Nature

The Bird Guide: North America

    Illustrated by
  • Ian Lewington
  • Lorenzo Starnini

The Bird Guide is a landmark field guide to the birds of North America, combining unmatched illustration, field expertise, and modern data to redefine how birds are identified and understood

Published in association with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology



Paperback

Price:
$35.00/拢30.00
ISBN:
Published:
Mar 9, 2027
Copyright:
2027
Pages:
672
Size:
6 x 9 in.
Illus:
7,000 color illus. 75 spectrograms. 800 maps.

Representing a new era in bird identification, The Bird Guide illustrates North America鈥檚 spectacular avifauna in unparalleled depth, precision, and beauty. The written accounts provide an unprecedented view of birds, bringing together decades of field expertise with insights drawn from billions of bird observations, photos, sounds, and videos contributed by birders to the Cornell Lab鈥檚 eBird project and Macaulay Library. Designed to work with the digital tools that have introduced millions of people to birding, this guide delivers an experience no screen can replicate: side-by-side comparisons of similar species, quick access to key field marks, and detailed facing-page accounts that train the eye and sharpen field identification skills.

  • Covers 818 regularly occurring species and 158 rare visitors across the United States and Canada
  • Features more than 7,000 illustrations covering plumage, age, sex, and subspecies and hundreds of vignettes showing birds in habitat
  • Intuitively designed ID plates and facing-page text allow side-by-side comparison of similar species and provide deep ID context that is impossible to achieve on mobile screens
  • Comprehensive 鈥淪ounds鈥� sections offer expert guidance for interpreting vocalizations and separating confusing species
  • Complements the strengths of the Merlin Bird ID app, bridging page and smartphone in a field-ready system for sound ID
  • eBird integration includes global nomenclature, including subspecies, across the guide and Merlin, ensuring ease of identification and data sharing
  • Distribution maps powered by eBird data transform millions of observations into new insights about bird distribution and abundance

The Bird Guide brings together a world-class team that fuses decades of unsurpassed field expertise with incomparable artistry. Brian L. Sullivan and Christopher Wood are leaders of eBird. Tour leading and teaching have made Michael O鈥橞rien a legendary birder, and North America鈥檚 premier bird sound expert. Prolific author and international tour leader Steve N. G. Howell鈥檚 uncompromising field expertise has shaped modern bird identification. Paired with the artistic mastery of Ian Lewington and Lorenzo Starnini, two of the world鈥檚 finest bird illustrators, The Bird Guide is the most comprehensive, beautifully illustrated, and technologically integrated field guide to North American birds ever produced.