Review - Europe’s Birds

There is a brand new guide to European Birds due to cause a stir among birders ever eager to have the most up to date in field guides. Rob Hume Robert Still, Andy Swash and Hugh Harrop the four co-authors of the bestselling Britain’s Birds: An Identification Guide and British Birds have followed up with “Europe’s Birds: An Identification Guide” - “the most comprehensive single-volume photographic guide to Europe’s birds ever produced”. 

Covering 900 species in 640 pages, 4,700 colour photos, 540 maps and at a very reasonable price it’s impossible to see how this latest WILDGuide can be anything but another winning-formula best seller. 

Europe's Birds - Princeton Press

 

Europe's Birds - Princeton Press

Before discussing the book and contents there’s a word or two of caution here that is probably unnecessary for most birders - buying bird ID books can be like buying the latest technology. 

Just as we think we have the latest and best camera, binoculars or telescope, a newer model appears that promises to surpass everything that went before. Just as optics change, usually without warning, so does taxonomy, the science that deals with the description, identification, naming and classification of bird species or families. Taxonomy is open for questioning whereby an element of previously “settled” science quickly becomes outdated and/or obsolete, just like that pair of Zeiss bins, the bees-knees of 2019. 

Now more than ever a buyer must accept that a date line is inevitably drawn with printed field guides and that keeping tabs on a species in the ever-evolving field of science isn't feasible through printed books alone. To this end buyers and/or readers should note that Europe’s Birds follows the treatment of species and sub species and scientific classification of BirdLife International rather than The International Ornithologists' Union or other bodies.  Confusions and disagreements over species and subspecies do and will arise, especially when discussions around a single global bird taxonomy system are still ongoing between ornithological institutions. 

Rather than rely upon print alone a birder must keep their ear to the ground by other ways, such as the Internet, bird forums & chat, and regular publications and decide when to lose a tick or claim a new one.  Of course there are many bird enthusiasts who simply want to enjoy birds and their own projects without stressing over  the seemingly endless splitting and lumping discussions between the birding “elite” and the hugely popular but unscientific twitching and listing scene.

Through this latest volume Europe’s Birds shows again how recent advances in camera optics and a photographer’s ability to fully exploit this progress have led to the demise of line drawn and painted guides, books that are not obsolete but now used by fewer birders.

The quality of the photographs from 350 worldwide photographers displayed in Europe’s Birds is mostly stunning, exceptional or simply the best on offer, so much so that I struggled to find one below the high bar set by this latest example of photographic art. I think that by 2021 the majority of birders are won over by photographic field guides as exemplified by the WILDGuides series. These are books that provide precise, enjoyable and reliable identification that simply wasn’t available, even less guaranteed through even the very best line drawn books of yesteryear. 

The style, format and layout of Europe’s Birds follow the winning ways of the many before, so to most people reading this review a description how and why this works so well is superfluous. 

For those unfamiliar with the splendid WILDGuides presentations, the pictures below serve to illustrate the point of their user-friendly layouts and information delivery. It may be unfair to pick out pages for special mention but I was particularly excited by my own favourites but also ones that fit the authors’ criteria for inclusion in choosing the most natural and informative examples. 

The Types Of Birds, Pages16/17 -  Europe's Birds - Princeton Press

 

Buntings, Page 510/511 - Europe's Birds - Princeton Press

Redpolls, Page 492 -  Europe's Birds - Princeton Press

Phylloscopus, Pages 434/435 - Europe's Birds - Princeton Press

 

Merlin & Red-footed Falcon, Pages 312/313 - Europe's Birds - Princeton Press

 

Starlings, Pages 378/379 - Europe's Birds - Princeton Press

 

Europe’s Birds is open to birdwatchers of all abilities and experience with many, many pages to simply enjoy or from which to verify, learn or check understanding - there is something for everyone.  And at just £20 or less from non-Princeton outlets the book will be bought by a huge numbers of birders. 

With 640 pages this book is a weighty tome and not very portable and I note that the sub-title is "An identification guide", rather than a "field guide". It's hard to see how so much information could be compressed into something that would travel easily unless a user buys the Kindle version.

Following the Covid pandemic there is huge pent up demand to restart travel, not least for locked down birders who long to return to the birding hot spots of Europe, armed with the best available field guide for their journey. This book is the one and I only hope that Princeton have done their homework and printed enough copies of Europe’s Birds to satisfy the demand of coming weeks and months. 

I confidently predict a sell out, so get your order in quick. 

Europe’s Birds: An Identification Guide 

Price: $29.95 / £20.00 

ISBN: 9780691177656 

Published (US): Dec 7, 2021 

Published (UK): Oct 12, 2021 

Pages: 640 

Size: 5.87 x 8.25 in. 

Illus: 4,700  colour photos + 540 maps 

British Birds: A Pocket Guide - Review

Back in 2016 I reviewed the WILDGuides Britain's Birds: An Identification Guide to the Birds of Britain and Ireland, at the time a new and entirely photographic guide to the birds of the UK. It received lots of plaudits and congratulatory reviews, including my own, and went on to become a best seller. Britains Birds Book Review.

At the time I made reference to the book’s bulk and weight as I considered that the proportions could result in the book being used as a reference book rather than a field guide. “….. Measures 6” by 8” and contains 3,300 colour photos within its 560 pages …. here was a hefty piece of work. It tipped the scales at 1200 grams, making it a candidate for inclusion in a large rucksack” 

That has all changed with the publication of the new WILDGuides British Birds: A Pocket Guide which as its title claims, is a field guide for the pocket rather than a rucksack. 

British Birds: A Pocket Guide

By the same authors, this is a slimmed down version of the original of 2016 now shrunk to a more manageable and user friendly 7” x 5 “. This mini version weighs in at a highly portable 400gms (14ozs). 

Whereas the original book covered all those species that have occurred in the UK (600 species) this latest book covers only the most regularly occurring species, 248 in all, plus 45 scarcer species. Amazingly, the new book still manages to include over 1,600 photos, all of which are of a very high quality indeed and where the reduction in size has not resulted in any lessening of definition. I did not check each photo against the earlier version but as you might expect, many if not most are replicas from the bigger volume.

British Birds: A Pocket Guide

The now condensed text is concise but thorough enough to help with identification. A Pocket Guide is well though out and structured to assist the reader.  The authors continue the essence of the first book and pack a huge amount of information in the pages without it being cluttered or overwhelming. 

By forfeiting the inclusion of the very rare species but including regular scarcities the authors have chosen their target audience well. 

British Birds: A Pocket Guide 

This is a book that will appeal to beginners and to those with a modicum of interest in identifying birds who want to take their burgeoning awareness that little further. 

Priced at £9.99, this is another one of the top quality bargain books we have come to expect from Princeton's WILDGuides series. With Christmas around the corner this little book would make  a pleasing little gift for child or adult alike. 

Linking today to https://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com.

Unnatural Selection by Katrina van Grouw. A Book Review.

I came across Katrina van Grouw’s work as an author in 2012 when I reviewed her first book The Unfeathered Bird here on the blog. The book was somewhat unique, a seamless marriage of instructive art and natural science which portrayed Katrina’s talent as a self-taught scientist and a gifted illustrator of animals. That first book was an impressive and quite remarkable début. 

And now I have a copy of Katrina’s second book for review. It is even more outstanding and stimulating than the first; a brilliant concept that is quite stunning in its presentation and execution. 

Unnatural Selection -  Princeton University Press

Unnatural Selection is a celebration of the work of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s classic work The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (1868). Darwin’s most famous work is of course The Origin of Species (1859). Whilst formulating this theory of evolution Darwin’s years of research included extensive experiments in the selective breeding of plants and animals. He found evidence that species were not fixed and his investigations led to many detailed ideas which refined and substantiated his then revolutionary ideas about the origin of life on Earth.

The cover illustration and inside double page spread of Unnatural Selection “The Ascent of Mallard” (shown above) neatly hints how evolution is discussed in the ensuing pages. The drawing portrays how with gradual artificial selection, the common or garden Mallard Anas platyrhynchos became the Indian Runner Duck Anas platyrhybcchos domesticus – evolution intensified by the hand of  man. 

Katrina reminds us early on of her wish to weave art and science into the narrative, that the two subjects are not mutually exclusive and in tandem can prove exhilarating and intellectually stimulating. “…evolution… the most profound and exciting field in all biology. Art and science are not at opposite poles…….pursuing both needn't be a compromise. Pity the dry scientist or the airy-fairy artist with their narrow perception of the world. Together art and science add up to a richness and depth that far exceeds the sum of their parts." 

The book comprises 4 Parts - Origin, Inheritance, Variation, and Selection. Within those parts are 12 Chapters of crisp but detailed explanation that build on the analogy that Darwin himself used by comparing the selective breeding process (as opposed to simple domestication) with natural selection in the wild. Katrina’s background in natural history gives her a clear appreciation of both wild and domestic animals, their anatomy and variation. She has numerous accounts and stories behind them and recognises their significance for the understanding of evolution.

She features a multitude of examples of familiar selective breeding that go largely unrecognised as a form of evolution e.g. - dogs, cats, geese, ducks, canaries, finches, budgerigars, wildfowl and pigeons. A perfect example is familiar but perhaps not realised by all - the wild Rock Dove, Columba livia, the ancestor of domesticated, feral and racing pigeon.

Dogs - all descended from the Grey wolf. - Unnatural Selection

Katrina’s writing is full of passion and excitement for her subject. It is also intelligent, fluid, witty and easily read & understood, even for someone unscientific like me.

Here’s one tale from the many pages of her vivid writing: Chapter Four, Coloured Liquid; Coloured Glass. “One winter’s afternoon¸ I could have been seen fighting my way through a snowy squall across a desolate expanse of common land in north-east England leading a nanny goat on a length of rope. I was looking for a billy goat. My goat, Alice, was on heat, and as she was destined to be a milker, she had first to conceive. Goats don’t remain in heat for very long, so, regardless of the inclement weather I was forced to answer the need for immediate sex. There were usually animals tethered out on the common and, as I hadn't the slightest intention of paying for the service, it was a case of seizing an opportunistic union when no one was looking. Alice was a strapping beast, of no particular breed, but quite the tallest goat I've ever seen. However, the only male I could find that day was a tiny pygmy goat that could have easily walked between Alice’s legs without touching her belly. Undeterred, I untied the little chap and led both animals to a steeply sloping bank where I re-tethered the male at the top and Alice at the bottom, thereby compensating for his vertical challenges at least. Five months later she gave birth to two normal-sized kids, each barely smaller at birth to their pygmy goat father.”

The chapters are liberally dotted with fine illustrations that relate directly to the examples she describes. These splendid, sometimes full, or even double page drawings, are without exception simply magical, so delightful and brilliant that if anything, the reader is drawn to study them in such a way and for so long as to neglect the text and then lose the thread of the discussion.

There are 400 illustrations in the book. I use the word “illustrations” advisedly as this is the term given by the publisher. I rather think that many of the superb illustrations are works of art in their own right, up there with the very best of wildlife fine art. One of my favourites is her study of geese - simply superb.

Goose Ancestry - Unnatural Selection

In the Preface the author relates how in a previous life her application to study Zoology at Oxford University was rejected. Oxford’s loss is our gain so Kudos to Princeton University Press and their realisation that Katrina van Grouw has a unique talent; full marks to them for helping her to follow this now chosen path and to produce such an outstanding book. Unnatural Selection is so special and so brilliant in every way that I would not be surprised if it soon carries off a major prize of the book world.

Just lately I donated my copy of The Unfeathered Bird to a local school of 11-15 year olds in the hope that it might inspire one to follow such an interest or a career in either subject.  Eventually I will do the same with Unnatural Selection but for now I will read the book cover to cover and savour each page.

Pigeon Tails - Unnatural Selection

I highly recommend Unnatural Selection for lay readers as well as the more experienced natural history buff or biology student.  It is highly suitable for students of art, in particular those looking to follow a career in natural history illustration. It goes without saying that Unnatural Selection conforms to the very high standards of format, presentation and finish that we expect from Princeton University Press.

Dear Reader. You can own this extraordinary book for just $45 or £35 at Princeton Press.

There are more sample pages from the book at Amazon Kindle.

Book Review - Wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands

When I arrived back home after two weeks in Menorca, there was a parcel waiting. It was a review copy of Wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands, freshly out as the newest addition to the highly successful WILDGuides titles. The author John Bowler is a conservation officer on the island of Tiree in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. He is the author of a number of field guides, including Wildlife of Seychelles (Princeton WILDGuides). 

Wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands - Princeton Press

Macaronesia

So how does the new book stack up? Firstly, the clue is in the title. Potential buyers should note that this new volume is a more than a bird guide. It is a “wildlife guide” and therefore includes a guide to not just birds but also mammals, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies and dragonflies. 

The book covers the key wildlife sites to visit on each of the islands of Macaronesia and provides an overview of each island’s geography, climate, habitat types and current conservation efforts. As in previous volumes Wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands follows the now well established WILDGuides formula of an illustrated but mostly photographic field guide, a highly successful and addictive recipe of guides that cover a wide range of animals, birds and insects across an equally diverse range of countries and continents. 

There is quite a lot of information to fit into the 244 pages, especially so when in comparison to Birds of the Atlantic Islands by Tony Clarke (2006), the current favourite bird guide to the islands. This has 365 pages for birds only, although admittedly it covers both the Cape Verde Islands and the Azores in addition to Madeira and the Canaries. A note for buyers, potential or actual - Wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands does not cover Cape Verde Islands or the Azores. 

Wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands

Wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands

Wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands begins with a useful and highly readable thirty page Introduction that includes a section on Main Wildlife Sites. This will prove invaluable to first time visitors and those on a short holiday visit to any of the islands as a pointer to sites that might suit their particular interest, be it birds, animal or insects. 

“Birds” are at Pages 31 to 139 with the remainder of the 244 pages devoted to mammals, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies and dragonflies. The birds covered amount to 163 species which causes no major problems but it does mean that rare migrant birds that birders might encounter or species they specifically look for are not shown; Yellow-browed Warbler or Little Bunting spring to mind, as does the certainty of finding a North American vagrants or two. To the casual visitor this will not matter too much. Die-hard birders are in any case more aware of the possibilities of finding rare birds in such a geographical location and will almost certainly be able to name unexpected species they encounter. 

A minor niggle. There are no scientific names alongside common English names next to the images and to find this information the reader must refer to the List of Species at the back of the book where they are listed in an unhelpful scientific alpha order. 

The species accounts are very concise and well written throughout with the adjacent photographic images of very high and often impressive quality. Space requirements dictated by 244 pages inevitably mean that the many plumage, age and in-flight differentials of birds do not always feature in photographs, although this is covered in the text to some extent. In contrast, and to one whose knowledge of insects is cursory, the images of butterflies and dragonflies appear to show a number of variations of both colour and type to suit the average enthusiast. 

 Wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands

 Wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands

Wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands

The section on mammals, reptiles and amphibians, which of course includes sea mammals, the cetaceans, is equally well documented with some excellent photographs. This is as it should be since the waters in this part of the Atlantic Ocean are some of the best in Europe in which to see whales, porpoises and dolphins. 

If you are a birdwatcher only you may have decided you do not need this book over and above Tony Clarke's Birds of the Atlantic Islands already on your bookshelf. That might be an unwise decision because I do not know of any birder who in the course of their birding, especially outside of their immediate local patch, who does not come across an unfamiliar animal or insect and immediately wish to put a name to it or find out more. This single book allows you to do that in one slim volume.  

So all in all the guide is a well balanced mix aimed at the enthusiastic regular visitor to the area but also a useful introduction for those making a first trip to these all year round islands. For those people this is a must-have book for any trip to the region covered as it fills the gap for an affordable, portable, accessible, accurate all-encompassing wildlife guide to Madeira and the Canary Islands. 

Wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands

I can definitely recommend this guide to readers of Another Bird Blog. I rather wish it had been in my suitcase when I visited both Lanzarote and Fuerteventura in recent years. If only I’d been able to identify the whale that sailed slowly past Puerto Calero or to sort out those Fuerteventura butterflies. 

At a little over 200 pages this book is succinct, highly portable and inexpensive. It has the added advantage of not catering for bird obsessives alone, something we should applaud. 

The book is available at Princeton Press for  a bargain basement price of £20 or $24.95. 

Birds of India - A Photographic Field Guide - A Review

After five visits to India and one to Sri Lanka I never tired of Indian subcontinent, the landscapes, its people or its birds. I did however become weary of the interminable flights of 22 hours door to door with unwanted stop overs in the Middle East. So even though flights to India are nowadays more direct I restrict holiday/birding trips to three or four hours on an aeroplane where I can bird the same day. 

A new field guide reminds me of what I am missing by not returning to India. With a great deal of time, money, luck plus a whole series of local guides with specialised knowledge, I might eventually see 13% of the world’s birds as portrayed in the book. 

Reviewed today is a book first published in 2016 in India by Om Books, “A Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh”, now given a wider audience by Princeton University Press and on sale at $45 or £37.95. The authors of Birds of India are Bikram Grewal, Sumit Sen, Sarwandeep Singh and Nikhil Devasar, four experienced and well-travelled birders and photographers. 

Birds of India - A Photographic Field Guide - Princeton Press

 

Trying to fit almost 1400 species into a single field guide is surely a well-nigh impossible task. With 792 pages, 4,000 colour photos and 1,300+ maps the authors and publishers have made a valiant effort but the book has a number of key failings. The major problem and perhaps to be expected is the sheer usability. Weighing in at almost 1.5 kg and nearly 2 inches thick, this is a heavy volume to lug around for any length of time and is more at home on a table top.

 Birds of India - A Photographic Field Guide - Princeton Press

Introductory pages by Carol and Tin Inskipp give a fascinating overview and history of ornithology in India and its immediate neighbours, the several pages illustrated with evocative thumbnail sketches. We are also reminded how the protection of wildlife has a long tradition in the history of the region and continues today in large areas of special protection in parts of India, Bhutan Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Birds of India - A Photographic Field Guide - Princeton Press

Unfortunately other parts of the book do not live up to this initial excitement and anticipation. From the Introduction the reader is plunged straight into the species accounts via the barest of a Contents list or even a brief explanation of the pages that follow. 

The taxonomy and nomenclature used is not described, whereby a summary of at least the families of the birds and the order in which they appear in the ensuing pages would be of great value to a reader new to India. As it is the pages appear to follow Inskipp et al of 1996 by using the order beginning partridge, quail, pheasant etc first, followed by ducks, grebes etc, etc. Rather confusingly the information about species contained in the book is held in not one, but two checklists, both of which are at the end of the book. The first checklist follows the classification and nomenclature of Birds of South Asia; The Ripley Guide of 2012, while the second and more modern one of 2016 follows the Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of Birds of the World. 

Almost as an afterthought, advice on how to use the book’s maps is contained in three lines at the foot of the Introduction, while the maps themselves are both small and often difficult to interpret or occasionally missing.

Birds of India - A Photographic Field Guide - Princeton Press

While there are many fine, even stunning photographs within the book, their use is inconsistent and often unnecessary, especially so when a single full page photograph takes up space that could be used to show the variation of age or sex within the same species. The lack of explanation and picturing of such normal variation is both notable and striking in many pages where it highlights the difficulties of producing a purely photographic field guide. The natural inclination of most bird photographers is to picture the conspicuous male while sometimes neglecting portraist of the mostly drab looking female or autumnal juvenile.  The inclusion of different plumages and age classes is a “must” for any field guide, especially so when a birder is faced with the unfamiliar species they might find In India.

Birds of India - A Photographic Field Guide - Princeton Press

Also lacking in Birds of India is a range of photographs of birds in flight, especially raptors and waders, in particular the difficult family of accipiters where a fleeting glimpse of a bird in flight is often the most a birder can expect. 

Having been rather critical of this book I must emphasise its many valuable points cantered around the top-class and sometimeds superb photography. Birds of India will remain with me as a comparative reference guide that contains very many high quality images, a book that that will slip easily into my birding library. 

In fact I recommend it as handy comparative reference guide, perhaps alongside a traditional illustrative guide, in this case another Princeton guide - Birds of India by Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp and Tom Inskipp.  I reviewed  this earlier guide on Another Bird Blog on March 4th 2012.

Stay tuned for more news, views and reviews from Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Britain’s Birds. A Book Review.

Birders love their collections of field guides, generally added to or updated on each trip to some far flung corner of the world or when a new version of an old favourite is announced. Birders also like to debate the pros and cons of either an artwork or a photographic field guide and usually come down fairly and squarely in favour of one style or the other. Their preference was thrown into yet more debate in recent years by the innovative Crossley guides that sit between the two camps. 

If an opinion poll existed my guess would be that most birders favour artwork guides, so it will be interesting to see how the birding community receive a new and entirely photographic guide to the birds of the UK. The book in the spotlight today is Britain’s Birds: An Identification Guide to the Birds of Britain and Ireland by Rob Hume, Robert Still, Andy Swash, Hugh Harrop & David Tipling. Published by Princeton University Press, the book is due for launch at BirdFair 2016 and for general release in mid August. 

Britain's Birds - Princeton University Press

Via Princeton’s pre-publicity I read that the book measures just 6” by 8” and contains 3,300 colour photos within its 560 pages. My immediate thought was that the authors would do well to squeeze the requisite information into the available space and I was more than keen to see the finished article. When I first unpacked Britain’s Birds it was obvious that here was a hefty piece of work. It tipped the scales at 1200 grams, making it a candidate for inclusion in a large rucksack containing all the essentials of modern birding - cameras, lenses, a pager, a Smartphone, a large supply of Snickers and a can of Coke. 

After the obligatory Contents followed by advice on how to use the book there is a handy feature at pages 8-13 by way of thumbnail pictures of “Types of Birds”. These smaller pictures direct the reader to the most likely eventual page to find the full account of the species they are looking for. This is clearly a useful idea, especially for novice birders, but the process could never be fool proof. This is especially true in the case of “perching birds” that loose collection of birds which present so many pitfalls of ID to a beginner wondering whether a bird is for instance, a “warbler”, “bunting”, “flycatcher” or “crest”. For more experienced birders this initial selection process is unimportant but for a novice it is often a crucial step fraught with difficulties; I congratulate the authors for incorporating this idea into the book. I can see these six pages being a great help to many a budding birder. 

My own experience is that novice birders shy away from artwork guides as if the birds depicted are in some way “not real”, which is true enough, however good the artwork may be. If a purely photographic guide like Britain’s Birds makes birds more accessible to people starting out on the birding trail then that is all to the good. 

A pleasing element of Britain’s Birds is the way the species accounts are arranged in a user friendly order rather than the strict taxonomic order of many field guides, a mysterious system which flummoxes so many starting out in birding. But now in Britain’s Birds the freer list allows “Large waterside birds” to include herons, bitterns, egrets, ibis, spoonbill, cranes and storks. And Hooray! At last we have a field guide where swifts, swallows and martins appear more sensibly together under the heading “Aerial feeders”. 

The pages devoted to each species are occasionally double spread which helps to even out the load of the detailed information about identification, size, variety of plumages, voice descriptions etc. However the design of all of the pages including single sheets that cover a species remains uncrowded and allows the photographs centre stage. Distribution maps in the right hand corner of each page are of necessity small (60x40cm) in order to fit the available space. I have some reservations about the accuracy of a few species I know well locally, e.g. Cetti’s Warbler, Lesser-spotted Woodpecker and Corn Bunting, but in general the maps seem truly representative and accurate given the ever changing but mostly declining numbers and status of so many UK species. 

In “Acknowledgements and photographic credits” the authors tell us that Britain’s Birds was ten years from conception to completion, a mammoth piece of work that required a phenomenal amount of time and effort from the authors. As we might expect given the many advances in digital photography in recent years, the 3,300 photographs from 251 photographers are without exception of very good, even exceptional quality, sharp in focus and reproduced with true to life colours. The combined efforts of both authors and photographers paid off big style in Britain’s Birds which sets a new benchmark in photographic field guides that will be hard to beat. 

Britain’s Birds lives up to the pre-publication claims by being bang up to date with the inclusion of everyday species, races, vagrants, rarities, together with both category D and E species. The book is comprehensive, user friendly and jam-packed with essential information on status, populations, distribution and conservation. For those who like to browse, there are many high quality photographs to admire. I recommend it to readers of Another Bird Blog as a book they must buy. My already well-thumbed copy is now in a safe but handy place for quick reference. 

 

Britain's Birds -  Princeton University Press

Produced to Princeton’s usual exacting standards this is a fine book and something of a steal at £19.95 or $35 direct from Princeton University Press or slightly less from Amazon.

Amazon has a number of turn-over pages where potential buyers can see a selection of actual pages before they buy. I predict that few people will not choose to buy Britain's Birds resulting in a large demand - best to order it quick.

Linking this post to World Bird Wednesday.

Better Birding - A Book Review

Princeton University Press asked if Another Bird Blog would like to take a look at a book due for publication in January 2016. 

The book is entitled “Better Birding”, the authors George Armistead and Brian Sullivan. George Armistead is events coordinator at the American Birding Association and has led birding tours on seven continents. Brian Sullivan is the photographic editor for Birds of North America Online, author of numerous papers on bird identification and the recent co-author of The Crossley ID Guide. 

It comes then as no surprise that “Better Birding” is unashamedly directed towards a North American audience. Yet because the book is devoted to better ID techniques of bird families shared across the Northern Hemisphere or vagrant species which show up on either side of the Atlantic Ocean, many of the chapters contain pages of undoubted interest to a UK audience. 

"Better Birding" - Princeton University Press

There is a 15 page Introduction to “Better Birding” which contains pages on understanding the basics of bird watching, including rarities, bird calls and sounds, moult, taxonomy and the concept of separate species. There is another heroic attempt to explain the difference between a “birder” and a “bird watcher”. I found that much of the introductory section contained information which has been repeated many, many times in books about birds by numerous different authors. The subtitle tells us the book contains “tips, tools and concepts” which make for better birding in the field, suggesting that it is suitable for several levels of birding experience. If so I suspect that many readers would find a good deal of the Introduction both familiar and superfluous and not read it, but instead move quickly to the meat of the book. 

The authors explain how they decided the major content of the book. At first glance it appears to be an eclectic and quite random list of species but missing out obvious candidates for a book focused on ID; for instance, warblers, small shorebirds and the numerous brown sparrows of North America do not feature. Apparently the ones chosen fit three criteria: 1) ones that allowed the building of core birding skills 2) subjects that the authors considered required a fresh approach, or 3) some that the authors thought might especially fit the format of the book. 

So ‘Better Birding’ doesn’t offer a comprehensive field guide to every species. It is more an ID guide which discusses and illustrates some of the more interesting, challenging or less glamorous groups of birds that a birder or bird watcher might wish to consider in more detail. The authors should be congratulated in sticking to their chosen parameters and not falling into the trap of producing yet another full field guide to North American birds but instead focusing on/singling out a number of bird groups worthy of special mention. After all, warblers and small shorebirds usually receive more than their fair share of attention. 

The book works extremely well in respect of its chosen contents when considering my list below which details the 270 pages of 9 Chapters devoted to: 

Waterbirds - pages which encompass loons/divers, swans and the complexities of white herons. 

Coastal Birds - eiders, murrelets and pacific cormorants. 

Seabirds - explores the similarities or otherwise of Northern Gannet and boobies together with pages on tropical terns, and also petrels/gadflys. 

Large Shorebirds looks at the closely related curlews - Whimbrel, Bristle-thighed Curlew and Long-billed Curlew, together with a further section about godwits.

Skulkers focuses on a group of sparrows which can be both hard to see and to identify - Le Conte’s, Nelson’s, Saltmarsh and Seaside and also tackles four small wrens - Marsh, House, Winter, Pacific and Sedge. 

Birds of Forest and Edge. This chapter looks at the elusive accipiters (hawks) and the difficulties presented by streaky, reddish/brown American Rosefinches. Meanwhile, Aerial Insectivores highlights high-flying swifts for closer scrutiny. 

Night Birds. Nocturnal species like screech owls and nighthawks present unique difficulties for diurnal birders. 

Finally, a 50 page chapter covers birds of Open Country and includes black corvids, kingbirds, pipits, longspurs and cowbirds. 

"Better Birding" - Princeton University Press

The illustrations in Better Birding take the form of 850 colour photographs and a handful of maps. The layout of the pages is highly effective and the illustrations are almost without exception of great quality and placed within the text to good effect. The many photographs are impressive, a number of them spectacular, and as we might expect from someone who co-authored the Crossley Guide, show birds in real time and in real habitats rather than line drawings. A number of composite pictures show similar species on a shared canvas, a now familiar technique that works to the readers’ advantage when studying plates which depict eiders, petrels and shearwaters in flight across the ocean. 

"Better Birding" - Princeton University Press

As a UK birder I found the chapter on eiders particularly useful as it includes the four species of eider which occur in the UK - Common Eider, King Eider, Spectacled Eider and Steller’s Eider. Likewise, the pages which include a discussion around ID’ing the four godwits of Marbled, Hudsonian, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed make a useful contribution to my library.

 "Better Birding" - Princeton University Press

The accounts of pipits cover Red-throated Pipit, Sprague’s Pipit and American Pipit and quite rightly include reference to the vagrancy occurrences in North America of Pechora Pipit, Olive-backed Pipit, Siberian Pipit and Tree Pipit. I can’t agree however that our UK Tree Pipit is “nondescript”!

 "Better Birding" - Princeton University Press

The book’s title might suggest that “Better Birding” is aimed at novice birders; I thought it highly suitable for mainstream bird watchers but also for more experienced birders who take their ID prowess seriously. The book includes a large number of North American species and groups of birds which often require a good deal of effort in the field coupled with an element of birding experience and skill. Studying this book may well move those birding skills and understanding up a notch or two in readiness for future challenges when a birder finds themselves a tick, or better still a rarity for others to enjoy. 

For UK birders there is much in the book to read and digest, not least the fine sets of photographs which depict several species we see on rare occasions only. 

Princeton University Press rather missed the Christmas Sleigh in scheduling Better Birding for publication in mid-January 2016. However it can be ordered online from Princeton University Press at $29.95/£19.95 or as an eBook from various online sellers.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday, Anni in Texas, and in Maryland, USA Eileen's Saturday.