Joe, There are so many great reference books out there on birds that it behooves one to prioritize. Which group of birds do you wish to learn first ? What group of birds will you have access to on a frequent basis e.t.c. Buying more field guides is one way to go, but it appears you already own my two favorites. The following is a list of three of my favorite books which deal in depth with a particular group of birds i.e. gulls, warblers e.t.c... 1. Warblers of the Americas -Jon Curson, David Quinn , illustrated by David D Beadle. 2. The Sparrows of the United States and Canada - By James D Rising , illustrated D. D. Beadle 3. Hawks in flight - by Pete Dunne, David Sibley, and Clay Sutton Both the first and second books on this list have the same illustrator.... and he is extremely good.... The color plates in both of these books are, for me, works of art. Both books are filled with reams of info on their respective subjects. I found my skills immediately improved after purchasing and reading these two books. Pete Dunne's book is slightly different in scope and presentation. In fact it diverges completely from typical field guides/ reference books in that it's emphasis is on the "gestalt" of a given species and not the traditional field marks used to separate one raptor from another. Training oneself to see the overall giz of a bird, noting behavior and silhouette, flight style e.t.c. is extremely useful and lessons which can and should be applied to study of other classes of birds. William p.s. Buteo Books has an excellent selection and the owner is a dedicated birder and has given me excellent advice/suggestions e.t.c. . Phone: 1-800-722-2460 -----Original Message----- From: Joseph j Halpin <halpinj@Juno.com> To: MDOSPREY@ARI.Net <MDOSPREY@ARI.Net> Date: Friday, January 22, 1999 8:04 AM Subject: reference book >I have the Naional Geographic Guide; what is a good book as a supplement >to this guide? I seem to have particular problems with sparrows, raptors >and gulls or maybe I should say any species where the differences are not >standout obvious. I like the Peterson's guides because they have the >pointers. Are there other guides which are particularily useful as >supplements to the NG? > >Thanks, >Joe Halpin >Silver Spring, MD >email: halpinj @juno.com > >___________________________________________________________________ >You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. >Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html >or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]