By the National Audubon Society. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 2021: 907 pages, 1,000+ color photographs and myriad thumbnail range maps. ISBN: 978-0-525-65567-1. $49.95 (flexible cover).
Every few years, the National Audubon Society, National Geographic Society, or other national organization publishes yet another photographic compendium to the birds of North America. They can do this because bird photography in the digital age has exploded, and more and more stunning images become available to the photo editor. And, moreover, printing technology indeed advances, making the end product that much more pleasing to the eye.
This new work, at 907 pages virtually “bursting at the seams” with bird imagery and text, is without doubt the king of the hill among these North American heavyweight texts. Compare this with Kenn Kaufman's once legendary Lives of North American Birds (1996), and the advances are stunning. Whereas Kaufman's popular tome reproduced, at small scale, a...