Book Review - Field Guide to North American Flycatchers - Kingbirds and Myiarchus - Princeton University Press

 

          I would stand no risk of being accused of hyperbole were I to state that birders have been waiting for this book for a very long time. Following on the heels of their earlier work on Empidonax flycatchers and Contopus pewees, Cin-Ty Lee and Andrew Birch continue to provide identification tips for birds that are among the most difficult to identify, especially where the ranges of similar species overlap. It is not without courage that such a challenge has been accepted by this author and this artist.

     Birch's artwork is superb, and I wholeheartedly agree with the comment made on page 2 of the preface, viz " .....this volume consists of illustrations, spectrograms and maps; but there are no photographs. Subtle differences in colour contrast are difficult to reproduce consistently in photographs due to lighting and camera exposure conditions.  Only through illustrations can these subtle differences in colour and shape be idealized and communicated."

     Where I live in southern Ontario there is only one Tyrannus and one Myiarchus to deal with, so identification is pretty straightforward, but in South Texas, for example, where five Tyrannus and three Myiarchus regularly occur (and vagrancy is more frequent), it's a whole other story.

     Key features that separate the birds appear clear on the page of a book; in life, however, with birds perching briefly, flying rapidly and remaining partly hidden, subtle differences are often (if not usually) hard to see.

     Vocalization remains a defining component of  flycatcher identification, and the ear is invariably more reliable than the eye when deciding between two similar species. The spectrograms provided are incredibly useful.

     This does not minimize, however, the value of the characters elucidated by Lee and illustrated by Birch. As in all things, the old adage, "practice makes perfect" is the pathway to proficiency, and dogged determination and the willingness to make mistakes are attributes not unfamiliar to birders, even the seasoned and proficient among us.

      We are fortunate to live during this explosion of specialized identification guides, which not only enable us to improve our skills, but furnish incredible satisfaction in simply learning more about the birds we love.

     The books themselves are a wonder to behold, a repository of knowledge and visual simulation.

     May many more follow!

Field Guide to North American Flycatchers: Kingbirds and Myiarchus - Princeton University Press

Cin-Ty Lee; illustrated by Andrew Birch

Paperback - US$19.95 - ISBN: 9780691240640

200 pages, 5 x 8 inches (12.5 x 20 cm) - 56 colour, 18 black-and-white illustrations - 17 maps - 51 spectrograms

Publication date: 09 April, 2024