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Best bird guides by region...Australasia? (4 Viewers)

colonelboris

Right way up again
I've seen lots of threads from people new to birding, or going on holiday somewhere unfamiliar, who ask what's the best field guide for such-and-such a place. I wondered if the denizens of the books department here would mind helping to create a list of the best field guides for different regions of the world.
Doesn't have to be country-by-country, although a few places are pretty well single-country areas, like Australia.
Here goes:


Australasia
Australia
Tough one - four main field guides to Australia (bit of a review here):
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia - K. Simpson and N. Day. 8th Edition, 2010.
The Slater Field Guide to the Birds of Australia - P. Slater, P. Slater and R. Slater, 2009.
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia - G. Pizzey and F. Knight. 8th edition, 2007.
Field Guide to Australian Birds - Michael Morcombe. Revied 1st edition, 2003.

New Zealand
Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand - H. Robertson and B. Heather. 2007.
 
For New Zealand I would go for The Hand Guide to the Birds of New Zealand, Robertson and Heather. I feel that the Field Guide by the same is just too much book! Both could do with an up-date though.
 
Australasia
Australia
Tough one - four main field guides to Australia (bit of a review here):
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia - K. Simpson and N. Day. 8th Edition, 2010.
The Slater Field Guide to the Birds of Australia - P. Slater, P. Slater and R. Slater, 2009.
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia - G. Pizzey and F. Knight. 8th edition, 2007.
Field Guide to Australian Birds - Michael Morcombe. Revied 1st edition, 2003.

In Oz, I find that at least two out of these three are needed; Morcombe shows well the ID features, although the illustrations are pretty eclectic. However, I understand that Morcombe is now available on an I-thingy, which reduces the weight: this appears to be the only format of this FG that will now be updated. If pushed, I'd take the latest editions of Slater and of Simpson & Day, although Pizzey & Knight have vocal adherents. Slater is the only one that fits in a pocket unless you are deformed or have negative fashion sense.3:)
MJB
 
I have 'The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds' 2nd edition and love it. I recently saw one for smartphones with the sounds of each bird, very handy in the field... but I have yet to get a smartphone.
 
Pizzey and Knight 9th edition

...........Field Guide to the Birds of Australia - G. Pizzey and F. Knight. 8th edition, 2007.
.....

There is a newer 2012 (9th) edition of this book. Does in now include the species of the outlying islands like the Slater FG? Is says there is a new species sequence. So which sequence is it following now? Any other major changes?
 
New Guinea?

Can't find a reference to New Guinea, neither here nor in the Asia thread. So a classical case of falling through the meshes?
 
The surprise me button works surprisingly well in this link :t:

Niels

It did not work for me. But I then realized that the plates only show when you are signed in! And when one is signed in, one also gets the plate samples at the Amazon UK site.
 
Last edited:
Hi everyone,

I see that the thread is a couple of years old...
Any updates? Shall I still buy 2 or 3 of the suggested ones?
I am planning to go to Australia next year August. I would like to buy the guides now...


Any other guide you feel to suggest? Are there "where to find birds" types of guide?
And an equivalent of ornitho/e-bird??

Thanks a lot for any info!
Best,

Pietro
 
To take the last question first: ebird recently merged with an Australian counterpart and now therefore has quite good coverage in Australia as far as I know.

http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/6411.htm is the bird finding guide you need (but this other one is brand new, and I have never heard good or bad about it: http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/6518.htm)

Regarding field guides, also check the discussions in this forum: http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=399 - personally I have used Pizzey and Knight on two visits and been happy with it. Ideally, supplement whatever book you choose with an app having voice recordings for your smartphone/tablet.

Niels
 
To take the last question first: ebird recently merged with an Australian counterpart and now therefore has quite good coverage in Australia as far as I know.

http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/6411.htm is the bird finding guide you need (but this other one is brand new, and I have never heard good or bad about it: http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/6518.htm)

Regarding field guides, also check the discussions in this forum: http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=399 - personally I have used Pizzey and Knight on two visits and been happy with it. Ideally, supplement whatever book you choose with an app having voice recordings for your smartphone/tablet.

Niels

The Dolby/Clarke site guide looks much better to me than the Thomas one. I think the Dolby/Clarke supplemented by Ebird records and maybe some trip reports will be the best solution for finding birds.
 
The Dolby/Clarke site guide looks much better to me than the Thomas one. I think the Dolby/Clarke supplemented by Ebird records and maybe some trip reports will be the best solution for finding birds.

What Andrew says. I have the Dolby/Clarke guide, a very attractive book indeed, and there are a lot Australian birders entering data on eBird - it's an indispensable resource.
 
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