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Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America (Peterson Reference Guides)
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About Peterson Reference Guide To Sparrows Of North
Product Description Sparrows are as complicated as they are common. This is an essential guide to identifying 76 kinds, along with a fascinating history of human interactions with them. What exactly is a sparrow? All birders, and many non-birders, have essentially the same mental image of a pelican, a duck, or a flamingo, and a guide dedicated to waxwings or kingfishers would need nothing more than a sketch and a single sentence to satisfactorily identify its subject. Sparrows are harder to pin down. This book covers the birds of the family Passerellidae, which includes towhees, juncos, and dozens of other not necessarily small and not necessarily brown birds. Birds have a human history, too, beginning with their significance to native cultures and continuing through their discovery by science, their taxonomic fortunes and misfortunes, and their prospects for survival in a world with ever less space for wild creatures. This book includes not just facts and measurements, but stories of the birds' entanglement with human history. Review "You will not find more complete or better written accounts of these birds than provided here.... This is an entertaining as well as informative read, dealing with more than the mechanics of identification.... This book must have taken years of field and reference work. In the birding world, this could be considered the work of a lifetime." - Jim Williams, The Minneapolis StarTribune " This guide has everything going for it: a wonderful subject, part of a so-far impressive series, and a great author." - Grant McCreary, The Birder's Library " Detailed descriptions of each species, some dating back to when the bird was first named, make it a historical identification guide. In fact, Sparrows might be best described as a detailed example of how curious humans used art and science to create the taxonomy of sparrows.... Sparrows provides a rich glimpse into a single branch of American ornithology." - Scott Shallaway, WV News "When you first pick up Rick Wright's hefty new Sparrows of North America, in the 'Peterson Reference Guide Series' by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, you may think it is just another standard 'bird family guide,' with mini-life-histories of the sparrows, towhees, and juncos. However, you would be wrong.... Yes, the well-illustrated accounts (mainly with high quality photos by Brian Small) do delve into important field identification and range and geographic variation; however, ... what Wright uniquely contributes is a historical approach to the lives of sparrows and their relatives - a history of Passerellidae natural history. Readers are given a solid understanding of the discoverers, researchers, and dedicated observers for each of the taxa presented. (There is even a separate index of people's names - what one might call 'the Passerellidae people' - at the end of the book!) Even the sections on range and geographic variation are historical, often providing a summary of the expansions and contractions in ranges over time." - Wayne Peterson and Paul Baicich, Birding Community eBulletin "A book to be devoured." - Alain Clavette, CBC Radio From the Author The Online Supplement at tinyurl.com/WrightSparrows provides - a brief errata sheet - links to additional information on each species' geographic distribution, taxonomic history, conservation status, habitat, behavior, voice, and physical appearance. From the Back Cover This essential guide is lavishly illustrated with more than 300 color photos. It is the definitive work on the sparrows, from the American Arctic south to central Mexico. About the Author RICK WRIGHT leads Birds and Art tours in Europe and the Americas for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours. He lives in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
