How to Use

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a Field Guide
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All field guides are made up of a series of species accounts, one for each bird species. Each
account generally includes a picture of the bird along with the following information:

American Crow Common Name

Corvus brachyrhynchos Scientific Name
This cunning, inquisitive, vocal opportunist is one of

Species
the most widespread of North American birds.
Everybody knows crows. You may have seen one
A field guide pilfering the dog’s food, tearing holes in your garbage
bag, or emptying a temporarily neglected lunch bag.
Information
usually includes It is a mistake to underestimate a crow’s ability. Most
people have opinions about crows that run the
gamut from outright hatred to bemused admiration.
Very similar in appearance to the North-western
• habitat
Crow (Corvus caurinus), this species is larger, has a
• calls/songs
Picture
higher-pitched voice, and is less social during the
breeding season. The American Crow is also similar
in appearance to the Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus), • field marks
• size
which is smaller and has a distinct nasal voice.
Where American Crow overlaps Northwestern Crow
(e.g., Puget Sound, Washington) and Fish Crow
• behaviors
• appearance (Atlantic seaboard and southeastern U.S.), identifica-
tion is difficult, with voice the most reliable

• field marks character.

American Crows are found in a wide variety of
habitats, particularly in open landscapes, with
scattered trees and small woodlots. Clearing of
hardwood and coniferous forests, planting of trees
around prairie homesteads and urban centers, and
tilling of agricultural land has created additional
habitat for the species, which is now more abundant

Range Map than it was when the first European settlers arrived.

Text courtesy CLO All About Birds

Large-scale persecution during the nineteenth
century and first half of the twentieth made crows
shy of people. They learned quickly, however, that
there is safety from guns in villages and cities and
that food is abundant there.
Crows roost communally; often the same sites are
used year after year. Outside of the breeding season,
such roosts may contain thousands of local
Breeding
Breeding and winter
individuals, their numbers often augmented by
Winter
migrants from northern regions. When these roosts
are located in cities, they may become a nuisance
requiring management.

How Field Guides Are Organized

In most field guides, species are arranged according to an established taxonomic
order—that is, species that are closely related are found together. For example, all species
in the hawk family (Accipitridae) are found in one section of the guide, all species of the
woodpecker family (Picidae) are in another, and so on (see the “Classifying Birds” article for
more information).
Experienced birders can quickly find a species in a field guide by knowing which taxonomic
group it belongs to and where that group is found in the field guide. As a beginner, you will
probably want to use the index in the back of the guide.

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 How to Use a Field Guide

Most field guides include both common and scientific names in the index. Some list the
common names by their “first” names, some by their “last” names, and some by both! For
example, the American Robin might be under “A” for American or “R” for robin, or both.
Scientific names are listed in the index by genus first, then species.

Roadrunner, Greater ......................... 230

Robin, American............................ 380
Rosy-finch, Black ............................... 495

American Redstart ............................. 414

American Robin............................. 380
American Tree Sparrow...................... 448

Dimorphism
Some kinds of birds have different plumages (feather colors and patterns) depending
on their age, their gender, the time of year, or even the geographic location. Most field
guides include multiple pictures for these species.
For example, Northern Cardinals are sexually dimorphic (males look different from
females), so field guides always have two images to show the plumage of both male and
female. As another example, male and female European Starlings look the same, but have a
spotted plumage in the winter months and are mostly black during the breeding season. In
this case, field guides have two images to show breeding and nonbreeding plumage.
Find the American Goldfinch in your field guide. You’ll
Harold B. Key
see several different pictures, because this species shows
several types of plumage variation:
1. Sexual dimorphism (difference between males
and females)
2. Seasonal variation (non-breeding vs. breeding—
also called “winter” and “summer”)
3. Age variation (juvenile vs. adult)

We can tell that this American Goldfinch is

an adult male in the breeding season.

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 How to Use
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a Field Guide
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Not all bird species have different plumages. For example,

look up the American Crow, a species that shows no variation
in plumage at all. This makes it easier to learn what a crow
looks like, but it also means that, when you spot a crow, you
have little way of knowing whether it is a juvenile or an adult,

Jay and Kevin McGowan

or whether it is male or female.
Now that you know what’s in a field guide, try looking up
some birds that interest you to learn more about them!

We can’t tell if this American Crow is

a male or female, young or old, or if it
is in the breeding season, since crows
always look so similar to each other.

Suggested Field Guides

Try finding used field guides online or in bookstores. New guides can be purchased at
bookstores, online, or at bird-feed supply stores.
Birds of North America. Kaufman Focus Guides. Houghton Mifflin Company.

Birds of North America. Golden Field Guides from St. Martin’s Press.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. National Geographic.
National Geographic Society.

Peterson Field Guides of (Western Birds or Birds of Eastern and Central North America).
Houghton Mifflin Company.

Stokes Field Guide to Birds (Western Region or Eastern Region). Little, Brown and
Company.

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