This definitive field guide is the only guide to use a fully integrated photographic approach to profile the extraordinary range of birds found in Western North America. The highest-quality photography brings nearly 575 species to life on the page, capturing their beauty and making identification quick and effortless.

The 367 species most commonly seen west of the 100th Meridian (in the United States, the region west of the Great Plains) are featured in full-page profiles that emphasize all the information needed to identify them. Diagnostic photographs are silhouetted and clearly annotated, and any plumages, whether female, juvenile, subspecies, and winter or summer, that differ noticeably from the primary image are also included and labeled accordingly. Detailed similar species boxes show the plumage that is most similar–in some cases the female or juvenile rather than the featured adult–and the most significant differences are picked out. Stunning context photographs show the bird at home, in its normal habitat or performing behavior that is typical of that species. Schematic artworks show the shape and posture of the bird in flight as well as its coloration, and a diagram of its flight pattern is also included.

The Southwest, a region characterized by its own region of birds where species common to northern Mexico may cross the border, is a popular destination because of the many species that can be seen nowhere else in eastern North America. The 80 most common of these southern gems are profiled in their own section of quarter-page entries, each with a stunning photograph annotated to point out the most significant field marks. A separate section profiles 128 species that are particularly uncommon or local in their distribution.