Birds of Pennsylvania Field Guide

by Stan Tekiela

Learn to Identify Birds in Pennsylvania! Make bird watching in Pennsylvania even more enjoyable! With Stan Tekiela’s famous field guide, bird identification is simple and informative. There’s no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don’t live in your area. This book features 117 species of Pennsylvania birds, organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don’t know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Fact-filled information, a compare feature, range maps, and detailed photographs help to ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see.

Genres: Birds, Nature, Reference, Science, Nonfiction, Field Guides

308 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2000

About the author

Author, naturalist and wildlife photographer Stan Tekiela is the originator of the popular state-specific field guide series and many easy-to-use identification guides for the U.S. Over the last 30 years he has authored around 200 field guides, quick guides, nature books, children's books, wildlife audio CDs, puzzles and playing cards, presenting many species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, trees, wildflowers and cacti found across the U.S. and in Canada.

Stan has a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural History from the University of Minnesota, and he has received national and regional awards for his books and photography. Also a well-known columnist and radio personality, his syndicated column appears in more than 25 newspapers and his wildlife programs are broadcast on a number of Midwest radio stations.

Stan leads instructional photo workshops and wildlife tours across the U.S. for both beginner and advanced photographers. He also gives detailed presentations about wildlife, complete with his award-winning photographs, to audiences of all sizes across the country.

Reviews

[Lauren Super · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect field guide for a beginning Pennsylvania birder like myself! Other North American bird guides overwhelmed me as I found myself constantly identifying a bird from my backyard, only to later realize that the bird is only found on the West Coast or somewhere else outside of the state. This book only contains birds that are actually found in Pennyslvania and each 2 page spread features a close-up color photo of both male and female and helpful tidbits for identifying your birds. Particularly helpful are the tips for distinguishing between similar birds. Using this guide I was able to determine the exact sparrow species visiting my feeder, something that had been puzzling me for months.

[NicholeReadsWithCats · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect size for throwing in my bag when we go hiking. Well organized by color making it easy to quickly identify a bird. In addition to the name of the bird there are fun facts about each bird listed. Also includes a beautiful picture of each species.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent guide book! We recently got a bird feeder, so I wanted to be able to quickly learn about our little visitors. The book is pocket-sized, so it fits in our end table. It is organized by feather color, which makes it easy to find what you're looking for. Each entry has a colored photo and basic information. There is also a good index, complete with check boxes so you can keep track of the birds you have seen.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal find! Lists birds by color not by body shape which makes it perfect for beginners and kids. We probably own 6 bird field guides but this is the one that gets pulled out again and again.

[Mark Luongo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a decent reference guide for my desk. I like how the photographs are juxtaposed with the text and vital statistics. That's real handy. Photos are great.

[Ginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first Field Guide, so this review might be way off. From reading a few infectious bird books in the past year or so and putting out a bird feeder in past seasons, I’ve decided birding is a habit worth getting into. But, you need a good field guide to have any chance at being even a “bad” birder. There were a number of options in my local bookstore. This one is small, compact, and sturdy. And it was one of the few that was centered on a smallish area (the entire state). A national birding book is too vast for me. There is a companion cd of bird songs. I think that will come next. The book references what track on the cd you can find a particular bird’s song.

Each bird gets two pages. The left page is a very well done photo of the live bird in question, with maybe a picture-in-a-picture of the other sex, or when it’s a juvenile, or when it’s out of season... very helpful. The right page has written descriptions of things particular to the bird. Of particular interest to me right now is the season and location the bird in question can be found.

So far, I suck at identifying birds. But, I still go out with this lovely little field guide in hand and try to improve my luck. This weekend I’m buying “bins” (what birders call binoculars) and with a possible continuation of fair weather, I have great hopes for my learning curve.

[Ela M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first birding field guide I've utilized, so I don't have much to compare to, but it's great! I picked it up to identify the birds nesting on my porch (barn swallows) and to scope out those around my feeder (blue jays, house sparrows, cardinals, ruby-throated hummingbird.)

It's great for quickly identifying since the pages are organized by bird color and the descriptions are listed in short, bullet-like sentences so you can easily skim. Similar looking birds are placed near each other and comparable birds are listed. This book is really all you need as a beginner birder, plenty of information but not too overwhelming.

[The Ink Sipper · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a perfect field guide for me and the kids to use. In fact they liked it so much I bought a second one to keep the fighting down. We used this for one of our science units, 4H project, and general home curiosity.

[K. Wolf-Valdez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful pocket guide. I actually keep this with me at all times, even if my goal is to go Birding.

[Sharon]

L

[Kim Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Empty nesters, IYKYK.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting