"Birds of Ghana"--dark plates? (1 Viewer)

J

Jim M.

Member since 2007

Supporter

• Jan 2, 2016

• #1

I recently purchased “Birds of Ghana” by Borrow & Demey (Helm 2010). Seems to be a very good compact guide, but I have noted that some colors on some plates seem to have been printed much too dark. For example, on plate 89 the chestnut cap on the Wire-tailed Swallow is almost black; on plate 115 the brown throat of the female Common Wattle-eye (a.k.a. Brown-throated Wattle-eye) also appears virtually black.

Was wondering if other people's copies of this book also suffer from this problem?

 

bittern

Well-known member

• Jan 3, 2016

• #2

Certainly the female Wattle-eye's throat is almost black, Unfortunately I don't have the full Birds of West Africa here with me at present nor any other field guide for comparison. I'll have to keep my eyes open for the real birds when I am there in a couple of weeks.

Mike

 

J

Jim M.

Member since 2007

Supporter

• Jan 3, 2016

• #3

bittern said:

Certainly the female Wattle-eye's throat is almost black, Unfortunately I don't have the full Birds of West Africa here with me at present nor any other field guide for comparison. I'll have to keep my eyes open for the real birds when I am there in a couple of weeks.

Mike

Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. After making my post, I discovered a complaint on Amazon about the plates in the Birds of West Africa being too dark – so that may not be the best comparison. I have Birds of Africa South of the Sahara, and the colors are definitely lighter on the plates in that book. You can also check photos, e.g. http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/brown-throated-wattle-eye-platysteira-cyanea/perched-female

 

bittern

Well-known member

• Jan 4, 2016

• #4

Yes, that photo of the Wattle-eye looks much more lifelike! I guess that the plates from Birds of West Africa were reused in their country guides. (Ghana, Senegambia etc.). I'll look at Birds of West Africa later today to see whether there is a difference.

Mike

 

bittern

Well-known member

• Jan 5, 2016

• #5

I checked and the plates in my copy of Borrow and Demey's full Birds of Western Africa guide are identical with those in Birds of Ghana, so in your examples much too dark. I didn't check any other species but I would imagine that there are others that are also too dark.

Mike