Product Description

Birds of Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park: A Field Guide is a compact, current, easy-to-use field guide that identifies 336 species of birds that have been reported from in and near the Blue Ridge in North Carolina and Virginia and the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. This guide applies to one of the most beautiful and biologically rich regions of eastern North America, it includes only those species of birds that will be found in the region, and it can be used with comfort, confidence, and pleasure by casual and beginning observers as well as those with more extensive experience. Most of the guide consists of information about some 336 species of birds that are known to occur, or to have occurred recently, in the region. For the 252 species that occur regularly in the region, text containing identification information is presented on left-hand pages and figures of the birds, most of which are in color, appear on the facing right-hand pages. The area covered by this guide extends approximately 20 miles on either side of the Skyline Drive (in Shenandoah National Park) and the Blue Ridge Parkway, and about 5 miles beyond the borders of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #383925 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-10
• Released on: 2006-05-10
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 152 pages

About the Author
Dr. Ernest P. Edwards is an ornithologist with wide experience in teaching, research, administration, and publication. His formal higher education took place at the University of Virginia (B.A. in Biology, 1940) and Cornell University (M.A., 1941; Ph.D., 1949), and he served in the US Army during World War II and the Korean War. Early in his career, Dr. Edwards taught at the University of Kentucky and the University of the Pacific, served as Associate Director of the Houston Museum of Natural History, lectured for the National Audubon Society, and led bird-watching tours to Mexico — the last activity leading to the publication of his first book Finding Birds in Mexico, in 1955.

In 1965, Dr. Edwards returned to the East Coast when he joined the faculty at Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Virginia, a position he held for 25 years and during which time he taught many courses in the natural sciences and wrote and published several books on ornithology. Since his retirement from Sweet Briar in 1990 as Dorys McConnell Duberg Professor of Ecology, Dr. Edwards has remained active in travel, research, and writing.

Customer Reviews

A convenient, full-color field guide that lends itself to easy use by amateur birdwatchers and professional researchers alike
Birds of Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a convenient, full-color field guide that lends itself to easy use by amateur birdwatchers and professional researchers alike. Birds of Shenandoah National Park features a brief entry for each of 336 avian species sighted in the area of Blue Ridge in North Carolina and Virginia, and the Great Smoky Mountains. Each entry consists of the species' common name, its scientific name, its approximate size, a verbal description of its appearance and characteristic habits, and a brief summary of where it can be found during what seasons of the year; yet by far the most valuable identifier are the illustrations, almost all of which are in full color. An index, a checklist, and a brief supplementary section of birds that are not common in the area round out this elegantly useful guide.