Unlike other guides, which provide isolated individual photographs or paint illustrations, this book features large, lifelike scenes that are ‘painted in pixels.’ Nearly 300 pages of waterfowl scenes – showing waterfowl in a wide range of views – near and far, from different angles, in various plumages and behaviors, including flight, and in the habitat in which they live. These beautiful compositions show how a bird’s appearance changes with distance, and give equal emphasis to characteristics experts use to identify birds: size, structure and shape, behavior, probability, and color. This is the first book to convey all of these features visually – in a single image – and to reinforce them with accurate text. Each scene provides a wealth of detailed visual information that invites and rewards careful study.

By making identification easier, more accurate, and more fun than ever before, The Crossley ID Guides redefine how readers look at nature. Essential for anyone interested in waterfowl, it also promises to make new birders of many people who have despaired of using traditional guides.

This waterfowl guide also carries a strong underlying conservation message. If all the readers of this book come together as one, we can better protect the things we love.

The waterfowl bible with the award-winning Crossley-style plates

• Covers all of North America’s ducks, geese, and swans
• More than 5,000 photos in Crossley-style scenes – seen near and far, from different angles, and in various plumages and behaviors, including flight
• Includes other wildlife, beautiful scenery, and wing cutouts. Good teachers are fun, create reaction, and are interesting!
• Lots of mystery photos to challenge you
• Painting with pixels, rather than a paint brush, created apples to apples imagery
• Friendly, interactive writing style, cutting-edge ID, conservation, fun facts… and everything between