National Geographic Field Guide to Birds: Michigan by Jonathan Alderfer

This series of pocket-size bird field guides began with the launch of the first two guides: California and Florida For the summer, the series takes you to two birding hotspots in the north: New Jersey-a favorite for birders, which gives you urban birds, suburban birds, and shore birds. And Michigan, which brings you glorious birds of the northland and of the Great Lakes area. Future titles will include: the Carolinas, Alaska, The Rocky Mountains, East Coast Canada, the Great Plains, and Texas-the ultimate migration ground that draws birds from around the world.

The books are designed for use by novices to experienced birders who want to take only the guide for the state or region they're visiting.

Each guide will be 272 pages and will feature about 150 birds-either as a main entry or secondary entry

Their handy trim is 4x6 and can easily fit in a backpack or pocket for easy access. Rather than alphabetically, the birds are featured by family, as supported by the American Ornithological Association. (A quick reference alphabetical guide on the inside of the back cover helps you find a bird quickly.)

The following points make these books the ultimate area guides to Birds:

Introduction: By an expert birder in that region gives focused guidance on how to look for the top birds in this region, where to look for them, and what to focus on when you see them.

How-To-Use: This 4-page entry is two-fold. It reveals the basic makeup of a bird, so users will become familiar with the bird parts and lingo in this and any guidebook; it also has how-to-use instructions with a keyed spread.

125 Easy-to-use Entries. The clean, straightforward layout makes it a snap to identify birds inthe field:

1.Each entry has a vivid photograph on the left page showing the bird in its habitat.

2.On the right page is a list of bulleted points called field identification clues

3.Then 3 main entries are: Behavior, Habitat, Local Sites.

4.At the bottom of each entry a "Field Note" gives an additional highlight to look for in the bird's behavior.

5.Secondary birds (about 25 per book) are featured in artwork next to the field fact.

Several features work together to make this the ultimate beginning birder's tool:

*A full index with boxes for beginners to start marking their life list.

*The alphabetical, quick-reference field index on the back inside cover,

*A color-coded index, which features drawings of birds by color, with page number- the best possible cross-referencing tool to put early birders on the track to lifelong birding.