The Crossley ID Guide

Co-Winner of the 2012 Bronze Medal in Environment/Ecology/Nature, Independent Publisher Book Awards Richard Crossley, Winner of the 2012 ABA Robert Ridgway Award for Publications in Field Ornithology, American Birding Association Winner of the 2011 Award for Excellence in Reference Works, Association of American Publishers "The biggest new entry into the field is The Crossley ID Guide, which has turned the traditional field guide on its ear. Anyone who has birded regularly in Cape May, N.J., has seen Richard Crossley and his giant zoom lens stalking at dawn, dusk and in between. He has, a la Kenn Kaufman, digitally lifted the birds out of those photos and then dropped them--perched, walking, flying, diving, swimming--into a habitat that is one big photographic background, thus creating a picture window onto each species. Simultaneously we see the species up close, far away, in flight, at a feeder, in flocks, sitting, singing. Scale is up for grabs, with some of the birds so small and hidden that you don't see them until a second or third look. But the effect is engaging, exciting and akin to the real experience of birding, where so much happens on the wing, at difficult distance and in odd light."--Laura Jacobs, Wall Street Journal "[Richard Crossley] tries to squeeze in as much reality as he can onto every printed page... Why put such images in an identification guide? Crossley calls it reality birding. He believes that you can become a better birder by studying the distant birds and comparing them to the larger close-up images. By noticing the similarities between the different images, you will learn to focus on the features that remain constant for a particular species. The rationale is compelling, and I think Crossley's approach might actually work... And, in case you were wondering, I love [this book]."--Michael Szpir, American Scientist "A major innovation in identification guides in that it is designed to teach you to see differently. If you follow the program, this book will make you a better birder. Following the British practice, the Crossley Guide is intended for study at home--not as a field guide... This is for anyone who wants to improve his or her birding skills."--Wayne Mones, Audubon blog "What's so different about the Crossley ID Guide? Everything. Crossley has designed his guide to reflect the way we see and identify birds. We identify birds by their size, shape, structure, behavior, habitat, and field marks. We [see] birds at close range, at middle and long distances, on the ground, in flight, in trees, and on the water... If you want to be a better birder you will find the new Crossley ID Guide to be [a] major innovation and a valuable tool."--Wayne Mones, Audubon.org "[The Crossley ID Guide] is innovative, exciting even, in the way the reader can interact with what is in effect a real-life method to bird identification, reality birding, unlike the traditional pointed arrow, look-and-learn approach... I have to say that each bird scene page contains a wealth of detailed visual information that made me look at not only the overall montage of birds, but also each of the subtly different individuals, and to even then search again through the page for more birds to look at. Just like a birding trip in fact."--Phil Slade, Another Bird Blog "I really can't wait to get my eyes on this thing."--Grant McCreary, Birder's Library "Richard Crossley has conceived and actually implemented a breakout idea for a general field guide to bird identification... [W]hat (my old friend) Richard Crossley is doing with his idea of image, gestalt, wordlessness and recognition is mind-blowing. And it will revolutionize bird ID practice, discussions, and the scope of what each species is. Whether you have seen a bird and want to figure it out or you have been perusing his intuitive selection of what/how a bird looks and then you see it and know it too, I think you'll find Richard's guiding eye a game-changer for your birding endeavors."--Hawks Aloft "Crossley's text is well written. It's informative. It avoids the stiff, style-bereft prose almost all other field guides contain... Crossley's text is worth reading. He'll make you a better birder if you do... We've been buried in ID books in recent years, flocks of them descending on book stores, all of them easily recognizable variations on the same theme. Crossley has given us a different kind of ID book, a book much more useful and helpful. He's found a new way to do it. Hurrah for him, and hurrah for us!"--Jim Williams, Minneapolis Star Tribune "Richard Crossley, in his forthcoming book, The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds, has used photography to aid pattern recognition. He has created scenes that depict the way birds actually appear in their natural habitats and by emphasizing the context, he hopes to make it easier for us to perceive the shape and size of birds."--Fannie Peczenik, Pittsburgh Birdwatching Examiner "Believe the hype! The plates are incredible... [People] will absolutely love it, especially people new to birding the main part of the book's target audience... For me some of the plates were good enough to stick on the wall in a frame as a work of art... I salute Richard Crossley's bravery. I think it's a brilliant, innovative idea and everyone should get a copy."--Urban Birder "An impressive piece of work and one I fell in love with after a few minutes. It has set the standard for modern photographic bird guides. Buy it."--Steve Blain, Steve Blain Presents "Bird Porn" "There's a lot of field guides out there. I don't always say this, but this is one you aren't going to want to miss."--Rob Fergus, Birdchaser "Every birder (of eastern N. America anyway) will likely want a copy of this luscious volume for their shelves... Every birder knows there is no such thing as a perfect bird guide--each has different strengths and weaknesses (and much depends on personal preference). Over recent times we've witnessed a long string of new guides, each tweaking one thing or another, yet really not all that different from those preceding... HELLO Richard Crossley!! Here, we really do have an innovative, almost startlingly different approach. The volume is a joy just to leaf through! ... Showing birds as one might actually see them in the wild, is at one-and-the-same-time an obvious, yet unique, approach--especially I think illustrative for beginning-to-intermediate birders."--Ivory Bills Live "What a fantastic book. I realized at once what all the other great books were lacking. This IS an 'ID' book, not an in-depth reference on bird data but a unique way of expressing easy ID in the field. It's perfect. The multiple positions in the pages are phenomenal--why hasn't this been done before? This is totally unlike any other bird book out there ever!"--Tom Watson, Wavetamer Adventures "What do all fieldguides and ID handbooks have in common? Obviously the answer is the presentation of distinctive fieldmarks, unique ID features that separate difficult species. Wrong! Because the Crossley Guide breaks the mould. The author has used every birder's experience to present a unique aid to ID--a guide that sees what the birder does, obscure views, distant views, birds in trees, in flight, in the distance on a flat marsh... Anyone who reads the text and looks at the composite pictures will gain something and most will get a great deal from this book."--Bo Beolens, Fat Birder "[The Crossley ID Guide] isn't a 'field guide' so much as an at home reference, or a learning guide. Looking more into it and thinking back to my early days I realized this is the perfect guide to give someone that is going to get into birding... Seeing pictures and poses that you will actually see of these birds adds a new dimension to the bird guide book."--Tim Avery, Utah Birders "With The Crossley ID Guide we can linger on each picture, read the brief captions which make up most of the text, and really get to know the birds... The sheer number of images makes this guide much more useful than a standard photo field guide... The Crossley guide is to old photo field guides what a top of the line roof prism binocular is to an old out of alignment pair of Tasco brand binoculars. You can use one of these all day, but the other one will eventually give you headaches... I think all birders would benefit from making a regular study of [The] Crossley ID. Get a copy and start having fun with it."--Rob Fergus, Birdchaser "Crossley's intent is to create an interactive experience--involve a birder of any skill level in the active practice of field skills without their ever having to leave home... Learning to look at the size and shape, behavior, probability and color of these stationary birds develops in the reader, a skill in seeing which later can be transferred to experiences in the field... While the photography is clearly center stage in this new Guide, I especially appreciated lengthy sections within the introductory text on bird topography, molt, and a discussion of eclipse plumage! ... It's not just another bird book. It's an inexpensive birding vacation."--Nina Harfmann, Nature Remains "[The Crossley ID Guide] is a really cool guide; [Crossley's] approach is unconventional and that's exactly what excites me most about it... This is a book I want to spend time with and get to know better. I think Richard Crossley can make me a better birder."--Laura Hardy, Somewhere in New Jersey "First impression: Wow! I love it... The number of images in different plumages and postures will help the intermediate level birder move to the next skill level... There is a lot of content for a $35.00 (list price) guide book. It's a buy recommendation from me."--Birdzilla "I can't help feeling that The Crossley ID Guide, and the others set to follow in its wake, will have as major an impact on bird identification as the silicon chip has had on photography in recent years... Crossley deserves nothing but praise for what he has achieved. I, for one, can't wait for the other bird ID books that are in the pipeline."--Ron Toft, Travel Editor "A fantastic learning tool. Since my copy arrived, I have referred to it, almost daily."--This.Great.Planet "The most outstanding feature of this book is the wide selection of excellent color photos of the 660+ eastern birds of USA/Canada, including rarities. The 10,000 photos used to compile this book show vibrant colors and nearly all the plumage variations (gender, age, season, race) one would expect to see in the field."--Avian Review "Princeton University Press has just published the first Crossley ID Guide in the U.S. This one is for birds in the eastern U.S. That means all species found regularly east of the Rockies. If you're visiting or birding in that part of the U.S., this book's for you."--Harry Fuller, Towheeblog "This is an amazing reference guide in helping identify birds... Every birder needs a copy of this book in their library and another copy on the dining room table for when you're having those 'bird' talks with friends. Congrats Richard Crossley for starting a movement to a new wave of ID Guides. I can't wait to see what you can come out with next!!"--Mon@rch's Nature Blog "For anyone who is a birder in North America, since many of these birds are found across the continent, I can't imagine being without Crossley's book and its more than 10,000 images."--Reading the Markets blog "The Crossley ID Guide is my brand new favorite birding field guide. Its unique photographic presentation, visual species index, and inclusion of many species that other eastern bird guides lack allow the birder to quickly and easily identify not only resident east coast birds, but also many of the common vagrants that may be seen here."--Brad Sylvester, Manchester Bird Watching Examiner "Given that there are already a half-dozen excellent field guides to birds of the US, is this new book useful to me? I answer, enthusiastically, yes! ... Another feature of this birding guide that Peterson and Pearson never dreamed of; it's interactive! I can try to soak it all the images on the printed page, but if I need more information, I can find it with a click on the website. The web version has labels, comments, and questions not included in the book."--Anne McCormack, Gardening with Binoculars "I like The Crossley ID Guide and I think it is absolutely awesome that someone has come up with a new way of presenting bird images in a guide format... It is a great reference, a beautiful book, and I strongly recommend that birders buy a copy."--Corey Finger, 10,000 Birds "The best-looking bird book I ever saw. Too big to carry around for some people, but a two-fisted lug can manage it. This book's not a field guide anyway; it's an ID guide. It's made for birding at home. You can read it like a novel. With pictures. A million pictures of a million birds from a million angles in their actual surroundings."--Two-Fisted Birdwatcher "The introductory pages clearly state the purpose of the book: to make the reader a better birder. As I first paged through the scenes, one of my initial thoughts was that this is more like a study book for birders, rather than a traditional guide to be used in the field... The scenes themselves are a pleasure to study. The photographs ... are arranged to show as many different plumages and positions for each species as possible. Birds are shown in flight, swimming, perching, hunting, socializing, feeding, preening, even mating... I give The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds 5 Goldfinches out of 5."--Amy Evenstad, Magnificent Frigatebird Blog "Remember those Highlights for Kids magazines you used to read in waiting rooms, the ones where there was a background picture with dozens of strategically hidden images throughout, and you had to find them all? Well, that's actually what birding is all about, and that's exactly what this ground-breaking new book gives you; numerous photos of each Eastern bird species, birds of different sexes, ages and plumage, in real life poses and situations, tucked into the habitats or settings in which you're most likely to see them. In real life, you rarely get a perfect clear view showing all field markings--instead you get a speck, an impression, a fleeting glimpse. This Crossley ID Guide gives you a chance to make sense of those glimpses."--Cathy Taibbi, Wildlife Conservation Examiner "Photo-guides are becoming increasingly commonplace but it is safe to say that this new guide is unlike any you have seen before! ... It is no exaggeration to say that this book has revolutionised photo-guides... For anyone living in or visiting eastern North America this is a 'must-buy.'"--Andy Stoddart, Surfbirds "[The Crossley ID Guide] is, bar none, the closest anyone has gotten to actually showing what the birds look like in life short of a video recording, and there's no better way to train yourself to be a better birder than by seeing birds in life."--The Drinking Bird "Educators...