Best book for Southeast Asia (1 Viewer)

[Martinetti]

Hello,

I already own Birds of Southeast Asia by Craig Robson but I am looking for a more complete version with more information, if such a book exists...

I looked at this book which is not available anymore...

A Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia: Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia
Craig Robson
Cloth | 2000 | This edition is out of print | ISBN13: 978-0-691-05012-6
504 pp. | 6 x 9 | 104 color plates

Is it really better? Do you have other suggestions?

What about this one : http://www.newhollandpublishers.com...-Field-Guide-to-the-Birds-of-South--East-Asia

 

[tomjenner]

Hi Martinetti
You will not do any better than the book you already have by Robson. Any other guides would just be supplementary to that one.

Tom

 

[dalat]

Hi,

the book you linked is the latest edition of Robsons "A Field Guide to the Birds of South- East Asia" from 2008. It contains a whole lot of taxonomic updates and new species to the region compared to the inital edition of the 2000 version.

I suppose what you have is the version from 2005. This is a condensed and updated version of the 2000 book, where text of species accounts is always together with the plates.

The 2000 and 2008 versions have more detailed text, but the text is separate from the plates, which makes the book much more difficult to use in the field. So while the 2005 edition is perfect for use in the field, the 2008 version will indeed give you addtional information in the text. Plates are almost entierly the same as in the 2005 version.

The newsletter of Birdlife Indochina contains an extremly detailed review of the 2008 book: http://www.birdlifeindochina.org/sites/default/files/Babbler 31 ( 6Nov09).pdf

To add confusion, there is different publishers for all books in UK (New Holland) and US (Princeton) which you may both find in amazon. The only difference is the cover.

 

[dalat]

Hi again, as those two books are the ones which get by far most of use among all my books, I took the pleasure to scan a page of each as example. Hope that helps decision (and also I hope that it's no problem with copyright to post that here).
Florian

 

[Martinetti]

Thanks for your answers.

Does anyone know about this one :
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Volumes 1 & 2 http://www.amazon.com/Birds-South-A...ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1260284146&sr=8-1-fkmr0

I am looking for a more complete reference guide since the book I have is perfect for field use.

 

[dalat]

Birds of South Asia

that's not SE Asia.

As far as I know, there is nothing more detailed than the Robson 2008 specifically dedicated to South-East Asia. For more details, I guess you have to go for sth. like the Handbook of the Birds of the World.

 

[Richard Klim]

that's not SE Asia.

dalat's right. Birds of South Asia overlaps with Robson by including Myanmar, but doesn't cover anywhere further east.

Coincidentally, yesterday Bert Harris enquired on the OrientalBirding mailing list about the availability of Robson 2008. As indicated on the New Holland website, it's already out of print, and can now be difficult to find (eg, just one copy is available via Amazon UK).

Richard

 

[Swissboy]

Hi again, as those two books are the ones which get by far most of use among all my books, I took the pleasure to scan a page of each as example. Hope that helps decision (and also I hope that it's no problem with copyright to post that here).
Florian

Interesting comparison; also with my 2000 edition. The 2008 edition must have quite an increase in the number of plates compared to the 2000 edition.

The color rendition of your scans is very much on the yellow side, I assume. At least, on my plate 128 birds #1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 are reddish brown where the scan shows yellow. And there is more blackish where your scan shows grey on several other species.

 

[dalat]

I checked the colours, yes the scans are a little light, which makes the brown tones more yellowish...
The 2008 version has 120 plates in total. I think 47 species are illustrated additionally compared to the 2000 version. But if you're interested in the details, have a look at that review I linked above.

 

[Hanno]

There is the 2-volume "The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula". Obviously it will not cover all of the birds found in SE Asia but I use the books a lot to read up on species that I do see here and are covered by those books.

 

[Microtus]

The Ripley guide mentioned above does not cover Burma. I just checked my copy.

 

[Richard Klim]

The Ripley guide mentioned above does not cover Burma. I just checked my copy.

You're right, Microtus. I'd just looked at the maps inside the covers of Vol 2, which include the whole of Burma - but of course that's just a side-effect of including the Andamans.

Apologies.

Richard :h?:

 

[Microtus]

No problem, Richard. The book does discuss several species that are known from Burma that could be found in India or Bangladesh.

 

[ririhugs]

The Robson's "Birds of South-east Asia" pleasantly surprised me. The plates are great, really better that I though before getting it. Only blackspot: the fact there are no map. Even if it's not really a huge problem...

 

[Murray Lord]

Coincidentally, yesterday Bert Harris enquired on the OrientalBirding mailing list about the availability of Robson 2008. As indicated on the New Holland website, it's already out of print, and can now be difficult to find (eg, just one copy is available via Amazon UK).

Richard

It's still available in some bookshops in Australia, if anyone's looking for it (and I have passed this onto Bert).

 

[maxbuzz]

Which one is this

When I just thought I had understood what the different editions I see this 2011 edition added to the mix

http://www.newhollandpublishers.com...t=Field-Guide-To-The-Birds-Of-South-East-Asia

From the description it says that there are new additions to the species list with new plates but does this have descriptions opposite the plates or are they separate like in the 2000 and 2009 versions.

Thanks

 

[Swissboy]

When I just thought I had understood what the different editions I see this 2011 edition added to the mix

http://www.newhollandpublishers.com...t=Field-Guide-To-The-Birds-Of-South-East-Asia

From the description it says that there are new additions to the species list with new plates but does this have descriptions opposite the plates or are they separate like in the 2000 and 2009 versions.

Thanks

If you look at the number of pages and compare with the number of plates, it can't have the arrangement you are looking for. Way too many pages.

I have a 2005 Princeton version. It has 304 pages and 142 plates. Thus, that's the kind you need to look for: not too many pages beyond the doubled number of the plates. The few extra pages in my book are for the introduction and the index, basically.

Incidentally, there are no maps.

 

[dalat]

When I just thought I had understood what the different editions I see this 2011 edition added to the mix

http://www.newhollandpublishers.com...t=Field-Guide-To-The-Birds-Of-South-East-Asia

From the description it says that there are new additions to the species list with new plates but does this have descriptions opposite the plates or are they separate like in the 2000 and 2009 versions.

Thanks

Hi, that 2011 version is just a reprint of the 2009/2008 version, identical except for the cover.

 

[maxbuzz]

Hi, that 2011 version is just a reprint of the 2009/2008 version, identical except for the cover.

Thanks for the response Dalat.

So that means it doesn't have splits other than those already addressed in the 2005 version (same number of species), just that it has more detailed accounts.

Cheers,

 

[maxbuzz]

If you look at the number of pages and compare with the number of plates, it can't have the arrangement you are looking for. Way too many pages.

Could it be the extra species?

I have a 2005 Princeton version. It has 304 pages and 142 plates. Thus, that's the kind you need to look for: not too many pages beyond the doubled number of the plates. The few extra pages in my book are for the introduction and the index, basically.

Incidentally, there are no maps.

Just had another looks at Dalat's scans above. Looks like the 2008 edition has concise text with the plates and detailed descriptions separate.