Book Review
Last updated August 10, 2003
now 49titles!
There are thousands of field guide books. It is not easy for us to find a field guide what you need. In this page, I write down book review.
Attention
１．This book review is strongly based on
my personal point of view on the books
in the field or on the desk. So, I'm not
able to gurantee even your feeling is different
from this page.
２．Copy right is reserved by the author
of this page. Please don't quote unless obtaining
permission from the author.
| Asia | |||||
| title | author | date of issue | publisher | comments | |
| Birds of Southeast Asia | King, B.F. & Dickinson, E.C. | 1975 | Harper Collins | A classic title. Probably, hundreds of birders who traveled Southeast Asia should have this book. This is relatively reasonable with the price. However, unfortunately, it seems to be outdated. Some of the species are not illustrated or only black and white while some others are not correctly illustrated, such as Cinnamon-rumped and Scarlet-rumped Trogons. While a new title (below) is published recently, I don't feel there is no necessity to buy this title. | |
| A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South-east Asia | Robson, Craig | 2000 | New Holland | A brand new region-wide comprehensive field
guide. It covers Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore
and all resident species are illustrated with
full color. Quality of the illustration is
excellent and very beautiful. Surprisingly,
despite the quality, it is a relatively cheap
book . Text is written by only one person, Craig Robson. Its content is simple and well summerised. It also mentions identification of sub-species which should be helpful in the field even they are not illustrated on the plate. Although the illustration is beautiful, I cannot say it is accurate. For example, I don't find difference of the outline among three blue flycatchers (Verditer, Pale Blue and White-tailed). Probably, the illustrator has never seen some or all of the species. (Actually, the difference is mentioned on the text.) Quality of the text is different depending on the illustrator. While the field guide was illustrated by several illustrators, the quality should be leveled. Unfortunately, this field guide book does not have any distribution map. It makes unclear to define the distribution. |
|
| A Field Guide to the Birds of China | MacKinnon, John & Phillipps, Karen | 2000 | Oxford | Probably, the first field guide book in China
which is completely written in English.
The
price is very reasonable and cheap
despite
the inclusion of large number of species.
Illustration by Karen Phillipps is a bit characteristic. However, her current work is excellent. Pages of warblers and robins are excellent. If there was no gap between her old and current works, the field guide became more excellent field guide. Designing of the book is also good. For example, distribution maps are located another side of color plates. However, distribution of some species are questioning. An interesting idea is that the field guide contains some unrecorded species which may be recorded in the future. |
|
| Birds of Hong Kong and South China (6th edition) | Viney, Clive, Phillipps, Karen & Chiu Ying, Lam | 1994 | Government Publication Centre | A popular Hong Kong's field guide. It also
covers southeastern China. Illustration is
by famous Karen Phillipps. In Hong Kong,
bird report is annually summerised and published.
It seems that this field guide is strongly
depended on the annual report for the update. The text is well summerised. It contains not only external features but also habits and behaviours. As above-mentioned, Karen's old work is unfortunately not helpful enough for field identification. Lesser Cuckoo's illustration needs to be updated. The most recent edition is published in 1994. It should be now the time for publishing a new edition!? |
|
| A guide to the Birds of Thailand | Round, Philip D.他 | 1991 | Saha Karn Bhaet | Before Allen's field guide (below) was published,
I used to use this field guide in Malaysia.
Distribution map & text are often in the same page with illustration. This style is much easier for using in the field. Illustration is a bit characteristic but has good reputations among Malaysian or Japanese birders. Size of each species is unfortunately varied depending on the color plates. Text is moderate. Binding quality is very good. Totally, this is more than average. However, it is still an expensive field guide.... |
|
| A Field Guide to the Birds of West Malaysia and Singapore | Jeyarajasingam, Allen & Pearson, ALan | 1999 | Oxford | Malaysian twitcher, Allen's field guide.
It should be the first comprehensive field
guide in the peninsular Malaysia. While Allen is an advanced birdwatcher, the text is written by a birdwatcher's point of view. For example, mentioning habits of birds is helpful in the field. Unfortunately, quality of illustration is not so good. For example, illustration of Great Iora and Gold-whiskered Barbet seem to be incorrect. (Throat of Gold-whiskered is not purplish!) |
|
| A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore | Strage, Morten & Jeyarajasingam, Allen | 1993 | Sun Tree Publishing | At moment, this is only one comprehensive
photographic field guide in the peninsular.
Some of the photo collections, especially
babblers, are noteworthy. Quality of
photo
is not so beautiful but enough for
using
in the field. Layout is beautiful. Text for birding spots may be interesting for birders who plan to go to Malaysia. It also contains useful checklist. |
|
| Birds of Singapore | Hails, Christopher & Jarvis, Frank | 1987 | Times Editions | This is rather an artistic book than a field guide. The text is a bit episodic. Birding spot guide is useful. However, as a field guide, Craig Robson's one is obviously better. | |
| Pocket Guide to the Birds of Borneo | Francis, Charles | 1998 | The Sabah Society | A handy pocket guide for Bornean visitors. Illustration is very classic (originally from 1950's!). So, it is not so useful in the field. Text is minimised with very little information. This may be useful as introduction for Bornean birds. | |
| A Guide to the Birds of Wallacea | Coates, Brian, Bishop, David & Gardner, Dana | 1997 | Dove Publications | A comprehensive regional guide for eastern
Indonesia, including Sulawesi, Timor and
Flores. It contains about 700 species. So,
it does not contain so many species but the
volume is bulky with about 500 pages! Illustration is by Dana Gardner. His illustration is beautiful but I am not sure whether it is accurate or not. However, definitely, the quality is more than average. Most of the species contained are illustrated with fairly large size. Text is also well-written. Because of the size, I don't think this is a book for taking out in the field. (Too heavy!!) |
|
| A Field Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent | Kazmierczak, Krys & Perlo, van Ber | 2000 | Pica Press | A compact field guide which covers entire
Indian sub-continent. Although it contains
1300 species, its thickness is less than
half of "Coates (1997)". I suppose
that this may give you some information about
this title. Text is minimised while each color plate contains as much species as possible. Distribution map is very visualized. Quality of illustration is not bad but printing quality is relatively poor. It is probably because of computer scanning. All illustrations tend to be whitish and blur because of printing or scanning. |
|
| Pocket Guide to the Birds of Indian Suvcontinent | Grimmett, Richard, Inskipp, Carol & Inskipp, Tim | 1999 | Chistopher Helm | A handy and compact field guide which covers
a same region with above. Illustration
for
this book is excellent (same as below)
and
seems relatively accurate while I don't
find
out significant error. Although female
Siberian
Rubythroat and Dusky Thrush seem to
be strange
for me, there are other field guide
books
to see the east Asian species. Distribution maps are similar to above. Easy to see but sometimes difficult to find the plates because of its location in the book. If you would like to buy a book from this region, at moment, doubtlessly this is the best field guide. |
|
| Helm Field Guides: Birds of Nepal | Grimmett, Richard, Inskipp, Carol & Inskipp, Tim | 2000 | Christopher Helm | A slim, well-written field guide in Nepal,
written by Richard Grimmett. It summarises
common species in Nepal by simple text and
fairly large illustrations. About vagrants,
simple text (no illustration) is briefly
mentioned at the end of the book. The text also describes basic backgrounds, including geographical setting, climate, main habitats, birdwatching area and bird conservation, which should be useful for birders who visit Nepal. Illustration is generally beautiful, though I don't like illustration of duck personally. Distribution map is not inserted but should be needed while the altitudal range is very diversified. Also, applying a new taxonomy is questioning for using in the field. It is bit confusing barbets and woodpeckers come next to ducks. However, this is doubtlessly better than the Pica Press's one if you use in Nepal only. |
|
| The Birds of Japan | Brazil, A. Mark | 1991 | Christopher Helm | This is neither field guide nor hand book. This book does not contain illustration of full species. Text is written by Mark Brazil, an advanced famous birder in Japan. This is more likely a bird report in Japan. However, if you plan to visit Japan, this bulky book may be helpful for learning about avi-fauna in Japan. | |
| A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines | Kennedy, Robert, et.al. | 2000 | Oxford | Probably, the first comprehensive guide book in the Philippines. Approximately 600 species are drawn in the colour plates. The four colour distribution map is well-visualised but confusing while no clear definition of yellow, red and dark blue. Illustration is fare but not so impressive. Text is good with well designing of description, similar species, habits, voice and range. This book also mentions precisely about sub-species. | |
| A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Malaysia & Singapore Including Southeast Asia, The Philippines and Borneo | Strage, Morten | 2000 | Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd. | A Strange field guide book by Morton Strage. Although this is titled "Malaysia and Singapore", it covers more widely in Southeast Asia. It seems that there is no specific concept for species selection. It contains Gurney's Pitta but does not include some common species, such as Fiery Minivet and Hill Blue Flycatcher. He is also using a same photo with some other field guide. It is very strange to see an exactly same photo is named as "Red-eyed Bulbul" in "A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore" (1993) and Spectacled Bulbul in this title. (It is a Spectacled Bulbul). This is probably useless as a field guide. However, it is still wothwhile to buy this title to enjoy the noteworthy photos. | |
| New! Field Guide to the Birds of the Middle East | Porter, R.F., Christensen, S., et.al | 1996 | T & A D Poyser Ltd | A comprehensive regional field guide, which covers from Turkey to Iran as well as the Arabian Peninsular. Although the quality of illustration is not so high as the most recent field guides, it is enough to use in the field. The book's design, which places simple text and distribution maps on the left side and illustration on the right side, is very useful in the field. Because of relatively poor ornithological information (?), distribution of some species seems to be not accurate. As the maps do not show distribution of each species in the wintering range, the user may face obstacle for identifying some identical species in the field in the non-breeding season. Although the illustration shows MALE breeding plumage of Pacific Golden Plover, at least as I know, its breeding plumage is nearly identical with the female. | |
| Oceania | |||||
| Field Guide to the Birds of Australia | Pizzey, Graham & Knight, Frank | 1997 | Harper Collins | One of the most updated field guide in Australia.
More illustrations are drawn for each species
with detail explanation. Illustration quality
is more than average, though there may be
some favor. Distribution map is updated.
In particular, Carpentarian Grasswren's map
is most updated among the three OZ field
guides. However, maps for Star Finch, Mangrove
Golden Whistler and Dusky Grasswren may be
a bit old. Although the good quality, I have a question. Are we able to say such a heavy book as a field guide? While many OZ birders go out for birding by a car, this shouldn't be so significant problem. |
|
| Field Guide to the Birds of Australia 5th edition | Simpson, Ken & Day, Nicolas | 1996 | Viking | A regularly updated field guide. Illustration
by Nicolas Day is updated while new taxonomy
and bird records are included in this book.
Illustration is generally very beautiful,
especially pages of parrots. Text is very
simple. With this size of book, I feel that
it is even bit poor. More information regarding
ornithology is inserted in the bottom of
pages and is interesting to read. Again, this is too thick for a field guide but is a good book to read in your room. 6th edition seems to be issued recently. |
|
| The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds Revised edition | Slater, Peter, Slater, Pat & Slater Raoul | 1989 | Gary Allen | A Classic field guide but very handy and
compact. Probably, the best field guide to
take into the field for birding in Australia. Illustration is more than average. Not specially excellent but is enough for field identification. However, printing is not so good. Especially, colour for parrots is too dull. Text is simple but is useful enough in the field. |
|
| Reader's Digest: Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of Australia | Flegg, Jim | 1994 | Reader's Digest | An unique photograhic field guide in Australia.
Most of Australian species are shown with
one or two cuts of photos. This is a valuable
book while there is no other handy photograhic
guide in Australia. Quality of photos is not so good while some of the photos are taken in the zoo or cage. As other photographic guide in abroad, closed-up photos seem to be prefered rather than artistic photos. Unfortunately, as other photographic guide, there are lots of mistake on the caption. Text is general and simple. Symbols which explains habitats or migration is well-visualised. |
|
| Birds of New Zeland: Locality Guide | Chambers, Stuart | 1989 | Arun Books | Although it takes a style of photographic
field guide, it is not a typical photographic
guide. Each species is explained with 1-2 cuts of photos and fairly long text, including importance of the species, habitat, range, description of the species, conspicuous features, conspicuous characteristics and where to find. So, for birding trip, this book may be very helpful. This book also contains some birding spots in New Zealand. |
|
| Europe | |||||
| Birds of Europe with Northe Africa and the Middle East | Jonsson, Lars | 1992 | Christopher Helm | A famous Lars Jonsson's book. All illustration
is prepared by him. Although there are some
gaps of quality among his illustration, the
illustration is generally outstanding! The
illustration itself has enough value to keep
this book. Text is unfortunately bit boring. As most of other field guides, the description mainly focus on appearance. |
|
| Americas | |||||
| Field Guide to the Birds of North America 2nd Edition | National Geographic Society | 1987 | National Geographic Society | Probably, a most popularly used field guide
book in the US. Illustration is more than
average but is classical. Text is general, including description on appearance and distibution. Third edtion was issued in 1999. |
|
| American Bird Conservancy's Field Guide: All the Birds of North America | Griggs, Jack L. | 1997 | Harper Collins | A new style field guide. Birds are illustrated
with the habitat. Quality of illustration
is very high. Duck's page is excellent. Text is simple. some ornithological information is useful and interesting. Although it is designed for "Both Beginning And Advanced Birders", virtually for beginer birdwatchers. Meanwhile, the price is reasonable (US$19.95). For basic species, this is more recommendable than the above. |
|
| The Audubon Society: Master Guide to Birding | Farrand, Jr., John (editor) | 1983 | Alfred A. Knopf | A part of series field guide. Photos are
right side while text and distribution maps
are left side for the arrangment. Quaity
of photo is more than average. Text is well detailed but is again concentrated on appearance. For the volume, it is pity to have less information on more features on behavior. |
|
| Peterson Field Guides: Mexican Birds | Peterson, R. T. & Chalif, E. L. | 1973 | ? | A Peterson's field guide. Identification points are shown with arrows. Although illustration is not high quality, enough for using in the field. Text is simple but is practical. US$ 18.95 is reasonable. | |
| A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica | Stiles, Gary, Skutch, Alexsander & Gardner, Dana | 1989 | Cornell University | A most commonly used field guide in Costa
Rica. Illustration is by famous Dana Gardner. Quality is more than average but some of
illustration is too small. Although
I know
there are so many species in Costa
Rica,
too small illustration is less helpful
for
field identification. Text is excellent. It mentions not only appearance but also behavior. In addition, information about Costa Rica's nature is very useful. A recommendable field guide to central America. |
|
| Africa | |||||
| Birds of Southern Africa | Sinclair, Ian, Hockey, Phil & Tarboton, Warwick | 1993 | Sasol | A regional field guide which covers Southern
Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and
South Africa. Illustraion is generally beautiful though it is not always accurate. Some of the illustration is with the habitat. Text is simple. Distinctive features are shown by italic. |
|
| New! Birds of East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Brundi | Stevenson, Terry & Fanshawe,John | 2002 | T & AD Poyser | A relatively new field guide from East Afica, which covers most of the countries in the region. It is doubtlessly the most comprehensive and useful field guide in the region. It follows traditional field guide style: text is on the left side and illustration is on the right side. Quality of the illustration is high and beautiful. Text is rather simple but is probably enough in the field. It is unfotunately too heavy to be called as a field guide. | |
| Specific bird group(s) | |||||
| Shorebirds: An identification guide to the waders of the world | Hayman, Peter, Marchant, John & Prater, Tony | 1986 | Croom Helm | A classic title but a bible among shorebird
watchers. This book is probably a starting
point of species group bird guide. Although it was firstly published about 15 years ago, this book is still one of the most reliable books on shorebirds. Illustration is generally beautiful and mostly accurate. Text is descriptive and more detailed. A recommendable guide book for your interests on shorebirds. |
|
| Gulls: a guide to identifcation 2nd Edition | Grant. P.J. | 1986 | T & AD Poyser | A classical identification guide for gull watchers. Content is appropriate for only advandced birdwatchers. Frankly saying, I don't want to see so many gull's photos. All photos and illustrations are black and white. I am not sure the black and white photos and illustrations are helpful for field identification of gulls. Unfortunately, not much information is contained for east Asian gulls, such as Heuglin's. | |
| Parrots: A Guide to the Parrots of the World | Juniper, Tony & Parr, Mike | 1998 | Pica Press | A very colouful book! I don't think most
of birdwatchers use this book for field
identification
of parrots while parrots are often
easily
identified. This book shows many sub-species
on the colour plate which should be
helpful
to have information of sub-species
level
variation. Text is very informative and even mentions conservation status and estimated population. Distribution map is large enough. Unfortunately, some of maps seem to be outdated such as Ringnecked Parrot and Northern Rosella. Taxnomy is also a bit questionable. For example, Yellow Rosella is regarded as a full species while Adelaide Rosella is treated as hybrid between Yellow and Crimson Rosellas. While the illustration is contributed by several illustrators, the quality is varied much depending on the illustrators. |
|
| Fairy-Wrens and Grasswrens | Rowley, Ian & Russell, Eleanor | 1997 | Oxford | A comprehensive guide book of fairy-wrens. This book contains, fairy-wrens, emu-wrens and grasswrens. While this book mentions more about taxonmy and ecology, this is more ornithological book. The art work is fantastic. Variegated Fairy-wren and the allies are well-illustrated for identifying. | |
| A Field Guide to the Rare Birds of Britain and Europe | Lewington, Ian, Alström, Per & Colston, Peter | 1991 | Harper Collins | Somehow, this title is popular among Japanese
birders while many of birds included in this
title are also seen in Japan. Illustration
by Ian Lewington is fantastic. Probably,
because of printing, brightness of the plate
is not so good. Text is concentrating on identification. Very informative text with small font size. Although some of text in eastern Asian species are slightly less reliable, this is a very recommendable title. |
|
| The Macmillan Field Guide to Bird Identification | Harris, Alan, Tucker, Laurel & Vinicombe, Keith | 1989 | The Macmillan Press | I wonder how European birders love to
stick on very precise and detailed issue
on birding. This is another title which is
focusing on identication only. In this book,
only common species are mentioned. Quality of illustration is very high. Very detailed and acculate. Text is also concentrating on identification. This can be a second or third title for supplementing information on identification. However, I have a question how many birdwatchers take more than 2 or field guides into the fields. |
|
| The Macmillan Field Guide to North Atlantic Shorebirds | Chandler, Richard | 1989 | The Macmillan Press | Another title from Macmillan. Somehow, many
birders in Japan keep this title. I
used
to go shorebird-watching with "Shorebirds"
and this title. This photographic field
guide
covers most of northern shorebirds.
So, as
the second title for shorebird watching,
this is still a good field guide. Text is very simple. Unfortunately, I did not find any advantage in this book comparing to "Shorebirds" in the text. |
|
| A Field Guide to the Waterbirds of Asia | Bhushan, Bharat他 | 1993 | Wild Bird Society of Japan | A handy and unique field guide, which targets
only waterbirds. Probably, this book originally
aimed for raising awareness of waterbird
conservation in Asia, linking with Asian
Waterfowl Census. 。 Illustration is by Takashi Taniguchi , a famous bird illustrator with text by Kojiro Sonobe, Akira Hibi, Shunji Usui and others. Although the text and illustration is more than average, it is very unclear about selection of species. It is not based on taxonomy. So, some seabirds, such as Sabbine's and Ross's Gull are not in the field guide, though most of other gulls are in the book. |
|
| A Field Guide to the Waders of Britain and Europe with North Africa and The Middle East | Colston, Peter & Burton, Philip | 1988 | Hodder & Stoughton | Text is by Peter Colston. It targets shorebirds
and the covered species are mostly
same with
"North Atlantic Shorebirds".
Illustration
is fair but not so outstanding. If
you have
"Shorebirds" or Lars Jonsson's,
you may not be attracted with this
title. While the illustration does not explain well difference between Little and Red-necked Stint, it is not useful in the field. Text is excellent. With the small font size, it mentions very detail in this size. |
|
| Others | |||||
| Birding Indonesia - A Bird-watcher's Guide to the World's Largest Archipelago | Jepson, Paul & Ounsted, Rosie (edt.) | 1997 | Periplus Edition | A very beautiful book with lots of bird and habitat photos in Indonesia. Although this books takes a birdwatching guide style, it contains more geographical, social, cultural and environmental information. So, simply as a guiding book, this is very attractive. A checklist is very useful. | |
| A Birder's Guide to Maine | Pierson, Elizabeth, Pierson, Jan Erik & Vickery, Peter | 1996 | Down East Books | A birding guide in Maine, in the US. A beautiful cover photo of Common Loon attracted me to buy. Not only main bird species, it also mentions accommodations nearby the birding spot. | |
| Birds of Massachusetts | Veit, Richard & Petersen, Wayne | 1993 | Massachusetts Audubon Society | A bulky book with distribution maps for each species with brief text which descibes status of each species in Massachusetts. It is very surprising this types of technical book is sold only US$36! | |
| A Birdwatcher's Guide to Malaysia | Bransbury, John | 1993 | Waymark | A series birding guide book, produced by
Waymark. This title contains major
birding
spots not only Peninsular Malaysia
but also
East Malaysia. From Malaya University,
an
urban birding spot, to Taman Negara,
this
book covers about 42 sites with maps,
site
information, common species, rarities,
access,
acccommodation and the best season
to visit.
Comparing to the following title, this
book
is more useful, though the information
is
already bit outdated. The outstanding
feature
of this title is that major species
are described
with the habitat. So, for looking for
Banded
Broadbill, the book navigate you to
check
middle storey or canopy. |
|
| Where To Find Birds In Australia | Bransbury, John | 1987 | Waymark | A series birding guide book, produced by Waymark. This book contains birding spots entire Australia. Although this book describes major birding spots with each state, I have hardly used it while I was in Australia. Because, it mainly describes mainly national parks with very brief maps which is not helpful enough to access. Additionally for advanced birdwatchers, this title does not mention enough for birding spots for local highlights. A fair book for beginer birdwatchers. | |
| Where to Find Birds in Northeast Queensland: 2nd edition | Wieneke, Jo | 1992 | 不明 | Birdwatching guide around Cairns, Australia. It contains some local birding spots. Although the binding is not beautiful, it is still reasonable with only A$ 15. | |
| Birdwatcher's Guide To The Sydney Region | Roberts, Peter | 1993 | Kangaroo Press | A compact birdwarching guide around Sydney, Australia. General information, main species, access and birding spots are well described for each site. Although the brief map is attached, more detail map would be more helpful for first visitors. Summary of recorded species in the district is convenient. | |
| Birds of Australia's Top End | Goodfellow, L. Dennis & Stott, Michael | 2001 | Scrubfowl Press | This is more likely a "where to find" book rather than a field guide. Although it has color plates, quality of illustration is very poor. However, this book presents current status of Northern Territory's birds with information of how and where to find. This can be helpful for planning birding in the territory. | |
| New! Birdwatching guide to Oman | Eriksen, Hanne & Jens, Sargeant, Panadda & Dave E. | 2001 | Al Roya Publishing | Tremendously big work by the authors, who also collate ornithological information in Oman. Probably, because of the accessiblity and relative difficulty for the entry, Oman is less famous among birdwatchers despite the attractive birds in the country. The guide introduces major birding spots, how to entre and travel in the country with some beautiful Omani birds' photos. Basic information for each species is also more accurate than the regional field guide, Porter & Christensen. However, a user is recoomended to prepare different maps since its map is rather simple. | |
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