This is the essential identification guide to the terns, noddies, and skimmers of North America. Covering every species and featuring hundreds of high-quality colour images, Terns of North America is the ideal companion for anyone interested in this charismatic but sometimes challenging group of seabirds. Detailed species accounts describe the size of each bird as it appears in the field along with structure, behaviour, flight style, vocalizations, subspecies, and North American and worldwide ranges. An incisive introduction lays out a remarkably simple approach to identification that focuses on key elements and addresses how to avoid getting bogged down in the variability in appearance. This state-of-the-art guide also provides additional in-depth coverage of the two most challenging groups of terns, Sterna terns and crested terns, aiding rewarding field identification while also highlighting the beauty and elegance of these marvellous seabirds.
Cameron Cox is the owner and operator of Avocet Birding Courses, a company that offers workshops and tours that focus on teaching birding skills and knowledge to make birding more fun. He is the co-author of the Peterson Reference Guide to Seawatching.
"[...] a terrific and attractively priced identification guide that should be on the bookshelf of every serious birder [...] This book is so good that one wishes it covered all the world’s terns or at least every tern in North America instead of just the species north of Mexico. As a result, there still is utility to Olsen and Larsson’s somewhat dated and less visually enjoyable Terns of Europe and North America. Regardless, this is a beautiful and informative guide and would be helpful for any birder."
– Gerry Hawkins, American Birding Association
"An outstanding book that will help with your tern identification."
– Deb Hirt, Muskogee Phoenix