A full-color photographic guide to these captivating and challenging birds

This is the essential identification guide to the terns, noddies, and skimmers of North America. Covering every species and featuring hundreds of high-quality color images, this book is the ideal companion for anyone interested in this charismatic but sometimes challenging group of seabirds. Detailed species accounts describe the size of each bird as it appears in the field along with structure, behavior, flight style, vocalizations, subspecies, and North American and worldwide ranges. An incisive introduction lays out a remarkably simple approach to identification that focuses on key elements and addresses how to avoid getting bogged down in the variability of appearance. This state-of-the-art guide also provides additional in-depth coverage of the two most challenging groups of terns, Sterna terns and crested terns, aiding field identification while also highlighting the beauty and elegance of these marvelous seabirds.

• Features more than 325 stunning color photos, with side-by-side comparisons of similar species throughout
• Includes detailed captions for each image that describe age and key identification traits
• Covers 19 species found in North America, including the most frequent vagrants
• Presents a unique, simplified approach to field identification
• Explains the fundamentals of molts, plumages, and hybridization
• Provides in-depth coverage of Sterna terns and crested terns

About the Author
Cameron Cox is owner and operator of Avocet Birding Courses, a company that offers workshops and tours that focus on teaching birding skills and knowledge to make birding more fun. He is the coauthor of the Peterson Reference Guide to Seawatching.

Reviews
"A Birdbooker Report Best Bird Book of the Year"
"Tern lovers rejoice! A new book about the angelic-looking, identification-stumping birds of the oceans, rivers, and marshes has finally been published! And it's fantastic."---Donna Schulman, 10,000 Birds
"An outstanding book that will help with your tern identification."---Deb Hirt, Muskogee Phoenix
"The sheer strength of the book lies in the many sensational photos of terns. . . . Bird photography crosses into art and thrills the reader into discovering more about this rather special family of beautiful and elegant birds. . . . This book is another winner from Princeton."---Phil Slade, Another Bird Blog
"A beautiful book. It has got some amazing photos. . . . Anyone who is interested in tern identification, or thinking about terns, or even just wants a book with some absolutely gorgeous photographs of terns in them, would love this."---Nate Swick, American Birding Association
"Superbly put together, with excellent, informative text and a plethora of high grade images to illustrate the species. [Terns of North America] is a serious guide, but all credit to Cameron Cox who peppers the text with humour. . . . It's a fine book, packed with information, well presented in every way. I will be using it often."---David M. Gascoigne, Travels With Birds
"A MUST-have."---Ian Paulsen, The Birdbooker Report
"This really is a very good book . . . it approaches the subject in a very thoughtful and helpful way both in the images and the words. I don't think many could have written such a clear book on this subject so I am very grateful to Cameron Cox for leading the way."---Mark Avery, Mark Avery blog



Book Information
ISBN 9780691161877
Author Cameron Cox
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press