The Most Up-to-date Field Guide Available

A review by Charlotte Wasylik

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 7th ed., by Jon L. Dunn and Jonathan Alderfer

National Geographic Society, 2017

591 pages, softcover

ABA Sales / Buteo Books NGFG7

Released last autumn, after a six-year wait, the new, seventh edition of the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America describes a total of 1,023 species. Thirty-seven of those birds had not been covered in the sixth edition, of 2011; the very first edition, now 35 years old, listed only 800 species. This new edition also offers 330 new illustrations, 50 new species maps, 16 new subspecies maps, banding codes, and an updated text.

The most immediately noticeable change in this edition is a new taxonomic sequence, with pigeons, cuckoos, goatsuckers, swifts, and hummingbirds sandwiched between the grebes and rails, thus much closer to the beginning of the guide; falcons are placed between the woodpeckers and parrots. This arrangement, thought to better reflect evolutionary relationships, is based on the North American Classification Committee’s 2016 Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list; an expert in bird taxonomy, Jon Dunn sits on that committee. As we have seen in the 2017 and 2018 Supplements, taxonomies continue to change, but Nat Geo is still the field guide most closely aligned with the official AOS sequence and nomenclature.

The cover of the new edition, like that of its predecessors, is dominated by a prominent portrait of a Bald Eagle. Thumbtabs instantly take the reader to the sections treating sandpipers, gulls, hawks, flycatchers, thrushes, warblers, and sparrows; if that triangulation aid is not enough, there is also an alphabetical quick finder on the inside cover. The front and back covers fold out to reveal a visual index to 86 groups. These thoughtful elements will be especially welcome to beginning birders—but this guide has much to offer to even the most seasoned birder. 

Join the American Birding Association at www.aba.org!