Updates and corrections to the 2016 Second Edition Western Guide

More information about the Western Guide

For corrections to the Eastern Guide: click here

Updates and Corrections

p. xix – lower left, the label reading “lessers coverts” should be changed to “lesser coverts”

page 9 – The main text block for Snow Goose is partially hidden by the image to the right, chopping off a few words from the ends of some lines. The full text should read: “Locally common in a few key wintering areas, elsewhere uncommon to rare. In winter, forms large flocks that forage in agricultural fields and coastal salt marshes. Two color morphs. White morph told from all-white domestic geese by pink bill and legs, dark primaries. Hoarse honking call harsher and more raucous than other geese, recalling Great Blue Heron. Flock chorus slow-paced, with single honks on varied pitches; pitch range greater than other geese.” and here is an image showing the missing words added in red.

page 17 – The map shown for Wood Duck is the wrong map. The correct map is shown here:

Click here to view a one-page pdf of this map. You can save the pdf, and printing it at 100% should produce a map of the correct size to trim and paste into the book.

page 39 – Mountain Quail

The text begins with “Uncommon. Uncommon.” delete one.

page 43 – Willow Ptarmigan

The map for Willow Ptarmigan is the wrong map. The map shown is a repeat of White-tailed Ptarmigan, the actual range of Willow Ptarmigan is very similar to Rock Ptarmigan. The correct map is shown here:

Click here to view a one-page pdf of this map. You can save the pdf, and printing it at 100% should produce a map of the correct size to trim and paste into the book.

page 193 – the final “t” on Murrelet is missing

page 221 – Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl is missing a weight in ounces, it should be 2.5 oz

page 254 – Page numbers listed next to images in the Falcon family summary are incorrect. The actual page numbers should be:

• Aplomado Falcon, page 257
• Gyrfalcon, page 255
• Prairie Falcon, page 257
• Peregrine Falcon, page 256
• American Kestrel, page 258
• Merlin, page 259
• Crested Caracara, page 254

page 310 – Purple Martin

Text just above the map should read “Females of Western populations average paler than Eastern…”.

And since all plumages except adult female are similar between East and West, it would make more sense to delete the “Eastern” labels from the adult male and juvenile images.

page 436 – Eastern Meadowlark

The images in the left column are duplicates of the images in the right column, so the southwestern (Lilian’s) subspecies is illustrated twice, and the eastern subspecies is not shown at all. The eastern subspecies, which should be shown in the left column, is slightly darker overall, more rufous-tinged above, with less white in the tail. Frankly, the eastern subspecies hardly deserves a place in this guide. The only known records in the region are a few in eastern Colorado. All records of Eastern Meadowlarks in Arizona and New Mexico are the Lilian’s subspecies.

page 458-465 – The checklist included in the book is missing some species, and has a few other errors. The full list of corrections is below.

A revised list is available at the links below as a pdf that can be saved to your computer and printed at home. Printing on both sides of a sheet of paper, then folding into three or four panels, and trimming the bottom edge, should result in a list that fits neatly into the back of the book. Two versions are available here:

For standard 8.5 x 11″ paper (in six columns so it can be folded into three parts, but with a smaller font)

For legal size paper 8.5 x 14″ (in 8 columns with a slightly larger font)

page 473 – The index entry for American Redstart (American, 377) appears under “Redshank”. It should be moved down to appear under “Redstart”.

page 476 – The first two index entries under “Warblers” are out of order, move Grace’s and Palm down to be in alphabetical order.