Anyone who is familiar with other Field Guides will also have difficulty with Kaufman's non-standard order of images (e.g., owls and hawks grouped together). It makes finding a given group of birds difficult until or unless you become very familiar with this book.

But there is much that is good as well. The multi-colored range maps, using a variety of scales, clearly impart more information than their counterparts in many other Guides. And the Family introductions are full of useful tidbits that help you understand common characteristics of a group of related birds.

It was certainly Kaufman's misfortune that Sibley's Field Guide was published so close on the heels of his for it makes comparisons inevitable. Viewed by itself, Kaufman's book would be applauded for its innovation and the wealth of information it contains. But when compared to Sibley, it is but a distant second-best. I would consider it a welcome addition to my bookshelf, but not my first choice as either a pocketable Field Guide or a home/car reference book (I'd choose National Geographic and Sibley, respectively, for those roles). Nice to have, but not a "must-have".


A very good book for intermediate and advanced birders.   November 27, 2000
 11 out of 12 found this review helpful

The "need to know" what kind of bird you are seeing, no matter where you are in the USA, is the reason to purchase this useful guide. Excellent photographs (more than 2,000) and succinct descriptions make bird identification easier. Though not the best book for beginners (I highly recommend "Stokes Beginner's Guide to Birds") "Focus Guide to the Birds of North America" is a very good book for intermediate and advanced birders. Kaufman organizes his book by placing the birds in groups according to their shape rather than color. Thus, using his methodology, identifying a bird was slower than other bird guides I have used. Nonetheless, this would be a welcome gift any birders library. Recommended.


Birds of North America A New Focus on the Field Kaufman   November 8, 2000
 10 out of 36 found this review helpful

This is not a book for beginners. You must know the type of bird you are seeing, from Cuckoos to the common sparrow, before you can identify through the differant sections. It is definately not a book for children. I am returning mine for something simpler for my grandson. Mary Anne Sutphin


Excellent, but I'm still keeping my Peterson's.   November 7, 2000
 13 out of 14 found this review helpful

Kaufmann's Focus guide is a wonderful effort and I agree with its merits as outlined admirably by previous reviewers. I have spent a couple of weekends with it, and my birding knowledge has clearly improved. However, there is one aspect of the book that I think was a mistake -- the use of colored, rather than white, pages. In different sections of the book, there are (at least) yellow pages, seafoam green pages, and sky blue pages. The problem, as any psychophysicist could tell you, is that the background colors affect one's perceptions of the bird colors. Though the sky blue background is not too bad, the odder colors are disconcerting. On those few introductory pages with normal white paper, the colors are much plainer. For me, the background colors render this guide much less pleasurable to use and I have to wonder why the book designers used these colors. So, I continue to haul my battered copy of Peterson's into the field, leaving Kaufmann and the National Geographic Guides back at home for armchair birding.


This Book is Great!   October 29, 2000
 13 out of 13 found this review helpful

This is one of the best field guides written, along the the Peterson Guide, and the new Sibley Guide. It is the only guide with actual pictures of birds that is worth even looking at. Kenn Kauffman is one of the greatest birders of all time. I would highly recommend this book for anybody that's even remotely interested in birds.