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Collins Bird Guide - to buy now, or to wait? (1 Viewer)

oncebittern

oncebittern

Steve Sheehan
I am (was) about to buy a Collins Bird Guide, when I noticed the new one available in June. Anyone have any 'inside knowledge' of whats new/better about it? Is it going to be worth waiting for, or should I get the current one...and maybe get the new one as well when it becomes available? I really want a good guide now, as the idea of another 5 months of struggling with gull/warbler/wader IDs is a bit daunting to a (relative) novice. Any other suggestions also welcome.

Steve.
 
From the HarperCollins website:
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Contents/Title/Pages/default.aspx?objId=36363

"With expanded text and additional colour illustrations, the second edition of the hugely successful Collins Bird Guide is a must for every birdwatcher...
Pub. Date: 28.05.09"​

Books for Birders:
"This long-awaited, extremely important second edition of the standard field guide will contain a great many updates and taxonomic changes."​

If you want the current edition in the interim, it's only £10.19 (softback) or £11.24 (hardback) from Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Bir...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232572592&sr=1-1

Richard
 
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Get the current one. It's superb value and you shouldn't be without it if you're the least bit serious about birding. I expect the content to be 95% the same in the new one, but with some of the gull splits etc. covered. Don't do without one to save a tenner. You'll probably like it so much you'll get the new one also and bequeath the other.

Graham
 
Get the soft back version for the field as its a lot more bag and pocket frendly.

You cant go far wrong with any version of the collins.
 
Well, at c£12 getting one now and the new version when it appears won't exactly break the bank. Then again there was life before the 'Collins Guide' appeared when people did manage to go out birding with other guides or, heaven forefend, no guide at all! So, in part, I guess it depends on what guide you have at the moment. Most half decent guides should let you work out which wader you're looking at and will do the same for warblers (although most warblers won't be around for a few months yet). Gulls, admittedly, are daunting birds to get to grips with and, specialist guides apart, "Collins" is the only field guide that really gets to grips with them. However, the new edition should be that much better. One final strategy is simply to ignore gulls for a couple of months!!!
 
I'll be amazed if the new book is alot better than the one I own. The cuurrent one is excellantly written, has excellant bird paintings, and for what its worth, I think everyone should own one.


Incidently, how many of you have noticed which Western Palearctic missing out of the book totally?
 
bitterntwisted said:
I'm intrigued. There's a current, native WP species missing?
Click to expand...

Well, there are obviously some species left out on the fringes. The Azores, Cape Verde and Banc d'Arguin are excluded. Coverage within mainland Africa goes only to 30degN (the WP boundary is typically at 19-21degN). Iraq and Kuwait are also excluded (as are Iran and most of the Arabian peninsula, which are sometimes included within the WP).

Richard
 
It is dscribed on the front cover as 'The most complete field guide to the birds of Britain and Europe '

Maybe a complementary 'Field guide to the birds of the Fringes of The Western Palearctic' should be considered.
Would it be well received?
 
dantheman said:
It is dscribed on the front cover as 'The most complete field guide to the birds of Britain and Europe '
Click to expand...

But it does sensibly include some species which have never occurred in Europe. e.g. Blackstart, Sinai Rosefinch.

I assumed the original question, though, related to a species which should be in by the general criteria for inclusion but had been accidentally missed out. Agree that it's a rubbish quiz question if the answer is a fringe WP bird like, say, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse.

Graham
 
dantheman said:
Maybe a complementary 'Field guide to the birds of the Fringes of The Western Palearctic' should be considered.
Would it be well received?
Click to expand...
Beaman & Madge 1998 (The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic) provides complete coverage of the WP (as defined by BWP).

But weighing in at 2.2kg, I wouldn't recommend it when yomping for miles in the Mauritanian Sahara searching for Cricket Warbler and Sudan Golden Sparrow...

Richard
 
dantheman said:
It is dscribed on the front cover as 'The most complete field guide to the birds of Britain and Europe '

Maybe a complementary 'Field guide to the birds of the Fringes of The Western Palearctic' should be considered.
Would it be well received?
Click to expand...

The new edition has on the cover "The most complete guide to the birds of Britain and Ireland"

but apparently is still more accurately described as a guide to europe, north africa and large parts of the middle east
 
Richard Klim said:
Beaman & Madge 1998 (The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic) provides complete coverage of the WP (as defined by BWP).

But weighing in at 2.2kg, I wouldn't recommend it when yomping for miles in the Mauritanian Sahara searching for Cricket Warbler and Sudan Golden Sparrow...

Richard
Click to expand...

It's also at least £65 now, being out of print.
 
bitterntwisted said:
I'm intrigued. There's a current, native WP species missing?

Graham
Click to expand...


The bird that Ive noticed that is missing, is the Superbus Robin which I think (maybe wrong) is endemic to Tenerife. Other birds on Tenerife in the book, Blue Chaffinch, Bertholot's Pipit, Tenerife Goldcrest etc, just wondered why the superbus had been eliminated, even though its quite a lot different plumage wise to the European Robin.

I'm sure someone will correct me, which is fine :t:
 
Gary Jenkins said:
The bird that Ive noticed that is missing, is the Superbus Robin which I think (maybe wrong) is endemic to Tenerife.
Click to expand...
Erithacus superbus 'Tenerife Robin' was recognised by Dutch Birding in 2002 (following Bergmann & Schottler 2001). [Collins Bird Guide was published in 1999, and many other splits have occurred since then.]

But this split isn't recognised by most relevant authorities (eg AERC, African Bird Club, BirdLife International, IOC, H&M3, Cornell/Clements, HBW, Clarke 2006).

superbus is resident on Tenerife and Gran Canaria (the population on Gran Canaria is sometimes given the name 'marionae').

Richard
 
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Gary Jenkins said:
I'll be amazed if the new book is alot better than the one I own. The cuurrent one is excellantly written, has excellant bird paintings, and for what its worth, I think everyone should own one.


Incidently, how many of you have noticed which Western Palearctic missing out of the book totally?
Click to expand...

The Collin's Bird Guide is superb but the gull section could definately do with updating e.g. no Caspian gull, inadequate cover of yellow-legged gull. Of course if you aren't really into gulls this may not bother you. As others have said I'd buy the old one now and buy the new one when it comes out.
 
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