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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

the handbook of bird identification "Mark Beaman and Steve Madge" (1 Viewer)

It is a bit now, and IMHO it was rather pricey to start with. But if you can get a reasonably priced second hand one worth having.

Stephen
 
The gull illustrations are a bit ropey but otherwise it's not too bad. Got my copy cheaper as a pre-publication offer.

Amazing how people percieve things differently Keith. I always thought Martin Elliotts illustrations in this book are amongst the best i've seen in any volume -absolutely brilliant and worth buying this book for alone. Besides this an all round brilliant book loaded with great text and artwork. Still well worth getting.
 
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Amazing how people percieve things differently Keith. I always thought Martin Elliotts illustrations in this book are amongst the best i've seen in any volume -absolutely brilliant and worth buying this book for alone. Besides this an all round brilliant book loaded with great text and artwork. Still well worth getting.

I have to agree. I don't have it to hand now but I still have an image of the ring-billed gulls in it, and the skuas....I don't anybody has come close to this standard, don't expect it anytime soon either.

Twite.
 
Gulls are outstanding

One of the weaknesses of this expensive book is the spread of the plates, though grouped, over the whole book. It thus makes it hard to keep the overview. I must say that I very rarely use the book.

Another irritating feature is the wide range of styles in the illustrations. But to me, those of the gulls are by far my favorites, though there are other groups that I like as well. But the gull plates are the most artistic ones, yet they are good for identification purposes as well. Definitely the highlight of the book, as far as I'm concerned.
 
I still like HBI, and refer to it often. For most birders, probably better than BWPC as a step up in detail from Svensson et al.
 
To my eyes the paler gulls seem to fade into the background, the darker gulls are good. Could be my colour vision problems that causes that effect.
Otherwise I do rate the book although as swissboy says having the illustrations spread throughout the book is frustrating, when you reach the end of one group of pictures to have to hunt to find the next group.
I do still use it though, the text is pretty good.
Amazing how people percieve things differently Keith. I always thought Martin Elliotts illustrations in this book are amongst the best i've seen in any volume -absolutely brilliant and worth buying this book for alone. Besides this an all round brilliant book loaded with great text and artwork. Still well worth getting.
 
I've got the original of the Glaucous Gull plate hanging on the wall above me at the moment. I'm afraid I bought it because I thought it was a marvellous bit of painting with the misty dock silos in the background. Just shows what sort of birder I am...
 
I always wondered if Mark Elliott has published any paintings since the gull plates in the Madge and Beaman. I think they are absolutely gorgeous - especially the smaller gulls. They are a great bonus to a wonderful guide that is still an essential in my mind.
 
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