stonechat1
New member
Got my copy today. Shipping was exactly one week from ordering, even while the book went over Frankfurt!
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HBW Illustrated Checklist (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Swissboy
- Start date
This has been confirmed to me by Lynx, but the reason is mostly that they have to use a different shipping path. Thus, it's 2 to 4 weeks, I was told.
Anyway, my copy finally arrived today. Shipping date was 4 September. Thus a rather delayed start considering the mid July order.
Getting some first looks at the hefty volume left mostly very positive impressions.
A major, and clearly avoidable problem however, is the sometimes bothersome printing. The main issue, as far as I am concerned, is that many whites come as distinct light greys. Terrible supposedly white herons, egrets, swans and geese. Also the white sides of, for example the male Tufted Duck are grey. :C
A particular eyesore are one of my favorite groups, the tropicbirds, including the greyish yellow of the Christmas Island subspecies/morph. These were just fine in the original illustration in volume 1. Thus, it's not that there would have been faulty sources. On the other hand, gulls and terns, and many others come with the correct whites. And one can also not say that the greys were necessitated by the background of the plates.
I sure hope, such major printing issues will not be found again in the second volume.
I presume, the problem is not one that concerns only a few copies. But I don't recall having read much - if anything - about it, so far.
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What a great book!
It has only gradually dawned on me just how great a book this is. Never before have I had such an astounding overview over the non-passerines. And while the sample pages provided by Lynx gave an idea, it's definitely quite a different experience to actually hold the book and be able to leaf through it, back and forth. Except for the greyish whites on many plates - as mentioned before - the plates are great. And there are so many more subspecies depicted than I had expected. Wow! I can only rave about it, as well as about the interesting info found in the texts.
The book contains less than 4400 species. This leaves way more for volume two. I just hope these will really all be treated in one single volume. A potential decision to split it into two books would certainly not allow the fine overview that is the strength of the present concept. And I still feel a bit cheated by the contents of the HBW special volume where lots of unnecessary stuff was packed into it merely to justify a full sized book. The same temptation could really spoil the fine checklist as it is now planned.
I'm sure there will be an electronic version of this checklist once volume two has appeared. But it's clear that such a version will never be a true substitute for this paper version. For one, by necessity, the pages will be smaller, of course with the possibility of looking at enlarged details. But that will never provide the same fine overview as one gets from these large books. Unless one can look at it on a high-resolution screen of at least 23". So anybody who speculates for that electronic substitute should go for the book(s), instead. With the benefit to already now being able to enjoy the first half.
It has only gradually dawned on me just how great a book this is. Never before have I had such an astounding overview over the non-passerines. And while the sample pages provided by Lynx gave an idea, it's definitely quite a different experience to actually hold the book and be able to leaf through it, back and forth. Except for the greyish whites on many plates - as mentioned before - the plates are great. And there are so many more subspecies depicted than I had expected. Wow! I can only rave about it, as well as about the interesting info found in the texts.
The book contains less than 4400 species. This leaves way more for volume two. I just hope these will really all be treated in one single volume. A potential decision to split it into two books would certainly not allow the fine overview that is the strength of the present concept. And I still feel a bit cheated by the contents of the HBW special volume where lots of unnecessary stuff was packed into it merely to justify a full sized book. The same temptation could really spoil the fine checklist as it is now planned.
I'm sure there will be an electronic version of this checklist once volume two has appeared. But it's clear that such a version will never be a true substitute for this paper version. For one, by necessity, the pages will be smaller, of course with the possibility of looking at enlarged details. But that will never provide the same fine overview as one gets from these large books. Unless one can look at it on a high-resolution screen of at least 23". So anybody who speculates for that electronic substitute should go for the book(s), instead. With the benefit to already now being able to enjoy the first half.
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It's not just yours that has poor white colours for some species. Mine arrived just before the Rutland Bird Fair. I was so keen to check that I hadn't received a 'duff' copy that I drove there and checked a number of copies - they were all the same. I find the colours on eg some ducks, albatrosses and shearwaters very distracting.
Despite this and the VERY small font, a fascinating volume and largely beautiful to the eye.
Despite this and the VERY small font, a fascinating volume and largely beautiful to the eye.
Thanks for this feedback. I have already let Lynx know about my displeasure regarding this white problem. I think a number of us need to do it to help assure they don't let such a thing slip through again when printing volume 2.
The second volume is now available for pre-order for 175 euros. This volume will be 1012 pages with over 12.000 illustrations. The pre-order is available until December 15th and after that the book will cost 225 euros... Publication date is set at December 2016, but with Lynx there is possibly some delays 
http://www.lynxeds.com/product/hbw-and-birdlife-international-illustrated-checklist-birds-world-0
http://www.lynxeds.com/product/hbw-and-birdlife-international-illustrated-checklist-birds-world-0
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
My already creaking shelves won't ne troubled by this or the preceeding volume. If ever a set was stretched to an unwarranted extent it's this.
Andy
Andy
I don't agree in this case. It provides a great overview, whereas I'm getting lost in the original bulk of volumes. I keep using this volume 1 so much more than any of the original 17.
Additionally, the two volumes will be the base for my life list. Not that I care about some species more or some less, but at this point I can't even estimate how high my species count might be.
temmie
Well-known member
You aren't too shy to give a well-founded review of this book that I, and with me many world birders find rather excellent and worth the money, are you?
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
You aren't too shy to give a well-founded review of this book that I, and with me many world birders find rather excellent and worth the money, are you?
I never questioned the quality or value for money, that's for the individual to decide and if you enjoy them great! I'm open to persuasion with the right argument but really do think that they were unrequired which was my point so I'd like to know from those that say they use them, why they use them and how often, what advantage do they offer in e.g planning a trip or assisting an ID which wouldn't be possible with existing literature?
I just think that with all the previous volumes it's very unneccessary and just another way to stretch the income from the set. They know that birders are an odd lot (me included) and will fanatically want a whole set of anything.
I do have all the others but cannot see a use for these volumes. If I'm going anywhere like I hope to go to Costa Rica in March, I'll refer to regional guides in the first instance and other book or online resources if required.
Again, my point was not the undoubted excellence of the books but whether they were actually needed on a practical rather than aesthetic level?
I don't usually need much of an excuse to buy a book but this to me, is just a marketing ploy to extend the income from the set and I have spoken to others who feel the same.
Convince me I need these books and I'll buy them.
Andy
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temmie
Well-known member
Without this book, you would have to buy some other guides from nearby countries other than Costa Rica and put the maps together in order to know what species are 'hard' targets and what species have back-up sites in other countries + with all the splits and illustrations of ID-able subspecies it is excellent for planning and keeping an overview.
You see from 1 or at max. maybe 3-4 pages how many woodpeckers / barbets / toucans / ... you can still see as lifers in one area. You don't have that with any other book.
If you have the volumes already, it is probably a bit superfluous information, but I don't have the volumes so I really like the way all the info is super condensed.
You see from 1 or at max. maybe 3-4 pages how many woodpeckers / barbets / toucans / ... you can still see as lifers in one area. You don't have that with any other book.
If you have the volumes already, it is probably a bit superfluous information, but I don't have the volumes so I really like the way all the info is super condensed.
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
I use Scythebill, a free programme which, once you input all your own sightings, automatically produces country lists at your request and tells you how many new birds there are for you, even highlighting in bold font and indicating endemics and you can even choose which taxonomy it uses, it's amazing. You can even set it to automatically add your sightings to ebird and you can attach your own photos to your sightings.
It takes a lot of work, even if you don't add much information to your sightings, e.g just year and Country like I did. My list isn't big, just over 3K and it took me 5 days but it really is worth the effort|!
http://www.scythebill.com/
The birds of Costa Rica indicates clearly, all true and regional endemics there are. I know that not all books do this but using the HBW volume, you'd have to use it in conjunction with the site guide anyway?
You say that it's 'super condensed' so maybe the volumes would be better called HBW concise?
Regards, Andy
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I also am a happy user of Scythebill, but I think for the uninitiated, I have to expand on this: the automatic thing that can happen if you click the box is to export a file for upload to ebird. You still have to do the actual upload of that file within ebird. (unless that functionality have changed drastically in the last update).
Niels
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
temmie
Well-known member
Well, I use the willybase (something similar to Scythebill) but back in the days I didn't upload my sightings always with ssp. information. So with the HBW, I routinely check for each family / genus what has changed and wether I still need something in a certain area and how it looks compared to other ssp. or species (in the case the species was split).
You can perfectly do fine with a free program with IOC or any other list in combination with a field guide, but I still feel the HBW does a great job combining both (an updated list + quality artwork + a quick look at other members of a certain family or genus somewhere else in the world), and last but not least: the book fits on my bedside table so I can read a bit before I go to sleep
Andy, thanks for the link. I had no knowledge of this site. Need to look into it, but I prefer to have my future "world list" in book form that allows easy leafing through.
Now as for the "superfluous" volumes: I agree that LYNX does everything to maximize profits from the original data, though to me it is more the "Bird Families" volume that fits that designation; it is something, yet by no means providing a complete overview. With the two volumes of the "Illustrated Checklist", I get that overview plus - compared to the original volumes - a updated systematic treatment. The earlier original volumes are dating from so far back that an update in the systematics is needed even for a skeptic like me when it comes to my general complaints about systematics and FGs.
Finally, none of the HBW volumes are suitable as FGs anyway. For one thing, they do not provide enough illustrations per species, like flight pictures, plumages of immatures etc.
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temmie
Well-known member
Robert, I would advise you to still have your data either in an online system (like I do with observado), either in an offline program (like scythebill). In this way, future splits and lumps are automatically processed with updates of the IOC / Clements / ... list.
No obligations whatsoever, but I feel those serious about world birding have all the good reasons to share their sightings through trip reports posted + a full annotated list (easy to extract from any kind of birding software like scythebill / willybase), or an online application like e-bird or observado. In this way, other birders can benefit from this info + it makes their list more credible + of course they have the benefit of having their own list available at any time for analysis / future trip planning / taxonomic updates.
No obligations whatsoever, but I feel those serious about world birding have all the good reasons to share their sightings through trip reports posted + a full annotated list (easy to extract from any kind of birding software like scythebill / willybase), or an online application like e-bird or observado. In this way, other birders can benefit from this info + it makes their list more credible + of course they have the benefit of having their own list available at any time for analysis / future trip planning / taxonomic updates.
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
Scythbill hasn't updated the IOC yet in some cases e.g Alpine Thrush et al.
How do I implement it when they change it Temmie, if I update it, will it automatically reset relevant (all) sightings or do I have to save my version somehow and re-import?
I'm very nervous of losing a whole 5 days work!
Andy
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Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
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