Bookstores, libraries and nature stores have multiple shelves filled with all shapes, sizes and styles of birding field guides, but how many does an individual birder need? Just as birding preferences vary, the number of field guides any birder owns varies as well, but understanding the different types of guides and why you  may need them can help you decide what is best for your birding library.

Your First Field Guide

Seeing a spark bird inevitably leads a birder to find or purchase their first field guide.


It may be an outdated, dusty volume handed down from bird-loving grandparents, a juvenile guide given as a gift to a nature-oriented child or an inexpensive purchase from a used book store, but with the first page it opens up a new avian world for any novice birder. Learning about more birds, discovering similar species and studying range maps can inspire more exploration into birding, and few birders stop at just that first field guide. As they learn more, they gradually acquire more field guides, and choosing different types of guides will help any birder spread their wings.

Different Field Guides for Different Purposes

There are many different field guides that serve different birders' varying needs, from simple backyard pamphlets to more comprehensive or intensive volumes. What a birder enjoys most about this hobby and how they go about researching the birds they see will determine which guides belong on their personal shelves.

• Backyard Field Guides: These informative guides are ideal for beginners, and may be simple pamphlets from a local Audubon group or could be published books with a very limited scope. Most often, backyard guides feature information beyond the birds themselves, such as tips for getting started as a birder, how to choose binoculars or getting started feeding birds.
  
  Examples of backyard guides:
  
  - Pocket Naturalist Guides
  - Audubon Pocket Backyard Birdwatch
  - Backyard Birds State Series
   

• Basic Overview Field Guides: These are the go-to guides for many birders, and there is a wide variety to choose from. An overview field guide covers a relatively large region – typically a whole country – but with minimal detail. These are great for identifying birds, but usually do not include extensive tips for attracting the birds or trivia about different species. Most of these guides are relatively compact, but if the region covered is a large one, they can be bulky.
  
  Examples of basic overview guides (for North American birders; birders from other regions would find many similar guides for their own countries):
  
  - Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America
  - National Geographic Field Guides to the Birds of North America
  - The Sibley Guide to Birds
  - The Stokes Field Guide to Birds of North America
   
• Regional Field Guides: These localized guides cover large regions, but not as extensive as covering an entire country or continent. They may go into more detail than larger guides, and are generally more compact for easier field use. These are ideal guides for birders who generally stay in their local region.
  
  Examples of regional field guides: 
  
  - Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America
  - Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America
  - American Museum of Natural History Birds of North America Guides
   
• Travel Field Guides: Birders who travel need completely different field guides for their destinations. While birding tour leaders often have suitable field guides to borrow, many birders prefer their own guides to study before traveling as well as to take notes in or to mark which new birds they see. These guides are the same as basic overview guides, but localized to different destinations.
  
  Examples of travel guides:
  
  - Birds of Peru
  - Birds of Borneo
  - Birds of Europe
  - A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica
  - Birds of Southern Africa
  - Birds of Australia
   
• Favorite Species Field Guides: As birders come to love certain birds, they may wish to purchase a specialized field guide. These guides are much more comprehensive and often include detailed information for not just identifying species, but also noting bird genders, ages and subspecies. The amount of detail may be overwhelming for casual birders and these books may be less practical in the field because of the diverse geographical ranges of the birds they cover, but they can be fascinating for anyone interested in certain birds.
  
  Examples of species field guides:
  
  - Penguin-Pedia
  - The Warbler Guide
  - Parrots of the World
  - Owls of the World: A Photographic Guide
  - Hummingbirds: A Life-Size Guide to Every Species
   
• Research Field Guides: For birders who truly want to learn all about a bird species or field trip leaders, ornithologists or naturalists focusing on specific birds, research field guides are the most detailed, extensive guides, though they are not often practical in the field for basic identification purposes. These guides are elaborately detailed and may include annotations about research studies, detailed measurements, vocal analysis of bird songs and other intimate details. These books are also useful for the trickiest types of birds, and for any birder who wants to take their skills to the next level.
  
  Examples of research field guides:
  
  - Sparrows of the United States and Canada
  - Cotingas and Manakins
  - Nightjars, Potoos, Frogmouths, Oilbird and Owlet-Nightjars of the World
  - Petrels, Albatrosses and Storm-Petrels of North America: A Photographic Guide

Over time, most birders accumulate several different field guides that match their birding interests, and as those interests grow, they are likely to add even more guides to their birding library. Whether you choose just one or two field guides or you have too many to fit on a bookshelf, there is no set number of guides that is right for every birder, and the number of field guides you have is always right for your birding. Of course, you can always use one more…

Photo – Field Guides © Melissa Mayntz