Field guides Nepal (birds and mammals) (1 Viewer)

[David_]

Hello,

I am currently planing a trip to Nepal for next year (or maybe 2024, not sure yet if it will work out for next year). Is there a recommended field guide for Mammals covering Nepal? I found Mammals of South Asia from Lynx. It‘s not really a field guide but probably a good starting point to get an idea of what I would like to see besides the obvious targets like Red Panda (and hopefully a better view than the 5 seconds I saw on the last time I was in Nepal on trekking trip). Besides that I only found field guides for India which probably cover a lot of the Nepalese mammals. Any ideas what book would be best?

For birds I got a cheap second hand copy (which looks like it has never been opened) of Birds of the Indian Supcontinent (Helm Field Guides). As far as I know this has all Birds I can expect in Nepal. Is this correct?

And finally is there a field guide or a good website for reptiles? Last time I was in Nepal I took a couple of photos of lizards which turned out to be quite hard to identify because of lack of information on what can be expected.

Thanks
David

 

[Butty]

For cases where you are just coming back with photos that need to be identified (likely to be the case with herps, for instance), you would likely be as well to identify them with iNaturalist.

 

[DMW]

There's a couple of Indian mammal field guides which I would guess have close to 100% overlap with Nepal, but these seem to be out of print. It might be worth trying to find a used copy on e.g. EBay.

The Helm bird guide to the Subcontinent will have full coverage of birds in Nepal, but depending on which edition you bought, the taxonomy might be somewhat outdated.

 

[David_]

Thanks for the recommendations!

For cases where you are just coming back with photos that need to be identified (likely to be the case with herps, for instance), you would likely be as well to identify them with iNaturalist.

That's what I did in the end. But I think it's somewhat more rewarding to read up on potential species and try to solve an ID on your own (would probably still ask somewhere for confirmation) than just getting a suggestion from AI and someone to confirm or correct it.

The Helm bird guide to the Subcontinent will have full coverage of birds in Nepal, but depending on which edition you bought, the taxonomy might be somewhat outdated.

I got the latest version (I think it's from 2012?). Is there anything else which is more up to date and/or better?

There's a couple of Indian mammal field guides which I would guess have close to 100% overlap with Nepal, but these seem to be out of print. It might be worth trying to find a used copy on e.g. EBay.

Yes, probably the best idea to check eBay. I think it's kind of strange that for country with a lot of attractive mammal species like India there is not really a recommended field guide in print right now. The ones in print get some mixed reviews.
There is very cheap Kindle version (1,99€) of Vivek Menon's Indian Mammals. Reviews state that it is different from the printed version but at that price I will probably just buy it and have a look.

 

[Fritz73]

Have you checked "Birds of Nepal" by Richard Grimmett?

Birds of Nepal

Buy Birds of Nepal (9781472905710): NHBS - Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp, Tim Inskipp, Hem Sagar Baral, Helm

www.nhbs.com

For reptiles I found "A Naturalist´s Guide to the Reptiles of India" by Indraneil Das. I do not know how good it is.

A Naturalist's Guide to the Reptiles of India: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Buy A Naturalist's Guide to the Reptiles of India (9781909612815): Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka: NHBS - Indraneil Das, Abhijit Das, John Beaufoy Publishing

www.nhbs.com

 

[MiddleRiver]

I purchased a used copy (looked only shelf-worn) of Pocket Guide to Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (also by Grimmet, Inskipps...) and it was good for Nepal.

9780713651652: Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent - Grimmett, Richard; Inskipp, Carol; Inskipp, Tim: 0713651652 - AbeBooks

AbeBooks.com: Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (9780713651652) by Grimmett, Richard; Inskipp, Carol; Inskipp, Tim and a great selection of similar New, Used and Collectible Books available now at great prices.

www.abebooks.com