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Review By Ken Tingley
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.
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