Woodland Birds of North America showed up in Cape May ready to be reviewed. I glanced at the book, an attractive Palm Warbler photograph on the cover, and thought to myself, “I wonder what this book is really about.” I didn’t get much of a hint from the vague subtitle, A Guide to Observation, Understanding and Conservation. Is this a field guide? Is it a conservation handbook? I opened up and started to read.
I first read the introductory chapter titled, “The woods are full of birds.” Several pages managed to convince me that many birds occur in forests. Not much novel information here. Next came an overview of forest habitats of North America. Dividing the continent’s forests into just 11 categories is quite an oversimplification, yet the descriptions are useful. But enough of this, the introduction is just 15 pages, and nobody reads the beginning of field guides anyway. “Species accounts” make up the bulk of the book, so I plunged into this section.
Ninety-two species are included in this section. It’s an odd mix, including Northern Goshawk but not Sharp-shinned nor Cooper’s Hawk; Black-capped and Boreal Chickadees are here, Carolina is missing; the only two wrens included are Bewick’s and Canyon. Each species account features one or two photos of the bird and sections under the headings of Appearance, Habitat, Behavior, Calls, Food, Family Life, Migration, Conservation Concerns, and Related Species. There’s also a range map for each species, and for a few species the maps are blocked out with different colors representing the conservation status for that species in the various states and provinces of the US and Canada, respectively—useful information, though it makes for odd-looking maps. Three pages are devoted to most species, which gives just enough room for a short overview of each of the categories.
I got through this section and I’m afraid I still wasn’t sure what the book was about. In some ways it’s trying to do too much, and on touching many subjects lightly it’s not very successful with any of them. There’s nothing bad about the book, I found myself nodding in agreement with much that’s written here, but there’s just nothing here that’s not readily available elsewhere. I don’t see the value of lumping these 92 species together; perhaps it’s a selection based solely on the photograph collection of the author. The pictures are nice, though unspectacular, and the text is clearly written and very basic.
Leslie, Scott. Woodland Birds of North America: A Guide to Observation, Understanding and Conservation. Toronto, Key Porter Books, 2008. 352 pages paper, $29.95. ISBN-13: 978-1-55263-922-1; ISBN-10: 1-55263-922-3.
To order a copy of a title reviewed on the Birder’s Bookshelf, please call CMBO’s Northwood Center (609)884-2736 or the Center for Research & Education (609)861-0700.