This fat little guide is one of the finest works of natural history that I have read in years. I can say “read,” not merely referred to (or worse: utilized), because it is not only as fact-laden as most utilizer might want, it is written almost as a work of literature and can be read for pleasure. Before all of you hard-science types creep off to digest the molt limits in Peter Pyle’s new guide rather than risk the shoal waters of “readable” bird books, note that Peeters’ new owl guide is exceptionally well-referenced (the citation list takes 24 pages) and can serve as a resource as well as a read.