Basics: 2003, hardcover, 375 pages, 112 color plates, 345 species, range maps

Following up from his earlier atlas for birds of Missouri, the author has put together a good illustrated "guide" to all of the birds found in Missouri. This is not a field guide, but a slightly generalized identification guide. The 112 large color plates illustrate the birds very well, with each plate showing 1-8 species.

Each of the non-accidental birds in Missouri is illustrated with one, sometimes two, color illustrations. Although the artwork and detail is good – often with nice backgrounds included – these illustrations will not always be helpful for identifying all species. The key reason is there is only one plumage (typically breeding) shown for the male; and, for the female if it is notably different. This means you will not see the various age, seasonal, or subspecies plumages. But, keep in mind, this book was not meant to be an identification guide, but an illustrated reference for the Missouri birds. This is something the author has done well. My only minor critique of the illustrations is the proportion of the birds. Several seem to be a bit too short and deep-chested, making them look vaguely stunted or squashed (e.g., female Baltimore Oriole and male Yellow-headed Blackbird). But, this is minor.

One paragraph of text is given for each bird. This covers in general the habitat, status, behavior, and other natural history notes about the bird. Some brief descriptions are also given of the bird and its vocalizations.

The range maps use 6 different colors to denote the seasonal presence of the birds across Missouri as well as the adjacent states. With each map is a bar-chart showing the abundance of the birds in Missouri for each month.

Anyone who enjoys good bird art or who wants an attractive book that focuses on just the birds of his home state of Missouri will certainly appreciate this book.

I’ve listed several related books below…
1) Missouri Breeding Bird Atlas 1986-1992 by Jacobs/Wilson
2) Birds of Illinois by Bohlen
3) Birds in Iowa by Kent/Dinsmore
4) Iowa Birds by Dinsmore et al.
5) The Iowa Breeding Bird Atlas by Jackson et al.
6) Birds of Nebraska: Their Distribution and Temporal Occurrence by Sharpe
7) Arkansas Birds: Their Distribution and Abundance by James/Neal ( )