Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America

The Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America

A totally new method of illustrating a field guide

A debate had raged for years: should bird guides be illustrated with paintings, or with photos? Each approach had its drawbacks. Even the best artists struggled to depict the subtle appearance that would make each bird distinctive. Photographs could capture these subtle details, but they were often very misleading, because photos of wild birds are taken under such variable conditions of lighting, distance, background, and so on. I had decided several years ago that the best approach would be to start with photos and then edit them to make them directly comparable to each other. The development of computer programs for digital editing of photos finally made this possible in the mid 1990s, and I used this method to illustrate the Kaufman Field Guide, which first appeared in 2000.

Organization of the book: The birds in the guide are organized into 15 separate sections, arranged by similarity rather than strict scientific sequence. Each section is marked with color tabs on the edge of the page to make it easier to find. Within each section and on each page, the most common and widespread birds are usually treated first and most thoroughly.

Index: The index in the book doubles as a checklist, so you can mark off your life list of birds you've seen. The last page of the book is a one-page "quick index" to help you navigate to the right page right away if you already know what general type of bird you are seeing.

Two-page spread from the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America. Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Company.

A unique table of contents: Most books have a table of contents, but this one has a four-page Pictorial Table of Contents to direct you to the right section of the book quickly. If you don't know what a "warbler" looks like, for example, you'll find eight pictures here to help you decide if the mystery bird in front of you is a warbler, and other pictures will help to clarify what's meant by "shorebirds," "chicken-like birds," "birds of prey," and so on. This will allow you to turn to the most likely section of the book right away rather than just flipping through the pages.