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More info on Kaufman guide



Let me add to Harry's comments that the photos in Kenn Kaufman's new guide
were "digitally edited" by Kaufman, and that's what makes the photos in this
guide so good (and makes it completely different from other field guides
that use photos). Kaufman spent over 3,000 hours editing over 2,000
professional photos, "correcting them for consistent color, size, and
lighting; removing shadows and other artifacts; sharpening contrast,
emphasizing field marks, and generally making them look the way [he] thought
they should, based on [his] years as a birder and artist." (p. 9, Birds of
North America, by Kenn Kaufman)

Also, Kaufman's range maps differ from National Geographic's in that they
show with shading whether a bird is common or scarce at four different times
(summer, winter, year-round, and migration). For example, the Nat. Geo. map
shows that the Protonotary Warbler breeds from the northern half of Florida
to the middle of Wisconsin, while Kaufman shows it commonly spending the
summer (red) from the northern half of Florida to the middle of Missouri and
southern Illinois, and being scarce in the summer (pink) further north (up
to the middle of Wisconsin). Kaufman's maps also use grey (dark = common,
light = scarce) to show migration routes, while Nat Geo often doesn't show
migration.

Charlotte

Charlotte Goedsche/Cynthia Janes
Asheville NC
goedschejanes@mindspring.com