Field guides can be intimidating to any kid who鈥檚 just getting into birding. There are hundreds of different North American species to flip through, many of which appear dizzyingly alike (I鈥檓 talking about you, ). There鈥檚 confusing jargon, from 鈥渃overts鈥 and 鈥渁uriculars鈥 to 鈥渞iparian鈥 and 鈥渉ybridization.鈥 And then there鈥檚 the weight: For some of the heftier ones, it鈥檚 like lugging around an unabridged dictionary.
That鈥檚 why kid-friendly guides are the way to go. Most of them offer a simpler layout鈥攚ith short descriptions and range map鈥攁nd only include common species that young birders are likely to see close to home. More importantly, they have easy-to-reference photos and colors that really pop, Casey O鈥機onnor, an employee at Cape Cod鈥檚 famed Bird Watcher鈥檚 General Store, says.
Ultimately, selecting the right field guide for a budding Roger Tory Peterson or Phoebe Snetsinger comes down to a few things: age, where they are in their birding journey, whether an experienced birder will be helping them, and what draws them in visually, according to Karen S. McDonald, the education program coordinator at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland, who works with about 5,000 schoolchildren a year. 鈥淚鈥檇 let them look at [the guides] in the store and see what they like,鈥 McDonald says.
These six titles came highly recommended by birding instructors, teachers, and our own field testing.
The Young Birder's Guide to North America; , ages 9 to 12. This comprehensive guide, part of the eminent Peterson series, features 300 North American species, along with a myriad of tips on how to be a better birder (dress right, don鈥檛 freak the birds out, clean your binoculars frequently, etc.). It also includes a checklist for lifers and assures its readers that birding is cool, citing feather-struck presidents and rock stars as proof. While it鈥檚 mostly a photographic guide, it does incorporate some drawings to highlight species-specific behaviors and characteristics.
探花精选 First Field Guide: Birds; , ages 9 to 12. This pocket-size primer starts out with a brief lesson on what makes a bird a bird, touching on taxonomy, anatomy, flight, eggs, and the various types of feathers. It then morphs into a real field guide with close-up images of 50 common North American species, plus smaller photos of about 125 others.
Stokes Beginner's Guide to Birds; $8, for and , all ages. Like the 探花精选 book, the series (broken up into Eastern and Western birds, and also available for , , and ) depends on eye-grabbing photos to engage the reader and is easy to carry everywhere. Unlike 探花精选, it illustrates differences between male and female plumages when relevant. The guide is organized by color, which makes it perfect as a quick reference.
National Geographic Kids Bird Guide of North America; , ages 8 to 10. Some birders prefer drawings to photographs, but there are pros and cons to both. Nat Geo resolves the age-old conundrum by including illustrations and stills of the majority of the 100 species it profiles in this book. The birds are lumped together by habitat鈥攆or example, Eastern backyards or rivers and marshes鈥攔ather than taxonomically, with fun facts on all of them. As an added bonus, the guide shows how to make a birdfeeder and birdbath, how to draw avians, and what people can do to help protect them.
The Sibley Guide to Birds; , all ages. There comes a point in every birder鈥檚 life when a starter guide will no longer do. For me, it came during a fifth-grade trip to the Everglades, when I realized I wanted to identify every bird in the country. For those ready to make such a leap, there are a number of ; the Sibley Guide turned out to be the best fit for me.
As a parent, I鈥檝e learned the Sibley doubles as an engrossing picture book for my 21-month-old son. (He鈥檚 apparently decided that the other bird books I鈥檝e shown him are too elementary.) During our walks around the neighborhood, he鈥檒l cry out 鈥渂ird鈥 every time we spot one of the local crows, scrub-jays, or California Towhees. I have Sibley to thank for that.
Merlin Bird ID; , all ages. If a book can鈥檛 get a kid鈥檚 attention, then a smartphone ought to do the trick. This free app, designed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, boils down the ID process into five simple questions, making it the perfect tool for early birders. 鈥淲hat size was the bird?鈥 鈥淲hat were the main colors?鈥 Using these answers, Merlin will then come up with a list of possible species matches. 鈥淚鈥檝e had a huge amount of success using that with kids because kids are like magically intuitive when it comes to technology,鈥 Kelly Schaeffer, an education specialist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, says. The latest feature also lets you upload a photo and have the visual-recognition software identify it for you.