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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>"640 ... scenes created from 10,000 of the author's photographs ... lifelike in-focus scenes show birds in their habitats, from near and far, and in all plumages and behaviors"--P. [4] of cover.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p><b>A revolution in birding and field guides</b> <p/>This stunningly illustrated book from acclaimed birder and photographer Richard Crossley revolutionizes field guide design by providing the first real-life approach to identification. Whether you are a beginner, expert, or anywhere in between, <i>The Crossley ID Guide</i> will vastly improve your ability to identify birds. <p/>Unlike other guides, which provide isolated individual photographs or illustrations, this is the first book to feature large, lifelike scenes for each species. These scenes--640 in all--are composed from more than 10,000 of the author's images showing birds in a wide range of views--near and far, from different angles, in various plumages and behaviors, including flight, and in the habitat in which they live. These beautiful compositions show how a bird's appearance changes with distance, and give equal emphasis to characteristics experts use to identify birds: size, structure and shape, behavior, probability, and color. This is the first book to convey all of these features visually--in a single image--and to reinforce them with accurate, concise text. Each scene provides a wealth of detailed visual information that invites and rewards careful study, but the most important identification features can be grasped instantly by anyone. <p/>By making identification easier, more accurate, and more fun than ever before, <i>The Crossley ID Guide</i> will completely redefine how its users look at birds. Essential for all birders, it also promises to make new birders of many people who have despaired of using traditional guides.<br></p><ul><li>Revolutionary. This book changes field guide design to make you a better birder</li><li>A picture says a thousand words. The most comprehensive guide: 640 stunning scenes created from 10,000 of the author's photographs</li><li>Reality birding. Lifelike in-focus scenes show birds in their habitats, from near and far, and in all plumages and behaviors</li><li>Teaching and reference. The first book to accurately portray all the key identification characteristics: size, shape, behavior, probability, and color</li><li>Practice makes perfect. An interactive learning experience to sharpen and test field identification skills</li><li>Bird like the experts. The first book to simplify birding and help you understand how to bird like the best</li><li>An interactive website--www.crossleybirds.com--includes expanded captions for the plates and species updates</li></ul><p/><br></br><p><b> From the Back Cover </b></p></br></br><p>"<i>The Crossley ID Guide</i> is an interesting, multi-dimensional, unique take on a bird guide that delivers to a high standard for a specific target audience."<b>--Alan Tilmouth</b></p><p>"<i>The Crossley ID Guide</i>, published by Princeton University Press, is an awesome, major achievement, a stunning contribution to ornithological field identification."<b>--John Thaxton</b></p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br><i>The Crossley ID Guide</i> is a large format systematic bird identification resource with a number of unique features that make it well worth its remarkably low price. . . . The very strong features of the Crossley guide, however, prompt me to add it without reservation to the list of bird books you must have on hand if birding in the Eastern US or Canadian region is your thing.-- "Greg Laden's Blog"<br><br>[<i>The Crossley ID Guide</i>] is, bar none, the closest anyone has gotten to actually showing what the birds look like in life short of a video recording, and there's no better way to train yourself to be a better birder than by seeing birds in life.-- "The Drinking Bird"<br><br>A big, beautiful bird book.-- "Wannabe Birder"<br><br>A fantastic learning tool. Since my copy arrived, I have referred to it, almost daily.-- "This.Great.Planet"<br><br>An excellent resource to supplement any birder's library.-- "A Charm of Finches"<br><br>Believe the hype! The plates are incredible. . . . [People] will absolutely love it, especially people new to birding the main part of the book's target audience. . . . For me some of the plates were good enough to stick on the wall in a frame as a work of art. . . . I salute Richard Crossley's bravery. I think it's a brilliant, innovative idea and everyone should get a copy.-- "Urban Birder"<br><br>Contains more than 10,000 of Crossley's photographs (!) of Eastern birds of every type imaginable and in their natural environment. The effect is amazing, especially for a novice birder such as yours truly, since I often have a hard time imagining where a particular bird might hang out or what it would actually look like in flight rather than in the form of a hand drawing.-- "Birds and Words"<br><br>Each fresh page is a birder's Utopia--a bush bursting with warblers, a sky full of raptors, a seascape crammed with seabirds. The plates invite us to pore over them--there's so much to see and notice--and to interact with the images, building up an impression of the characteristics of each species from the many images. . . . Does the book live up to all the superlatives that have been lavished upon it? I'd have to say, 'Absolutely!' This book really will change the way many people approach birding.-- "Dig Deep"<br><br>Every birder (of eastern N. America anyway) will likely want a copy of this luscious volume for their shelves. . . . Every birder knows there is no such thing as a perfect bird guide--each has different strengths and weaknesses (and much depends on personal preference). Over recent times we've witnessed a long string of new guides, each tweaking one thing or another, yet really not all that different from those preceding. . . . HELLO Richard Crossley!! Here, we really do have an innovative, almost startlingly different approach. The volume is a joy just to leaf through! . . . Showing birds as one might actually see them in the wild, is at one-and-the-same-time an obvious, yet unique, approach--especially I think illustrative for beginning-to-intermediate birders.-- "Ivory Bills Live"<br><br>First impression: Wow! I love it. . . . The number of images in different plumages and postures will help the intermediate level birder move to the next skill level. . . . There is a lot of content for a $35.00 (list price) guide book. It's a buy recommendation from me.-- "Birdzilla"<br><br>For anyone who is a birder in North America, since many of these birds are found across the continent, I can't imagine being without Crossley's book and its more than 10,000 images.-- "Reading the Markets blog"<br><br>For those of you in eastern North America, particularly if you are a visual learner, <i>The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds</i> by Richard Crossley is a great way to begin learning the visual cues that are important in identifying birds.-- "Bird Watcher's Digest"<br><br>I like that Crossley states in the introduction that this guide's aim is 'to both serve and expand the world of birding, make it more fashionable, current, and exciting.' Boy, did he knock that one out of the park. . . . It's stimulating and challenging all at once.-- "The Flying Mullet"<br><br>I really love this book. . . . It is magnetic: it draws everyone to it with its energetic scenes of birds.-- "Birdfreak.com"<br><br>If his plate of Cedar Waxwings doesn't give you a pretty good grip on what the bird can look like, both close up and at a distance, in flight and standing still, nothing will.-- "OC Warbler"<br><br>If you love birds, whether you are a dedicated and obsessive birder, a backyard birder, or just someone who enjoys birds and wants to know more about them, you need to check this book out on your next trip to the bookstore.-- "The Nature of Things"<br><br>In my opinion, Richard Crossley does an excellent job of portraying the jizz of the species being studied. . . . <i>The Crossely ID Guide</i> is definitely one that both beginning and seasoned birders will want to add to their library, as it goes beyond the typical field guide in that it actively invokes the birder to hone in their observational skills.-- "Donald the Birder"<br><br>Richard Crossley has conceived and actually implemented a breakout idea for a general field guide to bird identification. . . . [W]hat (my old friend) Richard Crossley is doing with his idea of image, gestalt, wordlessness and recognition is mind-blowing. And it will revolutionize bird ID practice, discussions, and the scope of what each species is. Whether you have seen a bird and want to figure it out or you have been perusing his intuitive selection of what/how a bird looks and then you see it and know it too, I think you'll find Richard's guiding eye a game-changer for your birding endeavors.-- "Hawks Aloft"<br><br>The best-looking bird book I ever saw. Too big to carry around for some people, but a two-fisted lug can manage it. This book's not a field guide anyway; it's an ID guide. It's made for birding at home. You can read it like a novel. With pictures. A million pictures of a million birds from a million angles in their actual surroundings.-- "Two-Fisted Birdwatcher"<br><br>The most outstanding feature of this book is the wide selection of excellent color photos of the 660+ eastern birds of USA/Canada, including rarities. The 10,000 photos used to compile this book show vibrant colors and nearly all the plumage variations (gender, age, season, race) one would expect to see in the field.-- "Avian Review"<br><br>This book represents a revolutionary paradigm shift in the design and presentation of a bird identification guide. . . . A splendid addition to your birding library . . . or coffee table.-- "Pacific NW Birder blog"<br><br>This is an amazing reference guide in helping identify birds. . . . Every birder needs a copy of this book in their library and another copy on the dining room table for when you're having those 'bird' talks with friends. Congrats Richard Crossley for starting a movement to a new wave of ID Guides. I can't wait to see what you can come out with next!!-- "Mon@rch's Nature Blog"<br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><b>Richard Crossley</b> is an internationally acclaimed birder and photographer who has been birding since age 7 and who, by age 21, had hitchhiked more than 100,000 miles chasing birds across his native Britain and Europe. His love of the outdoors and his interest in teaching, design, and technology have shaped his unique vision for the future of birding and bird books. He is excited by the prospect of using new technologies to bring reality birding to a wide audience through many different media. He is a spokesperson for Nikon Sports Optics and coauthor of <i>The Shorebird Guide</i>, and lives with his wife and two daughters in Cape May, New Jersey.

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