Compact Guide to Alberta Birds

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

Lone Pine Publishing, the masters of repackaging for niche markets, have
found yet another way to “slice and dice” their field guide
information. This time they are marketing pocket-sized bird guides at
about half the price of their standard guides.

These much-scaled-down volumes each contain 83 species. The
illustrations are identical to those in the standard guides, and much of
the textual content is present. Some of this information is new, some
has been updated, and some has been highlighted in “Did You Know?”
and “Look For” boxes. The most notable new features in the guides
are the images of bird eggs, small images of similar species for
comparison, and field identification notes added to the images.

Much of the content in the Alberta guide is identical to that found in
the Saskatchewan and Manitoba guide. because many of the birds are the
same. Occasionally, however, the two volumes have slightly different
descriptions of the same bird, although the images are identical.
Species status information is specific to each book, appropriately
reflecting the significant variations in the status of individual
species across the three prairie provinces.

The addition of the egg images and comparison species illustrations are
probably not significant enough improvements for libraries holding the
standard field guides to purchase these volumes. Serious birdwatchers
will quickly find the number of species a limitation. In a quick test
run out of Edmonton in April, when only the early migrants are back, I
encountered three species not included in the compact Alberta guide.

The real market for these volumes is the casual birdwatcher. For this
market, the compact guides are an excellent product. The design is crisp
and uncluttered; the images are clear, the colours vibrant, and the text
readable.