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The reviewer is a leading ornithologist at an Israeli University who has thrice taken sabbaticals in Australia to study birds and their preferred foodstuffs. She has published extensive. She prefers not to have a byline for this book review.
I've looked at many field guides whenever I find myself in book stores. This one caught my eye, and I when I learned that a new sixth edition had come out, I got it right away.
While there are many are good bird guides out there, they usually contain pictures and art that don't show the birds from every angle. The information usually isn't that detailed either, or not there at all. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would love to know how to tell the difference between more than one very similar species like Grey Crowned Babler, Chestnut Crowned Babler, White Browned Babler and Hall's Babbler. Birds of Australia : A Photographic Guide address all these iisues .Where necessary their are more than one picture from different anglesand expert comment about the differences between species,
This book goes way beyond any guide I've ever seen, the information is in-depth and useful, not to mention that they show the top of the bird's wing and the bottom of it . For some reason, many guides don't show what the bird looks like from the bottom.Where this is important Birds of Australia does have this additional photograph which is incrediblyuseful since many times they flow overyou and that's all you get to see.
There are supurb migration and location maps maps. Accidental species are also mentioned ( some in great detail),The introduction to Australia's Geography and the location of its bird species with wonderful ( I can't use that word enough) is by itself a reason to by this book..
I could go on forever about how great this book is, it's like a bird-college text book! I wouldn't settle for any other guide!
Australia is home to a spectacular diversity of birdlife, from parrots and penguins to emus and vibrant passerines.Birds of Australia covers all 714 species of resident birds and regularly occurring migrants and features more than 1,100 stunning color photographs, including many photos of subspecies and plumage variations never before seen in a field guide. Detailed facing-page species accounts describe key identification features such as size, plumage, distribution, behavior, and voice. This one-of-a-kind guide also provides extensive habitat descriptions with a large number of accompanying photos. The text relies on the very latest IOC taxonomy and the distribution maps incorporate the most current mapping data, making this the most up-to-date guide to Australian birds.
- Covers all 714 species of resident birds and regularly occurring migrants
- Features more than 1,100 stunning color photos
- Includes facing-page species accounts, habitat descriptions, and distribution maps
- The ideal photographic guide for beginners and seasoned birders alike
Iain Campbell, a native of Australia, is builder of the Tandayapa Bird Lodge in Ecuador and cofounder of Tropical Birding, which leads bird and wildlife tours around the world. Sam Woods and Nick Leseberg are nature guides for Tropical Birding. Campbell and Woods are the authors of Wildlife of Australia (Princeton University Press).
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