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Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach to Identification
A simpler and more user-friendly visual approach to gull identification
This unique photographic field guide to North America's gulls provides a comparative approach to identification that concentrates on the size, structure, and basic plumage features of gulls--gone are the often-confusing array of plumage details found in traditional guides.
Featuring hundreds of color photos throughout, Gulls Simplified illustrates the variations of gull plumages for a variety of ages, giving readers strong visual reference points for each species. Extensive captions accompany the photos, which include comparative photo arrays, digitized photo arrays for each age group, and numerous images of each species--a wealth of visual information at your fingertips. This one-of-a-kind guide includes detailed species accounts and a distribution map for each gull.
An essential field companion for North American birders, Gulls Simplified reduces the confusion commonly associated with gull identification, offering a more user-friendly way of observing these marvelous birds.
Provides a simpler approach to gull identification
Features a wealth of color photos for easy comparison among species
Includes detailed captions that explain identification criteria and aging, with direct visual reinforcement above the captions
Combines plumage details with a focus on size, body shape, and structural features for easy identification in the field
Highlights important field marks and physical features for each gull
This unique photographic field guide to North America's gulls provides a comparative approach to identification that concentrates on the size, structure, and basic plumage features of gulls--gone are the often-confusing array of plumage details found in traditional guides.
Featuring hundreds of color photos throughout, Gulls Simplified illustrates the variations of gull plumages for a variety of ages, giving readers strong visual reference points for each species. Extensive captions accompany the photos, which include comparative photo arrays, digitized photo arrays for each age group, and numerous images of each species--a wealth of visual information at your fingertips. This one-of-a-kind guide includes detailed species accounts and a distribution map for each gull.
An essential field companion for North American birders, Gulls Simplified reduces the confusion commonly associated with gull identification, offering a more user-friendly way of observing these marvelous birds.
Provides a simpler approach to gull identification
Features a wealth of color photos for easy comparison among species
Includes detailed captions that explain identification criteria and aging, with direct visual reinforcement above the captions
Combines plumage details with a focus on size, body shape, and structural features for easy identification in the field
Highlights important field marks and physical features for each gull
208 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 13, 2018
9 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 28, 2018
Ask your average birder about what families of birds are most difficult to correctly identify in the field and I can pretty much guarantee that gulls will rank high on their list. I mean they are all combinations of gray, white, and black. What can the poor birder latch onto as an easy way to distinguish individual species?
Since the sainted Roger Tory Petersen published his first field guide to birds back in 1934, field identification of birds has focused on plumage - its colors and patterns. But this just doesn't work really well for gulls. In addition to the fact that they are generally combinations of the three aforementioned colors, or non-colors, they go through a series of plumage changes over the years from their juvenile feathers to adulthood. Moreover, even in adulthood, the plumage of a gull in winter can be drastically different from that during the breeding season. Again, what's the poor birder to do?
Well, Pete Dunne and Kevin T. Karlson have some thoughts on that subject and have come up with a method of comparison that should prove useful to serious birders. It essentially involves a focus on size, body shape, and structural features, along with plumage details, in order to make identification in the field easier. Mastering this method, one could potentially identify a gull based on only seeing its backlit silhouette. As a guide, the book features pictures of such silhouettes of the twenty-two species (including one that has two sub-species) that occur regularly in North America.
The book also contains plentiful full-color pictures of the gulls in their habitats, along with all the information that any good field guide has about distribution, the status of the species, unique tidbits about their habits, food, and nesting. Gulls typically mate for life and both members of the dyad feed and protect the nestlings.
Gulls are intelligent and adaptable birds and this book should give all its readers better skills at being able to identify individual species, as well as a greater appreciation of the family as a whole. It is written in an easily understood conversational style that is appropriate to the information being presented and that makes it a very useful addition to the birder's library.
(Disclaimer: A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher, Princeton University Press, for the purpose of this review. Opinions expressed here are entirely my own.)
(This review was first published at my blog, The Nature of Things, https://birdwoman-thenatureofthings.b....) >
Since the sainted Roger Tory Petersen published his first field guide to birds back in 1934, field identification of birds has focused on plumage - its colors and patterns. But this just doesn't work really well for gulls. In addition to the fact that they are generally combinations of the three aforementioned colors, or non-colors, they go through a series of plumage changes over the years from their juvenile feathers to adulthood. Moreover, even in adulthood, the plumage of a gull in winter can be drastically different from that during the breeding season. Again, what's the poor birder to do?
Well, Pete Dunne and Kevin T. Karlson have some thoughts on that subject and have come up with a method of comparison that should prove useful to serious birders. It essentially involves a focus on size, body shape, and structural features, along with plumage details, in order to make identification in the field easier. Mastering this method, one could potentially identify a gull based on only seeing its backlit silhouette. As a guide, the book features pictures of such silhouettes of the twenty-two species (including one that has two sub-species) that occur regularly in North America.
The book also contains plentiful full-color pictures of the gulls in their habitats, along with all the information that any good field guide has about distribution, the status of the species, unique tidbits about their habits, food, and nesting. Gulls typically mate for life and both members of the dyad feed and protect the nestlings.
Gulls are intelligent and adaptable birds and this book should give all its readers better skills at being able to identify individual species, as well as a greater appreciation of the family as a whole. It is written in an easily understood conversational style that is appropriate to the information being presented and that makes it a very useful addition to the birder's library.
(Disclaimer: A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher, Princeton University Press, for the purpose of this review. Opinions expressed here are entirely my own.)
(This review was first published at my blog, The Nature of Things, https://birdwoman-thenatureofthings.b....) >
April 13, 2019
An excellent resource, with appealing photography and helpful observations. Even a first cycle amateur like me can profit from it. I think I'll be much better at misidentifying gulls from now on.
December 5, 2024
Phenomenal intro to gull identification in North America! Made the daunting practice approachable and digestible. Loved all the pictures and little quizzes in the details.
November 14, 2018
“I don’t do gulls.”
Is this the year when you decide to face your birding demons head-on? Will you finally tackle your last, and greatest, bird ID challenge, gulls? If so, then the book you most need is Pete Dunne’s and Kevin T. Karlson’s Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach to Identification [Princeton University Press, 2018].
This helpful book features hundreds of gorgeous colour photographs of North American gulls, illustrating plumage variations for a diversity of ages, teaching birders to really see these birds by giving useful visual reference points for each species. Further, photographs are accompanied by detailed captions that explain identification and ageing criteria that reinforce what birders should pay particular attention to in each image.
As field guides go, this book is different. Rather than presenting the vast, dizzying array of gull plumage minutiæ that are covered in traditional field guides, this handy manual takes a step back from all that: It uses a comparative approach to simplify gull identification by focusing on size, shape, and basic plumage characteristics of each gull species. It also highlights identifying field marks and physical features for each gull.
The book is 208 pages long and includes 330 colour illustrations that cover the 22 regularly occurring gull species in North America, along with 5 “dark horse gulls” — rare or unlikely gulls — and of course, hybrid gulls. It also features a photographic gull quiz with detailed answers to help you review key concepts that the authors are teaching.
This paperback is large and is printed on hefty, high quality paper so it is too back-breaking to use regularly as a field guide, but it is an excellent reference and study guide. (I also would recommend using it whilst sitting at popular gull roosts to methodically work your way through each bird present.) Although this book only covers North American gulls, the methodology can also be adapted and applied to identifying gull species in other parts of the world, too. Highly recommended for intermediate and advanced birders, as well as ambitious beginning bird watchers, and anyone who has decided that 2019 will be the year when they will devote themselves to “doing gulls”.
NOTE: originally published on Medium.
Is this the year when you decide to face your birding demons head-on? Will you finally tackle your last, and greatest, bird ID challenge, gulls? If so, then the book you most need is Pete Dunne’s and Kevin T. Karlson’s Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach to Identification [Princeton University Press, 2018].
This helpful book features hundreds of gorgeous colour photographs of North American gulls, illustrating plumage variations for a diversity of ages, teaching birders to really see these birds by giving useful visual reference points for each species. Further, photographs are accompanied by detailed captions that explain identification and ageing criteria that reinforce what birders should pay particular attention to in each image.
As field guides go, this book is different. Rather than presenting the vast, dizzying array of gull plumage minutiæ that are covered in traditional field guides, this handy manual takes a step back from all that: It uses a comparative approach to simplify gull identification by focusing on size, shape, and basic plumage characteristics of each gull species. It also highlights identifying field marks and physical features for each gull.
The book is 208 pages long and includes 330 colour illustrations that cover the 22 regularly occurring gull species in North America, along with 5 “dark horse gulls” — rare or unlikely gulls — and of course, hybrid gulls. It also features a photographic gull quiz with detailed answers to help you review key concepts that the authors are teaching.
This paperback is large and is printed on hefty, high quality paper so it is too back-breaking to use regularly as a field guide, but it is an excellent reference and study guide. (I also would recommend using it whilst sitting at popular gull roosts to methodically work your way through each bird present.) Although this book only covers North American gulls, the methodology can also be adapted and applied to identifying gull species in other parts of the world, too. Highly recommended for intermediate and advanced birders, as well as ambitious beginning bird watchers, and anyone who has decided that 2019 will be the year when they will devote themselves to “doing gulls”.
NOTE: originally published on Medium.
February 9, 2024
I'll probably never be good at gull ID, but if I get there (or closer to there), this book will be a part of it. Each section contacts incredible photos of the bird in question, frequently standing near similar birds so comparison of size, etc, is very obvious. Dunne primarily talks about the gulls in terms of "winters" rather than "cycles," which is a non-traditional approach, but just as effective.
The fact that species recur throughout the book in comparison shots also means you get frequent practice using previously learned knowledge (or recognizing that you've forgotten what you read 5 pages ago). It's an essential resource.
The fact that species recur throughout the book in comparison shots also means you get frequent practice using previously learned knowledge (or recognizing that you've forgotten what you read 5 pages ago). It's an essential resource.
May 30, 2023
Do I feel confident about identifying gulls after reading this? No. Do I feel more confident than I did before reading this book? Definitely. A straightforward guide to North American gulls, organized by similarities in appearance, which I always find helpful. Lots of useful pictures and "pop quizzes" to aid your learning. My only real complaint is that I wish the distribution maps were always on the first page of each gull's section, as that is a really helpful "yay or nay" identifier. Definitely recommended for those trying to improve their gull knowledge.
February 11, 2023
I'm not a birdwatcher, but I do spend a little time on the beach and wanted to know a little more about the gulls I see. I don't think I'll ever be able to tell a herring gull from a ring-billed gull, but I can at least mentally classify the gulls I see into a few groups now. Plus now I know what those gigantic dark-backed gulls I see are.
September 4, 2023
Gulls on my life list so far: ring-billed gull, herring gull, Bonaparte”s gull, laughing gull, Franklin’s gull, lesser black-backed gull, Iceland gull. Gull ID takes practice and I’m always glad to bird with more knowledgeable people who can help me learn more about gulls.
December 20, 2021
gulls are still awful to ID but this helps move the needle
May 25, 2022
This is the best gull identification book that I have found, especially for North American gulls.
February 4, 2023
Great resource if you are wanting to sharpen your gull identification skills! Also wonderful details about each species!
October 22, 2023
Excellent guide. Lots of photos, comparisons, and quizzes. Useful descriptions of size and structure. Some quirky comments.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews