in the United States and Canada
- Visual quick finders help you identify warblers from any angle
- Song and call finders make identification easy using a few simple questions
- Uses sonograms to teach a new system of song identification that makes it easier to understand and hear differences between similar species
- Detailed species accounts show multiple views with diagnostic points, direct comparisons of plumage and vocalizations with similar species, and complete aging and sexing descriptions
- New aids to identification include song mnemonics and icons for undertail pattern, color impression, habitat, and behavior
- Includes field exercises, flight shots, general identification strategies, and quizzes
- A complete, page-by-page audio companion to all of the 1,000-plus songs and calls covered by the book is available for purchase and download from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library by using the link at www.TheWarblerGuide.com
Synopsis
Each spring, formations of sandhill cranes crisscross the skies along Nebraskaandrsquo;s Platte River in one of the last great migratory spectacles on the North American continent. From across the globe, tens of thousands of visitors gather to witness a land transformed, andldquo;wild with birds.andrdquo; But the central Platte River system is witness to even more than this wondrous annual event. It is also an abiding source of natural, agricultural, and economic life in three states as an icon of western history and as a place of wonder. In This River Beneath the Sky, Doreen Pfost seamlessly blends memoir and nature writing, tracking the Platte River valley for one calendar year, ushering readers through its diverse and changing landscape and the plants, animals, and humans that call the ecosystem home.
From serving as a tour guide for visitors who come to see the sandhill crane migration to monitoring the population count on a bluebird trail, from exploring the human settlements surrounding the Platte River to wading the river with biologists, Pfost immerses herself in the rhythm and life of the area. Along with Pfostandrsquo;s personal experiences of the river, she explores the riverandrsquo;s history, the land- and water-use choices that were made decades ago and their repercussions that must now be mitigated if cranesandmdash;and other speciesandmdash;are to survive and flourish, and the legislative and scientific efforts to preserve the diverse species and their essential habitat.
About the Author
Tom Stephenson's articles and photos have appeared in Birding and Bird Watcher's Digest, at Surfbirds.com, and in the Handbook of the Birds of the World. He has guided groups across the United States and Asia. A musician, he has had several Grammy and Academy Award winners as clients, and was director of technology at Roland Corporation. Scott Whittle lives in Cape May, New Jersey, and has twenty years of experience as a professional photographer and educator. He holds an MFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York, is a fellow of the MacDowell Colony, and is a onetime New York State Big Year record holder.
Table of Contents
How to Use This Book 6
Icons and Key Terms 8
How to Use the Maps 10
Topographic Tour 12
What to Notice on a Warbler 16
Aging and Sexing Warblers 56
Understanding Sonograms 62
How to Listen to Warbler Songs 68
Learning Chip and Flight Calls 90
Visual Finder Guides 100
Warbler Song Finder Charts 116
Chip Call Finder 130
Flight Call Finder 134
Species Accounts 138
American Redstart Male 138
American Redstart F/1yM 146
Audubon's Bright 476
Audubon's Drab 480
Bay-breasted Bright 150
Bay-breasted Drab 156
Black-and-white 160
Blackburnian Bright 166
Blackburnian Drab 172
Blackpoll Spring 176
Blackpoll Fall 182
Black-throated Blue Male 186
Black-throated Blue Female 192
Black-throated Gray 196
Black-throated Green 202
Blue-winged 208
Brewster's 214
Canada 216
Cape May Bright 222
Cape May Drab 228
Cerulean 232
Chestnut-sided Bright 238
Chestnut-sided Drab 244
Colima 248
Common Yellowthroat AdM 254
Common Yellowthroat F/1yM 260
Connecticut Bright 264
Connecticut Drab 270
Crescent-chested 498
Fan-tailed 500
Golden-cheeked 274
Golden-crowned 502
Golden-winged 280
Grace's 286
Gray-crowned Yellowthroat 504
Hermit 294
Hooded 300
Kentucky 306
Kirtland's 312
Lawrence's 214
Louisiana Waterthrush 318
Lucy's 324
MacGillivray's Bright 330
MacGillivray's Drab 336
Magnolia Bright 340
Magnolia Drab 346
Mourning Bright 350
Mourning Drab 356
Myrtle Bright 476
Myrtle Drab 480
Nashville 360
Northern Parula 366
Northern Waterthrush 372
Olive Warbler 522
Orange-crowned 378
Ovenbird 384
Painted Redstart 390
Palm 396
Pine 402
Prairie 410
Prothonotary 416
Red-faced 422
Rufous-capped 506
Slate-throated 508
Swainson's 428
Tennessee 434
Townsend's 440
Tropical Parula 510
Virginia's 446
Wilson's 452
Worm-eating 460
Yellow 466
Yellow-breasted Chat 520
Yellow-rumped Bright 476
Yellow-rumped Drab 480
Yellow-throated 492
Similar Non-warbler Species 512
Hybrid Warblers 524
Quiz and Review 526
Warblers in Flight 534
North American Warbler Taxonomy 540
Measurements 542
Silhouettes 544
Habitat and Behavior 546
Glossary 549
Resources 555
Acknowledgments 557
Photo Credits 558
Index 559