[TomSmith]

My girlfriend is going to Delhi for three months in the summer and has asked me to get her a field guide to Indian birds. She's a birdwatching novice and the only guides I've been able to find seem a bit intimidating - she wants something more "like an I-Spy book". Does anybody have any recommendations for a good first bird book for India?

Thanks,


Tom

[jyotib]

I've been birding only for a couple of years and am in India.

I began with Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Bikram Grewal (http://books.rediff.com/bookshop/buy...rewal&search=1) and found it easier to dip into any time and didn't mind the time it took to zero in on a species because it would be a pleasant browse. After a year of (even slow) birding, it felt inadequate so on a recommendation got myself A Field Guide to the Birds of India by Krys Kazmierczak. I find its initial bird-chart very helpful in focussing on a bird of interest. Its plate illustrations are probably overly coloured but it appears comprehensive so helpful. In my quest for a comprehensive photographic guide, I picked up A Photographic Guide to the Birds of India, again by Bikram Grewal and although I find it more complete than the earlier book by the author, its photos are like small thumbnails and some too hazy to warrant printing in any useful guide. I'd still recommend it though for its friendly format. I haven't used the Inskipp Field Guide and know that it has long fan following.

So, one of the Grewal photographic guides along with one of the two Field Guides should equip you well enough for various parts of India.

You may also want to download region checklists from http://checklists.delhibird.net/ to focus on the cited species in your search through the book.

[Alf King]

You should also consider Birds of Delhi by Ranjat Lal (ISBN 019567219-4) which, although not a field guide as such, gives interesting descriptions of birds to be found in the region. Also Delhibird (www.delhibird.org) have issued checklists in the past (I have a 2004 one) which also gave interesting information about sites to watch birds in and around the city.

Finally, and most importantly, all of these publications that have been referred to can be obtained much more economically in Delhi itself, saving both money and luggage weight.

HTH

[rob stoff]

The Inskipps and Grimmett guide has been produced in the form of local variants and the one which deals only with Northern India should be ideal for your purpose, same plates (in the main) as the more compehensive guide but with southern species removed, new maps and expanded text etc...will save her wading through a load of stuff that doesn't occur in N India and will include everything she could see.

Rob

[TomSmith]

Thanks for all your suggestions! The book by Ranjat Lal looks like the ideal thing for my girlfriend to begin with - I've ordered a copy. If she starts getting really interested in birds while she's in India (fingers crossed) I'll point her to this thread!

Looking at all these field guides has made me want to go and visit her for a while... Perhaps I'll have to get a plane ticket too.

Thanks again,


Tom

[vkalia]

It's probably a bit late for the OP, but I'll put in in here for reference anyway - for a light, non-intimidating field guide, the Collins Guide to the Birds of India is quite nice - it covers most of the commonly seen birds and is quite thin. It is by no means comprehensive, but is a good first book (and very naturally leads to a more thorough guide).

FWIW, I am not a big fan of the drawings on the Inskipp & Grimmet. Kazmierczak's book is a much better one, IMO.

Vandit

[vkalia]

It's probably a bit late for the OP, but I'll put in in here for reference anyway - for a light, non-intimidating field guide, the Collins Guide to the Birds of India is quite nice - it covers most of the commonly seen birds and is quite thin. It is by no means comprehensive, but is a good first book (and very naturally leads to a more thorough guide).

FWIW, I am not a big fan of the drawings on the Inskipp & Grimmet. Kazmierczak's book is a much better one, IMO.

Vandit