Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 13:43:03 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Elise Kreiss Subject: Species Measurements in Bird Guides MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Kenn Kaufman’s and Sibley’s guides both give single measurements for bird length. Kaufman’s book states he is using an average; Sibley’s (new) guide states, “Actual measurements vary: length and wingspan by at least +/- 5%.” I like that the Peterson Field Guide often gives a range of lengths. That there may be a wide or narrow range is interesting; also that one species which is typically smaller than another might occasionally be larger. Am confused that Sibley has, say, Red-shouldered Hawk at 17 inches in length; Kaufman, also at 17 inches in length; Peterson at 17 to 24 inches in length. If Kaufman is using an average, why so lopsided? Red-tailed Hawk is the same thing; Sibley and Kaufman at 19”; Peterson at 19 – 25.” I am great fan of Sibley’s work, but also continue to wish when a picture is not present (e.g., first winter female is included; first winter male is not) some textual clue is added as to how the missing bird might be expected to differ from the pictures included as showing the “significant” sex and age differences. I suspect these are things one yawns over at a later stage of one’s birding career. I’m still at the earlier, tying myself into knots, stage. Elise Kreiss Baltimore ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================