Compact Guide to British Columbia Birds

David Allinson is the president of the Rocky Point Bird Observatory in Victoria, B.C.

I have never been a big fan of “compact” beginner field guides, as I
feel that they only scratch the surface. Indeed, here we have a guide
that covers only 83 species of British Columbia’s bird diversity
(almost 500 species in total). Granted, such guides are intended to
target either a younger audience or true novices to birdwatching or
backyard birding.

The best part of Compact Guide to British Columbia Birds are its
illustrations (by three different artists), although I did find a few of
the poses and/or colours used in the illustrations poorly rendered
(e.g., song sparrow), which may make it difficult for novices to make
correct identifications using this guide alone. The text accompanying
each species is accurate and well researched.

No doubt, this guide serves to help tease the beginning birder into the
world of natural-history appreciation and understanding. I believe in
the concept of regional guides to the birds of British Columbia in the
format presented here, but I would have preferred that the authors had
chosen to increase its scope and scale. There is already a wealth of
more comprehensive bird publications available, and hence I cannot
recommend this book.