[obol] Creme de Gull Books?/Corey K.

[Mike Patterson]

Unlike hawks or shorebirds, gulls are promiscuous to a degree
that overwhelms species boundaries.  As a result the variability
in gulls makes any reference way less than definitive, partly
because no reference could possibly illustrate the range of variation or
the nuance of hybrid swarms and partly because a lot of what 
lariphiles think they know is built on slippery slopes and
circular reasoning.

Sibley's big guide (not the Western abridged guide) is a perfectly
good place to start.  Olsen and Larsson's _Gulls of North America,
Europe and Asia_ is the most complete reference, but make sure you
get the revised and corrected version.  Don't let one of those
shady bookdealers sell you a 2003 first edition which is so chock
full of errors that it's no reference at all.  

Look around for a copy of P.J.Grant's _Gulls: a guide to identification_
for backup.

Other references which include gull material:
	Enticott and Tipling _Seabirds of the World_
	Harrison _Seabirds of the World_
	Harrison _Seabirds: an identification guide_

There are also several "video guides" which I have not seen, since
I rarely take my VCR with me when I gull watch.

But the bottom line is that anyone who is genuinely crazy enough
to get into gull ID needs to put in lots of time looking at gull
in dumps, cow pastures and parking lots, preferably with other
gullpeople who can set you straight or confuse to the point that
you'll take up empidonax ID instead.
  

Tom McNamara wrote:
> 
> OBOL,
> 
> I could've researched this myself, perhaps, but I figured I may very well be
> one among a number  (or several, anyways) on this  list who would appreciate
> the personal recomendations of some cognoscenti.   So please post to the
> list.
> 
> Which books are "gully" analogs to books such as Paulson's "Shorebirds of
> North America" and Liguori's "Hawks from Every Angle"....note the
> implication--Field identification. GOOD photographs and/or illustrations.
> For the present I'm not so interested in exhaustive monographs.
> 
> thanks in advance,
> Tom
> ps.             Corey K @ U of P---I replied to your email twice and got
> bounced back? spamfilter setting?
> 


-- 
Mike Patterson               
Astoria, OR                    
celata at pacifier.com  
 
I'm not jealous or 
Why I've never Seen Black-throated Blue Warbler in Oregon
http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/mbalame/archives/004174.html