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Collins Bird Guide - errata and queries (1 Viewer)

StevePreddy said:
Can anyone else confirm or deny the presence of breeding Bee-eaters in Denmark?
Click to expand...

My copy of the Danish bird atlas (Fuglenes Danmark, 1998) mentions that there hasn't been a breeding record in the country since 1985. There are occasional records before then, with breeding records from 1948, 1961 & 62, 1966, 1973, 1984 and 1985. Apart from 1948, when two pairs bred on Bornholm, the records were all in in Jutland, i.e. the western, mainland portion of the country.

In short I think Edward was right and Bee-eater is not a regular breeder in Denmark, particularly not near Copenhagen.
 
Bottom right caption on Sooty Shearwater plate has a bit missing/left-in, it reads:
"powerful flight and athletic build are the most obvious differences com- from darker Balearics (see p.70)"
 
Can i suggest all future comments are organised as in Steve's original, page number then detail - it would surely save Killian trawling through narrative texts to see what if anything needs revision.

Also, keep this thread to possible errors rather than questions or debates on id/status/format etc.
 
Many thanks for the additional corrections and suggestions. I'm shocked that I overlooked the botched-up Sooty Shearwater caption, thank you very much for that Gastronaut! Perhaps it was because I was too preoccupied with the fact that the new figure of a swimming Bulwer's Petrel is way too big compared to the other swimming figures on the same plate. This, I hasten to point out, is entirely my fault, not the publishers' or printers'. The incorrect Sooty Shearwater caption should read "powerful flight and athletic build are the most obvious differences compared to darker Balearics (see pp 70-71)"
Harry asked a couple of questions, of which one has already been answered (though I recall that there is a discussion and photos of the Mar 2000 Finnish bird published in an issue of Alula magazine). There are two articles on Relict Gull published in Dutch Birding. though the possible record for Turkey is based on the discovery of a just a ring, and is therefore open to question.

Dutch Birding 29, 2 (2007): page 94
Artikelen / papers
Flock of 14 Relict Gulls in southern Russia and north-western Kazakhstan in May 2000
Vladimir V Piskunov & A N Antonchikov

Dutch Birding 22, 4 (2000): page 219
Artikelen / papers
Possible ringing recoveries of Relict Gull in Bulgaria and Turkey
Edward I Gavrilov & Andrey E Gavrilov

I cannot guarantee that all of the more clear-cut text-page errors listed in this thread will be rectified before the next print-run, but I certainly hope so.

Please keep them coming!

Killian
 
Working my way through the captions on the plates, I've found two small errors on p.75:

Wilson’s Storm Petrel: ‘leading, edge’ should read ‘leading edge’
White-faced Storm Petrel: ‘outstretched’ is misspelt
 
bluechaffinch said:
Also, bill colour in Laurel pigeon is not quite right - tip never yellow, but pink...
Click to expand...

I'm trying to find out which is correct. Other field guide artists seem to have plumped for yellow. Unfortunately, I can't find a really good photo anywhere on the web which seems to settle the issue. Adrian Webb's photos of Bolle's in Birding World 14:368-9 show a pink bill-tip for that species. Does anyone know of any good close-up photos of Laurel Pigeon?

EDIT: I think these photos - http://www.birdguides.com/species/species.asp?sp=065013 - show that page 217 is OK for Laurel Pigeon after all, and it's just for Bolle's that it's incorrect.
 
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D'you know, I'm amazed how good humoured KM is about this. I know all our comments (I haven't commented here but comments I did make in another thread have been included in Steve's errata list) have come about out of love for the best fieldguide on the planet - but I also know I'd still get tetchy if it was me.

Top bloke and top book! I certainly think Steve needs a career move into wildlife book proof reading.

Ken
 
p. 327 Syke's Warbler: The note in the illustration should read saxaul forest, the main... rather than saxual forest, the main

A couple of notes on the distribution of birds in Germany:
p.76 Gannet: Breeds on Helgoland in the North Sea
p.130 Great Bustard: Only occurs at two sites west of Berlin (re-introduction programme). I don't think there are any remaining in western Poland(?).
p.224 Ural Owl: Restricted to Bavarian Forest not near Munich as indicated.
p.248 Crested Lark: Gone from most of NW Germany
p.356 Woodchat Shrike: Extinct as breeding species in Germany (and eastern Poland?).
p.380 Citril Finch: Also breeds north of the Danube in the Black Forest

These small errata take nothing away from an amazing book though!
 
KFC said:
D'you know, I'm amazed how good humoured KM is about this. I know all our comments (I haven't commented here but comments I did make in another thread have been included in Steve's errata list) have come about out of love for the best fieldguide on the planet - but I also know I'd still get tetchy if it was me.

Top bloke and top book! I certainly think Steve needs a career move into wildlife book proof reading.

Ken
Click to expand...

^ This!

I'd have been a crying heap by now. Good man.
 
Enjoying my copy. Just quickly spotted:
p. 189. Caspian Gull - bill and face look too long, rather like extreme individuals of this form.
p. 420. Long-tailed Rosefinch - is now a breeder in European Russia.
p. 422: Black Swan - omit Poland. No feral breeding ever occured - I don't know how this error appeared (http://www.komisjafaunistyczna.pl/kf-pl/kfw_p3_lista.htm)
p. 425/6 - at least Ashy-throated Parrotbill (Italy) and Red Billed Leiothrix (France and Italy at least) should be added to the introduced species section.

cheers, congrats for a great book,
 
Long-tailed Rosefinch

jurek said:
Long-tailed Rosefinch - is now a breeder in European Russia.
Click to expand...
An interesting borderline case, given that the main section "treats all bird species which breed or regularly occur in Europe, ...".

Ryabitsev & Wilson 1999 (Range extension of Long-tailed Rosefinch into the Western Palearctic, British Birds 92(10): 498-503) reported the westernmost records of breeding in the area of Ayat’ and Tavatuy, c30km NW of Ekaterinburg (aka Yekaterinburg), Sverdlovskaya Oblast’ (in Asiatic Russia). This is within the WP limits as recognised by BWP, but these do not exactly follow the administrative boundary between European and Asiatic Russia.

Long-tailed Rosefinch certainly qualifies as an accidental straggler to Europe – R&W also reported that small nomadic flocks were observed in Oct 1995 near Perm’ (in Permskaya Oblast’, in European Russia).

But perhaps the breeding range has by now extended further westwards. I'd be very interested in any more recent data...

Richard
 
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Anyone noticed Divers not in the index?
Still a brilliant book despite the errors.
Two copies - 1 in the car and one at home!
 
PhilW said:
Anyone noticed Divers not in the index?
Still a brilliant book despite the errors.
Two copies - 1 in the car and one at home!
Click to expand...

Further up this thread you should be able to find my comment to KM (Loons are in, which seems a bit odd for a European book!). It's on the list of errata he sent to the publisher.

David
 
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