Review of Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds

The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds
Richard Crossley, Crossley Books, Princeton University Press, 529 pp., 2011. $35.

Reviewed by Clay Christensen
October 25, 2011

The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds was highly publicized before its release. Richard Crossley is a Brit, a life-long birdwatcher, photographer and very accomplished marketer. Some of the ads he placed in birding magazines were full-page, color and UPSIDE DOWN! The point was that this book was turning bird identification on its head.

The book is correctly titled an “ID Guide.” It really wouldn’t work as a field guide. It weighs several pounds, is 8 × 10 inches and 1-1/2” thick, not at all pocket-sized. I for one wouldn’t consider carrying it into the field on a birding outing.

But I think it is an innovation in helping with bird identification. Crossley has used some 10,000 of his bird photos, digitally editing them into identification pages for each of 660 bird species. That’s an average of more than 15 different views of each species.

Each of the most common Eastern birds gets a full page with views that are close-up, mid-range, and distant, including birds in flight. And they’re all set in the bird’s typical habitat, whether that’s a suburban yard for the American robin or a reedy marsh for the clapper rail. Less common birds get a half or even a quarter page.

One of Crossley’s aims is to help the reader/viewer to learn to see which identifying marks are still evident when the bird is at a distance or in less than ideal conditions. Most field guides show an idealized bird, close-up, in perfect light, complete detail, without branches or leaves in the way. In the field, you rarely get that view. Crossley gives you close-ups, but also lots of partial and distant views.

I think I will use the book as a study guide, especially before a field trip on which I might see some unusual or rare birds. Or to get reacquainted with warblers before heading out in the spring when you hope to be inundated with migrating birds and don’t have time to look up one before the next one pops in to view. (Hope springs eternal.)

The ID Guide has a long but informative introduction. Crossley outlines his objectives in putting this guide together. He wants the reader to interact with the photos, much like a workbook. In fact, he says if you aren’t into studying all the field marks of a particular bird, try just seeing how many you can find on a given page. It’s not easy; there are lots of birds hidden in the brush, in the bushes, and in the reeds. It’s a good exercise in its own right.

Crossley has a website, www.crossleybooks.com at which he has posted comments and corrections to his book. He invites readers to visit the site regularly for updates and dialog as well as to see what lies ahead for the ID Guide series.

This review appears on the Birdman of Lauderdale blog at www.ParkBugle.org and is used by permission.