Article Database - The Federation of Alberta Naturalists Field Guide to Alberta Birds

W. Bruce McGillivray and Glen P. Semenchuk. The Federation of Alberta Naturalists Field Guide to Alberta Birds. Edmonton: Federation of Alberta Naturalists, 1998. Illustrations, maps and index. 350 pp.

The Provincial Museum of Alberta (PMA) recently co-operated with the Federation of Alberta Naturalists (FAN) to publish an excellent field guide for those interested in the birds of Alberta. The Federation of Alberta Naturalists Field Guide to Alberta Birds grew out of the considerable work that went into preparation and publication of the Atlas of Breeding Birds of Alberta and the Butterflies of Alberta. Previous FAN collaborations on books such as Buffalo, Sacred and Sacrificed, by Grant MacEwan, and For the Love of Alberta: Ways to Save Your Natural Heritage, suggested FAN as a natural community partner for the Provincial Museum when it came to the publication of a popular guide for birders. The Field Guide thus became part of a longer collaboration which began during the mid-1980s.

The Federation of Alberta Naturalists has become the provincially recognized voice for the province’s naturalists. Its mandate, summarized on the back cover of the Field Guide, offers "for all those with a sense of wonder about all nature—from the familiar and common wildlife of the urban landscape to the endangered and rare plants of the remote mountaintops … a chance to share with kindred spirits." In this book, FAN’s support fulfills this goal admirably.

Dr. Bruce McGillivray, head of the PMA Curatorial Section, was inspired by his desire to disseminate the information obtained through the research and collections efforts of the curatorial staff, with FAN participation. He sought a "wider audience" than perhaps had been attracted to the comprehensive and scholarly Atlas of Breeding Birds of Alberta. The planned field guide was to be designed and written for the average birder, rather than for the hard-core birder or ornithologist. It also would present a true Alberta focus, rather than a type of "birds of western North America" volume, more readily available, or a modified "birds of Washington state." The material in this guide is directed specifically at the Alberta birder, and was generated through the research at the PMA over a period of time.

Dr. McGillivray is well prepared to undertake this volume. He obtained his Ph.D. in Ornithology from the University of Kansas (1981) and joined the PMA as curator of Ornithology two years later. He has published many articles in both academic journals and in popular publications. In addition to his present research focus on determining geographical variation among avian populations in Alberta, he continues to develop educational exhibits on the web. There always seems to be a balance between these two impulses—research and education. The Field Guide certainly carries on the educational function of his job in an effective way.

Glen P. Semenchuk, executive director of the Federation of Alberta Naturalists, is co-author of this book. He has spent over 25 years as an environmental consultant. In 1992 he completed editing the prestigious Atlas of Breeding Birds of Alberta. This pioneering project took five years and the volunteer efforts of over a thousand naturalists, who contributed their observations and photographs to the project. He now co-ordinates the Alberta bird database, and the Alberta Birdlist Program.

Generally, the guide is outstanding in its layout and graphic design. Perhaps the photographs of the birds are somewhat small for some tastes. However, as Dr. McGillivray notes, "that’s about what you generally see through your binoculars." While a manageable field guide cannot present the full range of immature, male, female and seasonal plumage, the photographs, generally of the male in full breeding plumage, are very effective.

The "field checklist" located on each page is also a useful part of this book. Since most people identify a bird within its context—that is, by its song or some unusual behaviours, information is presented through the four categories of habitat, sight, sound and behaviour. Inserted images of eggs within the photographic frame are a bit less successful; developed from the recent virtual egg exhibit now on display at the PMA, these images sometimes lack detail because of their small size, and they impinge on the image of the bird itself. However, the photographs, collected from volunteers around Alberta during preparation of the bird atlas, are generally outstanding. Sometimes colours are lost during publication, perhaps because of the small size of the photograph—for example, with the purple martin. A planned revised edition will make use of additional improved digital images to overcome these infrequent problems in the first edition. I also felt that a metric size guide would have been useful. While the book wisely rejects use of the popular "sparrow-sized" type of description, the needs for some of us older "pre-metric" readers to make the translation could have been helped through this simple device.

The Federation of Alberta Naturalists and Provincial Museum of Alberta can be proud of this book. Sharp, clear layout, with "quick reference" colour guide to the bird groups, clear species range maps, and colour-coded species time charts to indicate probability of sightings, all add greatly to the usefulness for the novice birder, classroom usage and educational field trips. Its inclusion of the species list, and the Alberta Birdlist, encourage everyone to become involved in the broader environmental survey movement, and recognizes the importance of documenting fluctuations of wildlife populations.

Alberta poet Lyle Weiss once told me that the book that first taught him the most about Alberta when he moved to the province was Salt and Salt’s Birds of Alberta (1976), the still-helpful but out-of-print precursor of the current field guide. As he travelled about Alberta seeking out its birds, he began to appreciate many other aspects of his new home. Perhaps this excellent new and updated book will fill the same role for others. It certainly deserves to.

Ken Tingley is an historical resource consultant living in Edmonton. He is Senior Researcher at the Loyal Edmonton Regiment Museum. His latest book is For King and Country: Alberta in the Second World War.