field guides for Madagascar (1 Viewer)

There seem to be several field guides (books) for Madagascar; any opinions on them?

• Safford & Skerrett, Birds of Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands
• Langrand & Ian Sinclair, Chamberlain's Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands
• the older Langrand & Bretagnolle, Guide to the Birds of Madagascar
• others?

Thanks!

tapaculo said:

There seem to be several field guides (books) for Madagascar; any opinions on them?

• Safford & Skerrett, Birds of Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands
• Langrand & Ian Sinclair, Chamberlain's Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands
• the older Langrand & Bretagnolle, Guide to the Birds of Madagascar
• others?

Thanks!

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It's actually only the Hawkins/Safford/Skerrett (Helm) and the Sinclair/Langrand (Chamberlain, 2013 third edition) books to be seriously considered. Some blurbs about the Helm being superior are not what I think. The Helm book claims to be easier for users because one has a preselection within the book. In the end, however, one needs to look for species in up to three sections. I can see the benefit of this arrangement for the small islands but not for Madagascar. The Langrand book provides a much easier instant overview as far as Madagascar is concerned. Both books have their plus and minus points regarding the rest. Thus, I think the Helm book shows the yellows and reds too subdued (e.g. Schlegel's Asity, Madagascar Pygmy Kingfisher). For preparing the trip, I recommend buying both books, but then take along the Langrand one.

Here's a past thread discussing the two most recent guides:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=316547

Swissboy said:

The Helm book claims to be easier for users because one has a preselection within the book. In the end, however, one needs to look for species in up to three sections. I can see the benefit of this arrangement for the small islands but not for Madagascar.

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Hi Robert. If you are in Madagascar, I understand how you'd need to look outside the Madagascar section if you think you might have a vagrant landbird (because vagrant landbirds have their own section and they might also come from nearby islands), but would there be any need to otherwise? Personally, if I'm visiting a place on a foreign tour, I prefer vagrants to be in a separate section so I can easily focus on, and learn, what the expected species are first.

Swissboy said:

It's actually only the Hawkins/Safford/Skerrett (Helm) and the Sinclair/Langrand (Chamberlain, 2013 third edition) books to be seriously considered... For preparing the trip, I recommend buying both books, but then take along the Langrand one.

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Thanks for that information, "Swissboy", and for the link to the other post, which my search did not find. (It seems that searching in BirdForum only works within one forum.) It seems like a good idea to get both books, and also to leave one in Madagascar as a gift.

And I see both are available digitally, from Kindle. I will do that for at least one for my tablet (I have done it for an Ecuador guide), though Kindle is designed for reading normal books and it is not nearly as useful as the "apps" that are coming out for field guides (I used the Birds of Peru one), which have audio also .

initial opinion on Madagascar guides

I bought both Hawkins/Safford/Skerrett and Sinclair/Langrand, the former in the Kindle version. My initial opinion is that the Hawkins et. al. book from Helm (2015) is better, though of course that is tentative until I actually see the birds in November!

I looked at their coverage of raptors, for example, since identifying some of those appears difficult. Helm shows many more plumages, especially of Frances' Sparrowhawk, puts confusing species (serpent eagle and goshawk) on the same plate, and gives identification tips in the text that seem more useful. These illustrations seem more natural, but I'll see about that when I get there. (There are disadvantages to having more than one illustrator -- 2 for Helm, 4 for the other. I cannot even find "credits" for who painted which plates, that is not right!)

Most of the comments in the two previous BirdForum posts focus on their dividing the book by islands. There are pros and cons to that, but it seems appropriate for these islands, and certainly would not be a reason for my choosing one or the other.

Thanks again for the advice.
p.s. since you asked, my avatar is an Ocellated Tapaculo. I started using "tapaculo" for names etc. a long time ago, because it's amusing that it means "cover your ass", more or less...

tapaculo said:

........ I cannot even find "credits" for who painted which plates, that is not right!)

............

p.s. since you asked, my avatar is an Ocellated Tapaculo. I started using "tapaculo" for names etc. a long time ago, because it's amusing that it means "cover your ass", more or less...

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Thanks for the info about your avatar. There are often funny stories behind, that one would not know unless being told. My own "Swissboy" name has its history as well. It all started a long time ago when I first discovered the possibility of getting info to a specific topic in the internet. It happened that I found a US hunters' forum that provided interesting info about optics. But as I am rather far from being a hunter, I did not feel like telling them that I was a birder. And at the time, using one's real name was not customary. So I wondered how I could connect the US and Switzerland. And I resorted to the most blatant cliché I could come up with. Here, we often connect North America with the "wild west" and the "cowboys". So I chose "Swissboy" for a certain link, as I did not want to hide that I'm from Switzerland. (I should add that I had lived for five years in the US (Washington State), so felt very comfortable in such a forum.) I have since kept this name for most uses in the internet.

As for your remarks about illustrators, I also think it should be a basic requirement to mention who illustrated what. Despite being paid for their work, the artists deserve credit for it, as is common etiquette.