Richard Klim
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Porter, Aspinall, Gale, Langman & Small 2010. Helm Field Guides: Birds of the Middle East. 2nd Edition. Christopher Helm, London.
Paperback, 384pp, 176 colour plates, 636 maps. RRP £29.99.
Just received my copy, £23.99 (post free) from A&C Black:
http://www.acblack.com/naturalhisto...9780713676020&title=+Birds+of+the+Middle+East
With the advance publicity stating that the 2nd Edition would include more than 100 new species, I speculated elsewhere that the area of coverage might have increased to include Egypt and perhaps even parts of the Caucasus and Central Asia. But no, the scope remains the same as the original, viz the region bounded by Turkey, Iran, the Arabian Peninsula (including the Socotra Archipelago), the Levant and Cyprus.
The introduction states that over 130 additional species and recognisable subspecies have been incorporated, resulting from taxonomic changes or new occurrences (including additional introduced exotics); and that over 850 spp and sspp are depicted and described in all.
As promised, a more practical layout has been adopted, with the full text as well as maps facing the colour plates. The distribution maps now show resident, migrant breeding and passage/winter ranges. This is a significant enhancement compared with the 1st edition (which mapped breeding ranges only), although it would have been even more useful if wintering and passage ranges were shown separately – perhaps there are still inadequate data to allow this to be implemented consistently.
Sequence, taxonomy and nomenclature follow the OSME Region List:
http://www.osme.org/orl/orl.shtml
[Socotra Buzzard Buteo socotraensis Porter & Kirwan 2010 is of course included! ]
Richard
Paperback, 384pp, 176 colour plates, 636 maps. RRP £29.99.
Just received my copy, £23.99 (post free) from A&C Black:
http://www.acblack.com/naturalhisto...9780713676020&title=+Birds+of+the+Middle+East
With the advance publicity stating that the 2nd Edition would include more than 100 new species, I speculated elsewhere that the area of coverage might have increased to include Egypt and perhaps even parts of the Caucasus and Central Asia. But no, the scope remains the same as the original, viz the region bounded by Turkey, Iran, the Arabian Peninsula (including the Socotra Archipelago), the Levant and Cyprus.
The introduction states that over 130 additional species and recognisable subspecies have been incorporated, resulting from taxonomic changes or new occurrences (including additional introduced exotics); and that over 850 spp and sspp are depicted and described in all.
As promised, a more practical layout has been adopted, with the full text as well as maps facing the colour plates. The distribution maps now show resident, migrant breeding and passage/winter ranges. This is a significant enhancement compared with the 1st edition (which mapped breeding ranges only), although it would have been even more useful if wintering and passage ranges were shown separately – perhaps there are still inadequate data to allow this to be implemented consistently.
Sequence, taxonomy and nomenclature follow the OSME Region List:
http://www.osme.org/orl/orl.shtml
[Socotra Buzzard Buteo socotraensis Porter & Kirwan 2010 is of course included! ]
Richard