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Asian and South American field guide question (1 Viewer)

Progne Subis

Progne Subis

Bird is the word...
Hello fellow birders,

I'm searching the market again for field guides for both Asia and South America. I'm feeling the need to expand my knowledge on the bird life of these places. If anyone could recommend field guides that they think are of good quality, please tell me about them.

Thanks again for your help everyone.

-Tayler
 
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Birds of Chile by Jaramillo is a very good field guide.

There is also a new and good field guide for all non Passerines of South America from Erize & Rumbold with drawings from Rodriguez Matta.
 
Agree with Fritz on "Birds of Chile" by Jaramillo.

For South Asia there is "Birds of India" by Grimmett & Inskipp. This covers India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. There is also the large two volume "Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide" by Rasmussen and Anderton.

For South East Asia try "A Guide to the Birds of South East Asia" by Craig Robson. This covers Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Robson's "Birds of Thailand" is also good, but is really a condensed version of his other work covering Thailand only.

For the China region there is "A Field Guide to the Birds of China" by MacKinnon & Phillipps. This book is largely a pioneering work for the region and often comes in for very harsh criticism by birders who insist on trying to compare it to field guides from other areas. If you accept its limitations as a pioneering work then it is still a very useful guide to the area. Indeed the Mandarin version of this guide has brought birding to millions of Chinese people. The book also covers Taiwan. There is a Taiwan field guide "Birds of Taiwan" by Wu but it is in Mandarin. The plates are good and it does have English common names but at fifteen it's beginning to show its age.

You may also want to look at "A Field guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Bali" by MacKinnon & Phillipps and "A Guide to the birds of the Philippines" by Kennedy & Gonzales.
 
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Like Mark said, for Asia the options are fairly straightforward.

Though for Wallacea (East Indonesia, ex Papua) 'The Birds of Wallacea' Coates and Bishop is the standard reference.

A quick note on Birds of Southeast Asia, there are 2 options, the condensed version, handy in the field and seemingly the most popular choice. There is also the 504 page original (ISBN: 1843301180), personally I prefer this, gives so much more detail on the birds, and the distribution as text rather than a map I find to be far more detailed.
 
I keep getting out of print for the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. Maybe they will reprint. I have ordered the new larger Robson's Guide for Birds of Southeast Asia, but I think slated now to be out in November.
 
Steve,

What was interesting is there was a reprint (2005?) of Birds of the Greater Sundas at the Birdfair on the Wildsounds stand, the book binding was much better than older version that falls to bits fairly rapidly.

Unfortunately Oxford Press seem to be stopping production on most field guides (ie, Birdsof Greater Sundas, Birds of China, Birds of the Philippines and Birds of West Malaysia and Singapore) so worth getting holding of them while you can, I got a couple more copies of Birdof the Philippines just in case.
 
For South America, Ridgely and Greenfield's Birds of Ecuador and Hilty's Birds of Venezuela are both excellent books, (although admittedly I have never used them in the field, not yet anyway). There's also a new two-volume book coming out later this year which covers northern South America. Not heard anything about it and must be huge to lug around in the field but it could be a great resource on the bookshelf
http://www.nhbs.com/title.php?tefno=142857
Look forward to getting a look at it.

E
 
There is also a field guide to the birds of northeast Asia coming out sometime in the not too distant future. Japan, Asiatic Russia, Korea-- who knows what all is included. I have no more details at the moment; have just heard via the (co-) author, Mark Brazil, that it is close to finished.
 
James,
I just got off the horn with Lynx. It seems that the publication of the new Robson's Identification Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia, slated for this November, is now pushed back to November, 2007. I have taken your advice on the Bird of Wallacea, and have substituted for it on my order, but they tell me that that one is on order and I will have to wait three months for it. No luck on the McKinnon Birds of Borneo, etc. however. I may just have to find a used copy somewhere.
 
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For Costa Rica it's Stiles & Skutch - A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica.
For Panama it's Ridgely - A Guide to the Birds of Panama.
For Colombia, it's another by Steve Hilty - A Guide to the Birds of Colombia.
Mexico has several but the best (IMO) is Howell & Webb - A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America.
For Trinidad it's ffrench - A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago.
 
Charles Harper said:
There is also a field guide to the birds of northeast Asia coming out sometime in the not too distant future. Japan, Asiatic Russia, Korea-- who knows what all is included. I have no more details at the moment; have just heard via the (co-) author, Mark Brazil, that it is close to finished.
Click to expand...

I am hoping to visit Japan in late February 2007. Any chance it might be published by then. Not many fieldguides covering Japan?


Mike
 
Charles Harper said:
There is also a field guide to the birds of northeast Asia coming out sometime in the not too distant future. Japan, Asiatic Russia, Korea-- who knows what all is included. I have no more details at the moment; have just heard via the (co-) author, Mark Brazil, that it is close to finished.
Click to expand...
Looking forward to this one but there seems to be no clear indication as to quite when it will be ready. For now it's still the old out of print, "A Field Guide to the Birds of Japan" (Wild Bird Society of Japan) for Japan and the more recent "Field Guide to the Birds of Korea" by Lee & Koo.
 
I'm really looking forward to the new Japan guide, as I'll be going to Hokkaido (again, hopefully) in Jan 07.......
Still, by using trip reports and some other guides, one can get by ;)

Cheers,
Ken
 
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