Richard Klim
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Grimmett, R., Roberts, T. & Inskipp, T. 2008. Helm Field Guides: Birds of Pakistan. Christopher Helm, London, & Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. 256pp.
http://www.acblack.com/Catalogue/de...id=2&mscssid=U5GSL95KVLU98JTDHALLX6TEMPF748X9
Yesterday I received the long-awaited Birds of Pakistan. This is the latest in the series of field guides to be derived from Grimmett, Inskipp & Inskipp 1998 (Birds of the Indian Subcontinent), following on from individual guides to Northern India, Southern India, Nepal, and Bhutan.
The format is similar to the preceding titles – OBC / Sibley & Monroe sequence, rather conservative taxonomy, and plates and identification texts largely derived from the original work.
However by far the most useful features of this new guide are the maps and texts covering status, distribution (including altitudinal limits where appropriate) and habitat. These draw heavily on Roberts 1991-1992 (The Birds of Pakistan – 2 volumes), and provide considerably more detail than either Birds of the Indian Subcontinent or Rasmussen & Anderton 2005 (Birds of South Asia – The Ripley Guide). Most field guides tend to depict distributions very simplistically – marking huge swathes of a region but with an understanding that the species is restricted to areas of suitable habitat therein. But Tom Roberts has evidently made a great effort to demarcate specific individual areas of distribution, presumably based on actual records and careful mapping of zones of appropriate habitat. It's worth getting the guide for the maps alone.
The maps would be even more useful at a scale large enough to allow district boundaries to be marked, but unfortunately that's not really feasible in a compact field guide. Also, I’m not a fan of the map colours currently used in A&C Black's field guides – the vivid shades of orange, green, blue and red are undoubtedly clear, but aren't easy on the eye – the dazzling colours clash with the more subtle tones of the plates, and some pages look positively psychedelic.
Pakistan has long been near the top of my list of 'must visit' birding destinations. But this guide has been published at an unfortunate time given the difficulties in travelling to many of the best birding areas at the moment (although the Urdu edition will hopefully play an important role in encouraging local interest in birdwatching and conservation). It might have been useful for the raptor plates to include flight views of a Predator UAV for quick comparison!
Richard
http://www.acblack.com/Catalogue/de...id=2&mscssid=U5GSL95KVLU98JTDHALLX6TEMPF748X9
Yesterday I received the long-awaited Birds of Pakistan. This is the latest in the series of field guides to be derived from Grimmett, Inskipp & Inskipp 1998 (Birds of the Indian Subcontinent), following on from individual guides to Northern India, Southern India, Nepal, and Bhutan.
The format is similar to the preceding titles – OBC / Sibley & Monroe sequence, rather conservative taxonomy, and plates and identification texts largely derived from the original work.
However by far the most useful features of this new guide are the maps and texts covering status, distribution (including altitudinal limits where appropriate) and habitat. These draw heavily on Roberts 1991-1992 (The Birds of Pakistan – 2 volumes), and provide considerably more detail than either Birds of the Indian Subcontinent or Rasmussen & Anderton 2005 (Birds of South Asia – The Ripley Guide). Most field guides tend to depict distributions very simplistically – marking huge swathes of a region but with an understanding that the species is restricted to areas of suitable habitat therein. But Tom Roberts has evidently made a great effort to demarcate specific individual areas of distribution, presumably based on actual records and careful mapping of zones of appropriate habitat. It's worth getting the guide for the maps alone.
The maps would be even more useful at a scale large enough to allow district boundaries to be marked, but unfortunately that's not really feasible in a compact field guide. Also, I’m not a fan of the map colours currently used in A&C Black's field guides – the vivid shades of orange, green, blue and red are undoubtedly clear, but aren't easy on the eye – the dazzling colours clash with the more subtle tones of the plates, and some pages look positively psychedelic.
Pakistan has long been near the top of my list of 'must visit' birding destinations. But this guide has been published at an unfortunate time given the difficulties in travelling to many of the best birding areas at the moment (although the Urdu edition will hopefully play an important role in encouraging local interest in birdwatching and conservation). It might have been useful for the raptor plates to include flight views of a Predator UAV for quick comparison!
Richard
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