BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Cantelo" data-source="post: 1376713" data-attributes="member: 2844">One of my few criticisms of Collins Bird Guide is that, albeit necessarily so, the plates are very crowded.  I think that the only book that's resolved the problem of beginers' 'rarity confusion' was the old Shell Guide which partitioned off rarities in a separate section at the back.  Beginers automatically went to the main text and, only after failing to find the species before them, did they look in the back at the rarities.  The biggest failing of field guides in general is that they are too even handed in dishing out the available space.  I've never undertood why Hoopoe and Kingfisher after often allotted a similar amount of space as, say Marsh and Reed Warblers.   Some judicious trimming for the blindingly obvious would fee up space for the seriously tricky,</blockquote>