By Jerry Garden

As the title implies, the book Birds of Illinois is intended to serve those discovering Illinois’ birds. It was written by Sheryl DeVore, Steven D. Bailey and Gregory Kennedy, and published by Lone Pine Publishing. While the publisher’s initial foray into bird guides local to our area, Birds of Chicago was clearly aimed at beginning birders, experienced and beginning birders both will find in Birds of Illinois a great deal of information about birds visiting or otherwise populating our state. The introductory section is an easy read containing a plethora of interesting information about birds and birding, and a nice reference to several of the better birding spots the state has to offer.

Listing 319 species of birds that frequent Illinois plus an appendix with a few of the birds that occasionally venture into Illinois (such as the painted bunting and glossy ibis) the book is nicely comprehensive. The birds are grouped into families in the manner of many other guides and the groups are ordered by evolutionary antecedent, an order familiar to most birders and used by the American Ornithological Union in their official listings. Colored page stripes are used to ease the finding of these groups referenced from a listing on the back cover as well as from two areas in the front section. That’s the first time I’ve seen the back cover used as a resource for internal reference, enhancing the efficient use of the book.

The illustrations are very similar to the publisher’s (Lone Pine) Birds of Chicago, and although they are very well done, in a few instances they lack the technical finesse of guides with illustrations drawn to display field marks critical to identification. The large illustrations in a one-bird-per-page format limits somewhat the value of the book for field identification due to the difficulty of visual comparisons, and could have used call-outs for quick field mark reference. The text, however, does a good job of explaining ID field marks, behavior and voice, and includes such important incidentals as conservation status. It also lists places to find them in the state.

The maps on each page are expertly done and are probably derived from a combination of Steve Bailey’s experience with the CTAP project and the records of the Illinois Ornithological Records Committee. Another nice educational feature of the book are its explanations of bio-regions, a subject of interest to birders for theoretical factors that help determine the geological and weather limitations that restrain some birds from certain areas. This feature is of reference value as it helps us understand certain species propensities to inhabit certain habitat types. I wonder if the weight or size of the book might have been reduced if the authors had saved that topic for another text that could have served as a car-seat or desktop reference.

One obvious oversight in the introductory section is the omission of a reference to our own organization, Chicago Audubon Society, as well as to various downstate organizations of note in the reference to birding groups available to the birder. Another is the lack of reference to the book Birding the Chicago Region by Carpenter and Greenberg that is so valuable for finding birds in northeastern Illinois as well as the adjacent areas surrounding the southern tip of Lake Michigan.

As mentioned, Birds of Illinois is bit large and heavy for a field guide although by comparison to the original Sibley guide, it is a featherweight and, it seems, the trend these days is toward larger, heavier guides. The book appears ruggedly built although endurance has yet to be tested as the book is new and birders are notoriously rough on their guides. Although possibly a bit overpriced for the beginning birder whom it is apparently intended to include in its audience, at $20, the book is a good value in any stage of birding development.

Also new in 2004 are Lone Pine’s Birds of Ohio and Birds of New England. Log onto www.lonepinepublishing.com for more information or to order.