Bird Ringing books/references (1 Viewer)

So my sister has shown interest in bird ringing and I was wondering if there are any publications (in the £20 region) that would be worth considering as a gift to her to help give her a bit more depth of understanding. I'm aware there are some dedicated reference books for ringing with regard to bird identification and features/health that go way beyond what your average "Collins Bird ID book" goes into in terms of depth.

She's already a bird keeper at zoo so she's not without some understanding already, so I'm hoping to find a "serious" book for her on this topic or one closely related to it .

The most comprehensive guide, but perhaps with too much detail for
a novice ringer, is Busse and Meissner's 'Bird ringing station manual'
(De Gruyter Open, Warsaw/Berlin, 2015) It's expensive in hardcopy,
but freely available as an open access download at:
www.degruyteropen.com

If she would like some history (and a lighter read) you could search
the used book sites for Eric Ennion's classic 'The House on the Shore'
(Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1959) for a suberbly illustrated chronicle of
ringing in the UK when mist nets were just becoming available.

W. J. Eggeling's 'The Isle of May' (Oliver & Boyd, 1960) is another
goodie. She might like the 'extracts from the daily log' with all the
highs and lows of observatory life!

And the vintage Ronald Lockley and Rosemary Russell's 'Bird Ringing,
the art of bird study by individual marking' (Crosby Lockwood, 1953)
is a comprehensive history of ringing before mist nets.

Phil

Many thanks Phil - the manual is certainly way out of the price range I've got as well, but the open access link is fantastic! Already passed it onto her and will have to check it out myself at some stage for what else they've got published there.

This is the book you want I think

https://www.nhbs.com/identification-guide-to-european-passerines-book

Attached is a shot from my book

There's also this which is tough to get and expensive

https://www.nhbs.com/moult-and-ageing-of-european-passerines-book


A

Thanks Andy - the first Passerine book looks like just the job!

Did a quick search on the second book, yeah cheapest online was £250 or thereabouts. A rare and elusive book indeed! I oft feel its a shame that core/key reference books end up like whilst coffee books are often easily bought.

Overread said:

Did a quick search on the second book, yeah cheapest online was £250 or thereabouts. A rare and elusive book indeed! I oft feel its a shame that core/key reference books end up like whilst coffee books are often easily bought.

Click to expand...

You can read it here:

https://issuu.com/angelc7/docs/moult_and_ageing_of_european_passer

Download is possible too.

Perhaps she'd be better served signing up as a Trainee with an established ringer.
Not only will she get lots of experience "in the field" but she'll be in a position to (perhaps) borrow the expensive books from her trainer.

as an aside my ringing chums both use
Identification Guide to European Passerines by Lars Svensson

Agree with Mike C on both counts - getting signed up to a Trainer can be easy or impossible depending on where you live. The BTO run a system that tries to tie you up on their website. I'd start there.

Mick

if she is not a ringer yet but wants an example of a useful resource i would go with

https://www.nhbs.com/identification-guide-to-birds-in-the-hand-book

edit - this costs a lot more than svensson but will be more interesting to a non ringer