I got this basically to use while walking back and forth from work. I don’t know anything about birding, and I wanted something small to put in my jacket pocket. Not the typical ways of choosing a reference. It has beautiful closeup pictures, and its compact size means I can have it with me while walking around, as opposed to Audubon, Peterson or Sibley guides which would either require a big pocket or cause said pocket to be bigger. The book is organized by color, than size. I think that the organization into type, then size as the major field guides do is more useful, but this is not bad. Also, while the pictures are great, the major field guides use drawings that teach how to identify birds (field marks) and drawings may be better for that. Most useful as an introduction for someone that does not have a background in biology and has no contacts with other birders who know what they are doing. Also useful as a backup for field guides that are too big to carry around. The companion audio CD (available separately) also helps getting used to listening to sounds in the field.

I recently moved to the country and noticed a lot of birds that I had never seen before. Other than the obvious crow, robin, cardinal, blue jay, etc. I do not know much about birds. This book was perfect for a novice bird watcher like myself. The color coding makes it so easy to find what I am looking for. I love that the book has real photographs and also includes the male and female bird if they have different colors or markings. All of the introductory information is well-written and easy to understand. The “Stan’s Notes” section at the bottom of each page provides other interesting tidbits that I have found to be very helpful. I also bought the companion CD which I highly recommend. Can’t say enough great things about this product – 100% satisfied!