In my opinion, if you want to look at birds, it's worth the money to invest in Sibley's Guide to Birds. It shows birds as adults, breeding and non breeding, and as juveniles. It's helped me identify birds I would have been helpless to ID without that book. It also includes a boatload of birds. It's not so great if you need something to troop out in the wild with, but as a way to identify birds at home and like me, if you take photos of birds elsewhere and come home to see what you have, it's tops.