Great Book Review: The Stokes Guide to Finches of the United States and Canada

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"BOOK NOTE: IT’S FINCH TIME! (Review from The Birding Community E-Bulletin) If you ever wanted a way to unravel the complexities of identifying and understanding better the world of North American finches – grosbeaks, rosy-finches, crossbills, goldfinches, and the other myriad finches – you now have a book that should seriously help you in your quest. It’s The Stokes Guide to Finches of the United States and Canada (Little, Brown and Company, 2024) by Lillian Q. Stokes and Matthew A. Young.

The birds in the guide are smartly arranged into three groups: 18 main breeding finches, 9 vagrant finches, and the 17 endemic finches (honeycreepers) of Hawaii. But the book contains much more than the ID specifics – with revealing color photos for each species (including plumages, subspecies, and voice). The book also has excellent range maps, wonderful and brief information on the usual life-history for each species, summaries on up-to-date research, extensive details to help understand finch irruptions, conservation, research, attracting finches, and more. The formatting of the book is both creative and user-friendly. Yes, the book presents just about everything you wanted to know about finches, including things you might not even have considered!

Some of our favorite – and sometimes surprising - sections are the readable and often entertaining “Quick Takes,” that introduce each species (some highlights: Pine Grosbeak, the rosy-finches, House Finch, Common/Hoary redpoll, and the Red Crossbill complex). These sections are different, readable, and even entertaining to read.

Particularly noteworthy is the portion of the book on the unique Hawaiian honeycreepers. And do not miss the brief and creative section at the end of the book on Conservation and Research, replete with ongoing topics of interest with questions yet to be answered in the finch-world, and the challenges presented in a section on “How you can help.”

The timing of this book by Stokes and Young is perfect, ideal to guide us through the finches we encounter, pursue, and even attract this fall and winter. It’s also sure to become an essential resource to take us into the field and into the future."

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