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Birds of Spain - Lynx (1 Viewer)

John Cantelo

John Cantelo

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Despite my very limited Spanish I've always recommended Eduardo de Juana & Juan Varela's "Aves de España" since the excellent illustrations and maps are both multi-lingual ;-) (the illustrations also larger than the norm and the maps able to show more detail). Information about populations and seasonal movements aren't to hard to figure out either. The good news is that an English language version will be out next month for 25.00€. Unfortunately, I fear that it will use the same counterintuitive order as the latest Spanish edition which may be scientifically 'pure' but is entirely dysfunctional in a field guide. I also think that the publishers may have missed a trick since as it's now in English, ornithology's lingua franca, it would have better to have upgraded it to 'Birds of Iberia' which would have attracted more sales from ex-pats in Portugal.

http://www.lynxeds.com/product/birds-spain
 

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John Cantelo said:
..........Unfortunately, I fear that it will use the same counterintuitive order as the latest Spanish edition which may be scientifically 'pure' but is entirely dysfunctional in a field guide. I also think that the publishers may have missed a trick since as it's now in English, ornithology's lingua franca, it would have been better to have upgraded it to 'Birds of Iberia' which would have attracted more sales from ex-pats in Portugal.

http://www.lynxeds.com/product/birds-spain
Click to expand...

I have ordered it anyway, as the contents convinced me and the price (shipping included at present) is right. But I fully agree with you.

At least, the maps cover Portugal as well (plus the Canary Islands).
 
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I know quite a lot about this book, having been responsible for the English translation. It is a translation of the recently published (3rd) edition of the Spanish-language text. There is an 'Aves de Portugal' Portuguese-language version of the second edition, amended to apply more closely to that country, and it may be that this too will emerge in English in due course. The earlier editions have been extremely popular in Spain and have amply met the aim to provide a locally relevant, field-portable, inexpensive guide for Spanish (and Portuguese) birders. The species sequence does indeed follow the new Birdlife-HBW checklist, which we will no doubt get used to eventually.
 
I've got my copy today. It has very good illustrations. But why don't they recognize Fringilla polatzeki as a species?
 
My copy has just arrived. Congratulations to Ernest Garcia on a fine translation. Since I'm already familiar with the illustrations their good quality came as no surprise but it was refreshing to be able to read the text without a struggle! As indicated earlier I think it regrettable that they've used a novel taxonomic order which I, and many others I think, find counter-intuitive. A pity too that, since it is now both predictable and regular, space wasn't found for Ruppell's Vulture in the main text (although it is in the appendix on rare birds). However, this is nit-picking as the book is a very handy quick reference to Spanish birds which I strongly recommend.
 
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I've just noticed a problem which, particularly with the unfamiliar taxonomic order, makes the guide much less functional than it ought to be and that is a disappointingly poor and hard to use index. Unlike pretty much all other guides it doesn't group bird families together in the index (i.e. Gulls, Warblers, Flycatcher, etc) and then list them their common name (e.g. Gulls, Audouin's, Black-headed, Common, etc., Warblers, Aquatic, Barred, Cetti's, etc or Flycatcher, Pied, Spotted etc). Instead, it lists them all alphabetically under the specific names so you'll find Auduoin's Gull under "A". This problem is compounded where birds are prefixed by 'Common', 'European' or 'Eurasian' hence Golden Oriole is under neither 'G' nor 'O' but 'E' for Eurasian. Hopefully, this irritating failing will be addressed in future editions. A pity as it really is a handy little guide.
 
John Cantelo said:
I've just noticed a problem which, particularly with the unfamiliar taxonomic order, makes the guide much less functional than it ought to be and that is a disappointingly poor and hard to use index. Unlike pretty much all other guides it doesn't group bird families together in the index (i.e. Gulls, Warblers, Flycatcher, etc) and then list them their common name (e.g. Gulls, Audouin's, Black-headed, Common, etc., Warblers, Aquatic, Barred, Cetti's, etc or Flycatcher, Pied, Spotted etc). Instead, it lists them all alphabetically under the specific names so you'll find Auduoin's Gull under "A". This problem is compounded where birds are prefixed by 'Common', 'European' or 'Eurasian' hence Golden Oriole is under neither 'G' nor 'O' but 'E' for Eurasian. Hopefully, this irritating failing will be addressed in future editions. A pity as it really is a handy little guide.
Click to expand...

Looks like a classic candidate for one of my Quick-Find Index ventures. o:) I'll post one when I find time. But first, my copy needs to find its way to my place. I don't seem to get dispatch notices from Lynx.
 
That index isn't at all well thought out John. maybe a second printing will do something about it. If I'd been looking for Golden Oriole the last place I'd have looked would have been under 'E'. It's not as if there are any confusion species for it in the list.

That taxonomic order might take a little getting used to. I was puzzled this morning to find that the falcons are separated from the 'Diurnal Raptors' (Kites, eagles , buzzards, vultures, hawks, harriers etc) by Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Roller, Common Kingfisher and all the woodpeckers.
 
Another taxonomic change that is not adopted in Birds of Spain.

Sylvia subalpina (Moltoni's warbler) is still Sylvia cantillans moltoni.
 
Barred Wobbler said:
That index isn't at all well thought out John. maybe a second printing will do something about it. If I'd been looking for Golden Oriole the last place I'd have looked would have been under 'E'. It's not as if there are any confusion species for it in the list.

That taxonomic order might take a little getting used to. I was puzzled this morning to find that the falcons are separated from the 'Diurnal Raptors' (Kites, eagles , buzzards, vultures, hawks, harriers etc) by Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Roller, Common Kingfisher and all the woodpeckers.
Click to expand...

Falcons have been shown to be more closely related to parrots than to other birds, and not particularly closely to hawks

Niels
 
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