Arizona, although not bordering any large body of water, can boast one of the largest cumulative species lists of any North American state or province, some 535 species (as of December 2005). Until the recent publication of the Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas (hereafter ABBA), few publications had dealt specifically with breeding birds in the state. Apart from a few regional bird-finding guides (e.g. southeastern Arizona, Maricopa County, Grand Canyon, Navajo Indian Reservation), the main bodies of work covering Arizona’s breeding birds were the monumental Birds of Arizona by Phillips, Monson, and Marshall (published 1964) and the more regional Birds of the Lower Colorado River by Rosenberg, Ohmart, Hunter, and Anderson (published 1991). Therefore, the time was ripe for a comprehensive treatment of Arizona’s breeding birds. The stated goal of the ABBA is to provide a “snapshot” of the distribution of breeding birds in Arizona at the end of the 20th century. This very attractive publication thus provides a visual presentation of a wealth of data collected during the atlas’ study period (1993–2000) and is an extremely useful tool for researchers and birders alike.