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| Peterson Reference Guides: Gulls of the Americas (Peterson Reference Guides) | 
| Authors: Jon Dunn, Steve N.g. Howell
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $21.84
You Save: $13.16 (38%)
New (27) from $21.84
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 41870
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 528
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.1
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 7 x 1.4
ISBN: 0618726411
Dewey Decimal Number: 598.338097
EAN: 9780618726417
ASIN: 0618726411
Publication Date: June 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Absolutely Brand New & In Stock. 100% 30-Day Money Back. Direct from our warehouse. Ships by USPS. 1+ million customers served-In business since 1986. Happy Customers is Our #1 Goal. Toll Free Support
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-8 of 8 | | « PREV | | |
 Wow! So much information, so many pictures. June 10, 2007
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Gull identification is complicated and difficult. This book is jam packed full of many, many details about Gull identification. It has exceeded my expectations with its wealth of information and excellent photos. The authors are clearly experts and have dedicated a significant portion of their lives to the sometimes esoteric and always intriguing world of gull identification. The book also provides an excellent introduction (which is a must read if you are to get the most out of it) that gives a background on the details of molt cycles, feather tract terms, etc...
This book is not a field guide, it is truly a reference guide as the title clearly states. It is a large format hardcover (with dust jacket) book printed on high quality glossy paper. This is a book that you study at home and maybe keep in the car as a reference.
In summary it is a worthy addition to any birders library and a book that would make its namesake (that is Roger not Rodger) Tory Peterson proud.
 Not What I Expected June 1, 2007
23 out of 36 found this review helpful
This book was not what I expected or hoped for. Admittedly, I did not realize the Book is a Peterson *Reference* Guide, not a field guide. It covers all the gulls found in north and south America, providing a detailed account of each species on the basis of taxonomy, range, and identification.
What don't I like? It is a photo guide, no illustrations, and is full of dense technical prose. If you like word pictures in dry, technical, language reminiscent of geo chemistry texts,(think regolith, xenolith) and photos as opposed to illustrations, this is the book for you. For everyone else interested in Gulls, Grant's descriptions are more useful, and Harrison's Seabirds: An Identification Guide has decent illustrations. The Sibley Guide to Birds is good but not perfect for the field identification of Gulls. One other thing I don't like is the size of the book. It is oversized compared to most of my bird books and references, requiring me to put it on an oversize shelf.
When it comes to guides, I feel illustrations a preferable to photos in all circumstances. This is because an illustration is a composite of many individuals, while photos depict only one individual. The brilliance of Roger Tory Peterson, was to distill each species down to its essentials. Prior to Peterson, descriptions were overly complex, technical and based on bird in hand. Peterson changed that with simple, elegant, prose and concise illustrations, that gave the field observer the essential elements or "field marks" needed to identify a bird. Howell and Dunn, abandon all of these principals in Gulls of the Americas. Unlike their previous works: A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America (Howell), A Field Guide to Warblers of North America (Peterson Field Guides(R)), and National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fifth Edition (National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America) (Dunn), this book has little value to a birder or bird watcher interested in field identification. Gulling is extreme birding, it appeals to a limited audience. But for instance: how does one separate a Little Gull, from several hundred Bonaparte's Gulls in a flotilla? I am certain the authors know what to look for, but they do not share that in a way I could easily understand. While there is useful information to be found, it is difficult to find. I think Roger Tory Peterson, might be rolling in his grave.
A Must For A Birder's Library May 31, 2007
16 out of 18 found this review helpful
Yesterday I received the brand new, "Gulls of the Americas" by Steve N.G. Howell/Jon Dunn, Peterson Reference Guide. This is quite a book! -- hard cover, definitely not a field guide as it is quite a bit larger and quite heavy, and with lots and lots of color photos inside. There are pages and pages of each bird in each cycle, standing, and flying, both from above and below. There are almost 300 pages of plates, each page having 4-5 pictures per page. For instance, Glaucous-Winged Gull pictures start on page 235 and ends on page 243. There are a total of 41 pictures of this species. Pages 300-500 are the Species Accounts. This includes range maps, identification summaries, and field identification sections. The book's Introduction is 46 pages which includes sections on field identification of gulls, and a lengthy section on topography and appearance.
The front inside flap says the guide "...brings together identification criteria for the 36 species of gulls that occur in the Americas - 22 that breed in North America, 10 that breed in South America, and another 4 that have occurred as visitors from the Old World. The 1,160 photographs were selected to show a representative range of plumages..."
I'm far from knowing much about gull identification, that is why I purchased this book, and so I won't weigh in on how accurate this book is. For everyone who has a birder's library, this should be your next addition. And at $23.10 at amazon.com, it is a steal!
And, maybe by this winter I will have enough time to study this book so I can actually identify some gulls !!
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