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I.d. Guide Books (1 Viewer)

Charles Harper

Charles Harper

Régisseur
I don't know if this topic has already been done to death before I got here, but, having just joined and already failed miserably with some of the I.D. posers, I'm wondering whether you all have comments and advice on the book to use, based on your own experience, in your area of the world.

To wit: I have never been to England (but I really want to go theah) or Europe, but I do have Lars Jonsson's 'Birds of Europe' (the field guide), which I try to use for e.g. rare (here) Phylloscopus warblers and tiny photos of Black Kite. Is this a good guide (among the many, I am aware) for Britain and Europe? What are its merits/demerits?

In return, I will, in a posting soon, tell you about the one and only Japan guide, its demerits and demerits, if anyone is interested.

Good birding,
 
Hi Charles, I think Lars is a good book, it was my field guide of choice until the last Collins guide arrived on the scene. I think some of the passerines could have been better but over all It is very good, I would however still recomend the Collins guide as I think would most people here. As fo more comprehensive guides, BWP (birds of the western palearctic) is a good reference, as are the set of handbooks of birds of the world (not sure if that is the right title) but these are an expensive and still incomplete set.
 
Hi Charles

Lars Jonsson's Birds of Europe is a fine book by one of the best European bird artists around. Some of his pictures are unrivalled in my opinion (the best loon/diver pictures available in my opinion). However, it should be remembered that this book was never really devised by Jonsson as an ID guide but is cobbled together from several Jonsson art books by his publishers and sold as an ID guide.

The best bird ID guide for Europe, and I'm sure this will be repeated by every birder in Europe who replies, is the Collins Bird Guide by Lars Svensson, Peter Grant, Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterström. it boasts superb annotated illustrations and very detailed texts. Note that the publishing house Collins do several European bird guides and you should be sure to check the names of the authors before buying! This book is in my mind simply indispensable on a birding trip to Europe.

The only non-European area I have birded is Australia and there I found the new Knight & Pizzey the best guide, fabulous drawings and a well-thought out and easy to use text.

Edward
 
I am not enough of an expert to comment on BWP with regard it's quality - other than to say it was "too technical" for me.

However, that does suggest it might be what you are after Charles.

As Ashley says though, it's not exactly cheap - but there is a Concise Version (I think it is a single volume) whcih in spite of being condensed, is also updated and includes extra information.

According to Amazon, it retails at about 50 quid, so what's that, something under 10,000 yen?

HTH
 
I can vouch for the excellence of the two-volume BWP - Concise Edition which contains more than enough information for the keen but non-scientific birder. I bought it for 30 quid direct from OUP a couple of years ago - the best bargain ever I thought until I found out my friend had got the whole nine volumes for 75 pounds from the same place!!!

E
 
Hello Charles,

I like the Lars Jonsson guide, apart from the House Sparrows and some of the finches (especially Bullfinch and Goldfinch where it's a bit too 'arty') but the best is probably the Collins Bird Guide by Lars Svensson Peter Grant, Killian Mullarny (Illustrator), Dan Zetterstrom (Illustrator). If you get it get the large format hardback version as the images are twice the size and there is a bit more info. It's not that there is anything really wrong with Birds of Europe its just that the Collins seems better laid out with a bit more info and more emphasis on the ID features. It also makes it easier to compare similar species by generally grouping them together. They are both good books though!
 
Just rushed over to the OUP website to buy BWP and it's.... £250 now, although it's £99 + VAT for the CD Rom version. The concise (2 vol) edition is £95 (I've already got that, it's OK but the plates are a bit 'dull').
 
OUP is Oxford University Press. The trick behind the 75 pound nine-volume offer was that it was a mistake by OUP. They advertised the whole lot for 75 pounds but they meant to offer the final three volumes for 75 pounds. However, my friend ordered before they spotted the mistake and as he had ordered in good faith, the OUP agreed to honour his original purchase. Their website was changed sharpish after that!!
 
OUP = Oxford University Press.

I'd agree with everyone else, for Europe:
#1: Mullarney et al., Collins Bird Guide (HarperCollins)
#2: Jonsson, Birds of Europe (Helm)

For North America, standards of illustration are still regrettably way below the above two, but:
#1: Sibley, North American Bird Guide (Chanticleer / Pica)
#2: National Geographic, Birds of North America 3rd ed. (National Geographic)

For Japan:
#1 that I know of: Takano/WBSJ, Birds of Japan (Wild Bird Society of Japan / Kodansha)
But the artwork is distinctly wooden and not very good by today's standards!

Michael
 
Good lord, gentlemen, I leave my desk for a couple of hours and you've inundated me with information! I would like to respond to all individually but I don't see how it is possible. I've sat down with Lars and noted that the birds are not grouped so well; that the loons look accurate, especially in flight, where they all look alike, just as in real life; that the Bullfinch looks like a Bateman painting... And this is the first time I've noticed you all agreeing on something-- so the Collins guide must the one to get, which I shall. BWP, the two-volume edition, I have looked at before, but hesitated then to lay out for unless I would be using it a lot-- 17,000 yen (at current rates) is a lot of beer. Still, point well taken.

Edward, I looked at all the extant Australian guides before going to Cairns a couple of years ago, and then, in a quandary, ended up buying the then-yet-unseen Michael Morcombe guide, which I found highly workable, with a good layout. The illlustrations are not the most natural, but I found them accurate in color and pattern; there's some unnecessary egg and nest information taking up weight in the back of the book.

And Michael, happy to see someone knows the Takano guide anyway. Out of print for several years now, and the WBSJ expressing no interest in reprinting or updating. It is horribly out of date, and the illustrations stink, but it IS the only thing in English, and it, including all my marginal notes, plus a Japanese language guide for its much better pictures, serves me reasonably well. (By the way, snub of the NG Bs of NA noted-- the illustrations are highly admired there, I believe, and I swore by the 2nd edition when I was using it-- Mulllarney et. al. must be GREAT!)

My humble thanks to all,
 
Don't forget Beaman and Madge Handbook of Bird Identification.

It's a fantastic book - 'cos it devotes more text to the identification of birds than either Jonsson or the Collins guide which lets the pictures do the hark work.

Darrell
 
I'll second Darrell on Beaman and Madge, a welcome addition to any shelf. It's not a field guide though as it weigts half a ton and once you've got used to modern integrated field guides which have all the information and pictures on the same page, it can be a pain to go back and forward between text and picture. The quality of the illustrations varies from the magnificent wildfowl, raptors and gulls to the less convincing loons/divers. (why am I fixated by loon illustrations?). So it's not really like a Sibley for NA because the Sibley has very limited text and although big won't give you a hernia if you try and take it into the field, as Madge and Beaman will.

Charles, I too have the Morcombe guide to Australian birds but have yet to use it in the field, hope to do so next spring. I admit the layout looks great and easy to use but some of the illustrations are not quite up to the standard expected nowadays. Check out the Pechora Pipit! Ouch!
However, some of the plates are much better and I like the way they are annotated, as in Collins Bird Guide. It'll definitely be going with me when I next go to Australia. What do the Aussies say about their bird guides?
 
Can I just endorse all that has been said above but add two "wildcard" books for anyone thinking of birding in Europe and they are "The MacMillan Guide to Field Indentification" and The MacMillan Birder's Guide To European And Middle Eastern Birds".

These two small books take those confusion species such as Common/Arctic Terns, Willow Warbler/Chiffchaff and Greater/Lesser Sandplover and give them some detailed notes and drawings.

These are no good in place of a field guide, but they augment something like the Collin's Guide making a reasonably portable "library".
 
Hi Charles,
I'd also like to unreservedly recommend the Collins guide(Mullarney et al 1999):it's probably the best field guide available for any region in the world!(I swear that Killian hasn't paid me to say that!;-))
Harry
 
Well, gentlemen, real time passes as our cyberthoughts lie here in limbo, and I've up and bought Mullarney (but I bought the smaller paperback Birds of Europe, Princeton U.P.-- big mistake, I think, the illustrations are so small-- I did it because I wanted to carry it in the field) and the birds look truly good, though it may portray the world's fattest dipper. I really like the range of ages and plumages shown, for instance the gulls..though I don't think there really is such a thing as a Herring Gull any more-- it's been shattered into Vega, Heuglin's, Smithson's, etc. Not only Mullarny et. al. but I also sprung for a used-but-like-new 2-volume BWP which is probably overkill for my skills, but certainly has all the non-ID text as well as many of Zetterstrom's illustrations and other good things. And then I had Sibley thrown in as well, a book I am ashamed to admit I had never seen before, in spite of being a US ex-pat, and it has no text at all, but lots of excellent annotated plates. Amazing to think one man (obviously a megalomaniac... can I get sued on this website?) did it all!

OK-- I've blown my wad and I'm ready for the the I.D. challenge! (Lord, please don't let it come from Africa.)

Many thanks to all,
 
Hi Charles

I had the same misgivings when I first opened Mullarney et al "These illustrations are minute!" but you get used to them. I think I might treat myself to the large format in England this summer. One of the few criticisms of the book when it was published was that it was conservative in its taxonomy. As long as the experts don't agree on gulls then perhaps it's best to err on the side of caution.

That Sibley is a one man effort is truly admirable and it's one of the reasons I have a fondness for Morecombe's Aussie guide despite the fact that the drawings are not great.

I can't wait to go to North America to put Sibley to the test.

Meanwhile book lovers, yesterday I finally saw the first seven volumes of Handbook to the Birds of the World at a friend's house and I'm still reeling. I'll have to meet the bank manager, re-mortgage the house or something because these books appear absolutely indispensible!

E
 
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