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Your most anticipated futures books (4 Viewers)

I just received this,

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Field-Guid...id=1571495472&s=books&sr=1-2&tag=vigukb-87-21

It's pretty good in fairness and if it were the only work available for the area, I think we'd be more than happy with it.

Versus the Helm guide, very similar as most FG's are these days and following the usual format with plates facing species account and range maps. On the plus side, slightly cheaper with larger range maps but illustrations are better in the Helm.
 
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I just received this,

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Field-Guid...id=1571495472&s=books&sr=1-2&tag=vigukb-87-21

It's pretty good in fairness and if it were the only work available for the area, I think we'd be more than happy with it.

Versus the Helm guide, very similar as most FG's are these days and following the usual format with plates facing species account and range maps. On the plus side, slightly cheaper with larger range maps but illustrations are better in the Helm.

I hope we'll get to see some comparative page spreads in the future. Often, Amazon has this view into the book feature, but not so far for this one.

Edit: Thank you James for your fine review in Dutch Birding. There, I also found out, that NHBS already does show some plates and pages for both books! And as most of the time, each book has its advantages and weaknesses.

Another apparent insight: Mongolia has a great number of species that one can see (and possibly already has seen) elsewhere as well. So my question would be about the endemics.
 
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Versus the Helm guide, very similar as most FG's are these days and following the usual format with plates facing species account and range maps. On the plus side, slightly cheaper with larger range maps but illustrations are better in the Helm.

I feel that the Helm guide illustrations are too much of a 'mixed bag' for me. And considering that I've probably already seen most of the illustrations in other Helm guides - I ordered the second book (but haven't received it yet - so maybe there are also some consistency issues). In sample pages the illustrations looked comparable in quality with Helm guide (good, but of course not on Collins level), but at least they were different :smoke:
 
Very much looking forward to two books coming next week :)

Birds of Prey of Australia - a Field Guide_Stephen Debus
https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7863/
View attachment 707225

Australian Birds of Prey in Flight - a Photographic Guide_Stephen Debus
https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7792/
View attachment 707226

I ordered it just on the Author alone - anything by Stephen Debus has got to be worthwhile. Very dedicated man.

Here are a few reviews:
https://www.lfwseq.org.au/australian-birds-of-prey-in-flight/
https://blog.csiro.au/its-a-bird-its-a-plane-its-citizen-science/

I really don't like this format at all and it is expensive for what it is!

I had super high expectations here. Agreed. I wasn't as thrilled with the Australian Birds of Prey in Flight Photographic guide as I thought I would be - no rush to get this edition (though there's nothing else better out there. A great idea that could have been executed far better - a lot lot better ! - full review to follow).

The Australian Birds of Prey Field Guide 3rd Edition looks much better value - and I would suggest is all that is needed at this point (+ some judicious internet searches ! :) ..... again, I will do a review later down the track.






Chosun :gh:
 
I did a short review for it FYI
Birds of Mongolia by Gombobataar Sundev and Christopher Leahy (Helm Field Guides 2019)

It is great to finally have the long awaited complete and up to date bird guide for Mongolia, a huge country where for years we have only had frustratingly partial coverage from Mark Brazil’s Birds of East Asia or Aye et al Birds of Central Asia. The senior author is the foremost ornithologist in Mongolia, with a fine track record of publications and booklets on the subject.

There are some 278 pages excluding the index and references, and it is a mercifully compact size book following the tried and tested Helm format, with the text and maps opposite the plates, which is very handy in the field. The team of 12 artists have done a good job depicting the range of species in Mongolia, often with the local subspecies as well which is always helpful.

The text is necessarily brief but covers the main identification points, some notes on voice, the type of habitat and also behaviour. Importantly there is also a useful section on the status in the country, and also the overall conservation status. A section at the very end covers recent vagrants and hypothetical species, and it is good to see these not cluttering up the main section as they are of little likelihood for visitors. The taxonomy is up to date and largely follows IOC, with future developments flagged, as with the splits among Asian and Lesser Short-toed Larks.

The introductory section on Mongolia and its Birdlife is very good reading with lovely photographs by the two authors of the beautiful landscapes and habitats, and useful maps of ecological zones and birding sites. A chapter on migration and conservation makes for good background, and another about Birdwatching in Mongolia is also invaluable. Highly recommended and essential for any birders coming to this lovely and still little known country, I look forward to using it in the field.
 
Steven Hilty who already published a famous book on the Birds of Colombia in 1986 will publish the new Lynx field guide on the Birds of Colombia in summer 2020. I think it will be a great work.

https://www.lynxeds.com/product/birds-of-colombia/

I still think there is a greater need for the very poorly covered but bird rich Argentina before this.

Who's doing / done the plates in the new book?
 
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I still think there is a greater need for the very poorly covered but bird rich Argentina before this.

Who's doing / done the plates in the new book?

I thought the Lynx field guides just used paintings from the HBW series, and added in supplemental illustrations where needed (i.e. immature, non-breeding, in flight, etc).
 
I still think there is a greater need for the very poorly covered but bird rich Argentina before this.

…..

And MEXICO!

I wonder how they select? Maybe depending on available authors?

I just noted that the LYNX list of most desirable new FGs includes Australia! That must be a rather absurd result. There is hardly a country with better coverage and updated editions. Might be that participants of the survey were simply not sufficiently familiar with what is available. Also, New Zealand has a pretty good coverage, yet it made it on to that listing.
 
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I just noted that the LYNX list of most desirable new FGs includes Australia! That must be a rather absurd result. There is hardly a country with better coverage and updated editions. Might be that participants of the survey were simply not sufficiently familiar with what is available

The revised Australian Bird Guide (Menkhorst et al 2018**), which I got in Perth, WA (Boffins Bookshop) last month, is hugely improved over the very recent original edition, which rather goes to make your point. I'm unsure as to whether it is available in Europe, yet...
MJB
**I was told that it first went on sale in 2019...
 
And MEXICO!

I wonder how they select? Maybe depending on available authors?

I just noted that the LYNX list of most desirable new FGs includes Australia! That must be a rather absurd result. There is hardly a country with better coverage and updated editions. Might be that participants of the survey were simply not sufficiently familiar with what is available. Also, New Zealand has a pretty good coverage, yet it made it on to that listing.

This is a valid observation and one already made by others Robert, there are many other places where a field guide of any kind will be much more greatly appreciated.

Argentina surprisingly, has no single field guide dedicated solely to that country, birders have had to use a combination of titles dependent on which part of the country they visit.
 
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Argentina surprisingly, has no single field guide dedicated solely to that country, birders have had to use a combination of titles dependent on which part of the country they visit.

Actually there is such a FG, but it is rather old and definitely not meeting today's standards: the book by Narosky and Yzurieta. It's presently out of print, however, but it might still be found, I suspect. Well, it has Uruguay in its title as well, but that small country hardly has any major endemics. So essentially it is a "single country" FG. I had used it for a 2005/6 birding trip with satisfactory results. I much preferred it over the De la Peña & Rumboll Southern SA book that I had along as well, but only used that one as a back-up.
https://www.nhbs.com/search?q=birds...=Field Guides & Natural History&qtview=200195
 
Actually there is such a FG, but it is rather old and definitely not meeting today's standards: the book by Narosky and Yzurieta. It's presently out of print, however, but it might still be found, I suspect. Well, it has Uruguay in its title as well, but that small country hardly has any major endemics. So essentially it is a "single country" FG. I had used it for a 2005/6 birding trip with satisfactory results. I much preferred it over the De la Peña & Rumboll Southern SA book that I had along as well, but only used that one as a back-up.
https://www.nhbs.com/search?q=birds...=Field Guides & Natural History&qtview=200195

It's Argentina and Uruguay so it's not a single country volume, I have it.

Expensive to buy it now....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-l...?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1573829254&sr=1-1
 
Covering a large number of birds in a species rich country, effectively whilst at the same time, trying to kep a book prortable is alwasy goung to cause issues, perhaps more authors should apply the two volume approach?

They'd minimise the text in the ID volume to keep it light for the field and then be free to write a fuller account in the second volume which birders could choose to either leave at home or in a hotel room.
 

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