Europe's Birds: An Identification Guide (1 Viewer)

[Doctor Twitchings]

Just announced, this is going to be another potentially exciting book in the WildGuides series of books. It is the follow up to Britain's Birds by Rob Hume, Robert Still, Andy Swash, Hugh Harrop and David Tipling and is due to be published in May 2021.

It covers 914 species over 608 pages!

http://www.wildsounds.com/products/6457-Europes-Birds-An-Identification-Guide.shtml

 

[aeshna5]

Sounds like a must have. The 2nd edition of the UK guide is superb!

Also as a general naturalist the whole series is superb whether you're into dragonflies, butterflies, orchids, mammals, reptiles, ferns, etc.

 

[Nicola Main]

Oh I need to get this!

 

[John Cantelo]

There's no question that this will rapidly become a 'must-buy' guide. I was told this was in preparation at the Bird Fair soon after the publication of the original Britain's Birds book but the revised second edition of that guide seems to have taken precedence. Rob Hume mentioned a European guide was in preparation in his virtual Bird Fair lecture so it's good to have it 'firmed up' with a date (although we all know how unreliable publisher's dates are!). I hope Chris Batty is still used as a consultant as he did a brilliant job of helping to revise the earlier book. Covering 914 species in over 3,800 photographs and 608 pages means it will be tricky to squeeze everything in and still maintain standards but if any team can do it it's Wildguides. Personally, I'd have preferred to omit extreme rarities for either a more portable book and/or more detailed one. I hope that they will be able to make full use of the information in the forthcoming European Bird Atlas in drawing up the maps (the old books only weakness).

 

[John Cantelo]

A quick calculation suggests that the book will be covering 45% more species (914 vs 631), in only 5% more pages (32pp) and a mere 8.5% more photos (3,500 vs 3,800). It's going to be interesting to see what compromises have to be made to squeeze everything in!

 

[Hans Martin Høiby]

I hope that they will be able to make full use of the information in the forthcoming European Bird Atlas in drawing up the maps (the old books only weakness).

From WildSounds presentation: Includes 540 maps, prepared in association with BirdLife International
That is not the EBBA2 data to be released in the Lynx book any day now.

 

[nkbj]

I hope they will consider making a true pocket version with the most common species like they did with British Birds: A Pocket Guide.

 

[Ries]

That's a steal prize for such a comprehensive book. I'm a bit apprehensive of how much information will be squeezed into it. Big book or small font, small maps? And how does it compare to the also upcoming book(s?) by Van Duivendijk et.?

 

[John Cantelo]

I hope they will consider making a true pocket version with the most common species like they did with British Birds: A Pocket Guide.

British Birds: A Pocket Guide covers a total of 276 species (246 in detail and another 30 more sketchily) in 272 pages. Arguably a European guide worthy of the name would need to deal with a minimum of a third more species (i.e. c360) and preferably half as many again (i.e. 400-420 species). Keeping to a similar level of coverage would mean a book of 370-400+ pages. In short, not terribly portable. Sadly, quarts never fit into pint pots.

 

[Essex Tern]

Your portable version is the Kindle version 👍

I prefer pdf books, but also have a few on Kindle, and have this one on order. I have a whole heap of books on my phone, a very good way to take them all in the field I find, and that way you don’t have to settle for abbreviated versions.

 

[nkbj]

British Birds: A Pocket Guide covers a total of 276 species (246 in detail and another 30 more sketchily) in 272 pages. Arguably a European guide worth the name would need to deal with a minimum of a third more species (i.e. c360) and preferably half as many again (i.e. 400-420 species). Keeping to a similar level of coverage would mean a book of 370-400+ pages. In short, not terribly portable. Sadly, quarts never fit into pint pots.

I’ll keep using my old Hume and Hayman pocket guide then.

 

[nkbj]

Your portable version is the Kindle version 👍

I prefer pdf books, but also have a few on Kindle, and have this one on order. I have a whole heap of books on my phone, a very good way to take them all in the field I find, and that way you don’t have to settle for abbreviated versions.

Call me old, but I find it faster to look things up in books than on screens.

 

[Essex Tern]

Call me old, but I find it faster to look things up in books than on screens.

The process is exactly the same, if you know the page from memory just move the bottom page finder along to that page, or use the index like normal, screenshots below as an example finding Terek Sandpiper, with the final screenshot with the phone in landscape for nice close up viewing…..


I have a literal wheelbarrow of books in the field, and pdf books are even nicer as you can really zoom in on the images.

I have Collins (app), Britain’s Birds (soon to be joined by Europe’s), Helm Bird Identification, Britain’s Butterflies, Britain’s Dragonflies, Gulls, Gulls of the World, Waders by Helm, Waders of Europe - photographic. I do also have most in hard copy, but I wouldn’t be taking that lot in the field any time soon other than on my phone.

You can also use the search function if you really want.

I understand it might not necessarily replace home hard copies, and also won’t be everyone’s bag, but for in the field the amount of information you can bring on your phone cannot be equalled by any hard copies (without a wheelbarrow), it’s just a case of getting used to using them that’s all. The Collins app started this for me - haven’t looked back since.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I understand it might not necessarily replace home hard copies, and also won’t be everyone’s bag, but for in the field the amount of information you can bring on your phone cannot be equalled by any hard copies (without a wheelbarrow), it’s just a case of getting used to using them that’s all. The Collins app started this for me - haven’t looked back since.

Absolutely, undeniable but folk who like hard copy, are unlikely to shift easily until books in their physical form, become impossible to get.

Aside from the issues many times covered on this forum regarding tech generally, charging, faults, damage etc, some people, me included, seem to have been gifted with square fingers. I find the small, hand held devices, really difficult to use, physically, I just don't seem to have the manual dexterity required, or the eyesight these days either!

With phones, the arrangement of buttons on the side of them, means that if my wife passes me her phone to look at something, I invariably make contact with something on the exterior and end up losing the intended page or enacting something else unintended, this is before the actual page navigation, I'm just too clumsy it seems and will never, be carrying tech with me as my primary resource.

If you can use these things with any amount of competence as most can, the advantages in terms of the pure volume of information you can carry, are clear.

 

[nkbj]

You can also use the search function if you really want.

I understand it might not necessarily replace home hard copies, and also won’t be everyone’s bag, but for in the field the amount of information you can bring on your phone cannot be equalled by any hard copies (without a wheelbarrow), it’s just a case of getting used to using them that’s all. The Collins app started this for me - haven’t looked back since.

I have no problems using electronic devices and use the Collins bird Guide app for songs and calls, but I still find it faster to thumb through a book for a specific image than it is to use the search function. It might be because I know the order of species in the book and seldom have to use the index.

 

[njlarsen]

The process is exactly the same, if you know the page from memory just move the bottom page finder along to that page, or use the index like normal, screenshots below as an example finding Terek Sandpiper, with the final screenshot with the phone in landscape for nice close up viewing…..

This is fine if you more or less know the species. For that reason, I don't bring a book when I am birding in areas I know well, but rely on an app. But if I am traveling (I wish!) I prefer a book because I usually don't know which of multiple pages will contain the bird I am interested in. Flipping through that many images on a screen seems less efficient.

Niels

 

[Mysticete]

This is fine if you more or less know the species. For that reason, I don't bring a book when I am birding in areas I know well, but rely on an app. But if I am traveling (I wish!) I prefer a book because I usually don't know which of multiple pages will contain the bird I am interested in. Flipping through that many images on a screen seems less efficient.

Niels

I am pretty much the same way; locally, I often just carry my cell phone with the Sibley app. If am going to be someplace where the birds are less familiar though, I much prefer a physical book, even if sometimes they may be awkward to carry. Also with physical books I can jot down notes as needed if I need to update something or if I am using the checklist in the back as an actual checklist.

I will also admit, when I am home studying for a trip or just looking through a book, I just find it more enjoyable to physically page through a book. As someone who spends a large majority of there life online, I like the escape of physical media.

 

[John Cantelo]

Inevitably and predictably the publication date for this guide has slipped back through spring and on into late summer. Currently, it's promised for the end of August but given that only a couple of weeks ago it was said to be appearing in mid-August who knows when it will be published? However, some sample plates have now appeared which indicate that this will be no cut-and-paste job but a thorough revision & re-edit. Naturally, some photos have been re-used but others have been added. If the account for grey geese' is less complete (I doubt I'm alone in missing the photos of feeding flocks) then treatment of Garganey/Teal and LEO/SEO looks better. Gannet is reduced to a single page treatment and Fulmar & Sooty Shearwater coverage is reduced to half a page each. For the first two this probably matters little but I regret the absence of the multiple images of flying Sooty Shearwaters which gave a good feel of how they appear in the field. Such compromises are inevitable with so many more species being covered without a proportional (and impossible!) increase in the size of the book.

 

[Doctor Twitchings]

This should be a great book to browse through, roll on publication day! The page count and number of photos have now gone up from when it was first announced.


640 pages, 4700 colour photos, 540 colour distribution maps, 49 illustrations

• Covers all 914 species ever recorded in Europe, including established introductions
• Describes all distinctive plumages and subspecies
• Provides details of vocalizations, flight action and favoured habitats
• Features more than 4,700 photographs, including comparison pages of birds in flight. More than 2,900 of these are new compared with Britain's Birds
• Includes 540 maps, prepared in association with BirdLife International
• Enables direct comparison of similar species

 

[John Cantelo]

Increasing the number of photos from the original 3,800 to over 4,700 (and almost 3,000 of those being new) is very impressive & must reflect a huge amount of work. Increasing the number of pages from 608 to 640 should also go someway to ease the problem of squeezing everything in. I've no doubt that it will be a groundbreaking tome and a very useful reference. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy!