Tag Archives: birding guidebooks

Which Field Guide For Pacific Island Birding?

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I usually like to bring a field guide with me on a birding trip.  Our June trip to French Polynesia was originally scheduled for Feb 2015 and I brought it forward to June 2014 after concerns about award availability and potential devaluations.  I booked the flights in May so had no time to order a suitable guide book.  If I had, this is the one I would have gone for.  There aren’t a lot of birding guides for this region but I am familiar with the Princeton series and they consistantly deliver excellent products.

Birds of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific: (Princeton Illustrated Checklists) Paperback – July 25, 2011

 

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The Birds Of Africa, Volume 8: The Malagasy Region

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This brand new guidebook to the region is the eighth and final volume in the authoritative Birds of Africa  series. It covers the Malagasy region which comprises Madagascar and the various  islands and archipelagos of the Indian Ocean including the Seychelles,  the Comoros, Mauritius and Réunion.
Every resident and migrant species is covered in full detail, comparable to other volumes in the series, and with a colour map for each species. Vagrants are treated in less detail. All species are illustrated on a beautiful series of 64 colour plates, with original artwork from John Gale and Brian Small.
This is a major work of reference on the birds of the region and will remain the standard text for many years to come.

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Chamberlain’s Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands: Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles And The Comoros

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Publication Date: September 15, 2013

This book describes the bird life of the region embracing Madagascar, the Seychelles group, the Comoros and the Mascarenes (comprising Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues) – a region that hosts nearly 400 species, many endemic. All are fully described, giving ID features, preferred habitats, status, calls, distribution maps and full-color illustrations. The book includes useful guide-type maps and practical birding tips. The 70+ superb plates are by Norman Arlott, Hilary Burn, Peter Hayman and Ian Lewington – among the world’s leading bird artists.

Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands is the comprehensive guide to the bird life of a region that embraces Madagascar, the Seychelles group, the Comoros and the Mascarenes (comprising Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues). Together, these magical islands and the warm surrounding ocean host a total of nearly 400 regularly encountered species, many of them endemic to the area. All bird species of the region are fully described, giving identification features, preferred habitats, current status and vocalization.

Accurate distribution maps accompany all species. Full-color illustrations show diagnostic plumage features. A special chapter, incorporating useful guide-type maps, discusses the practicalities of birding in the region’s main locations.

*Disclaimer:  The link above contains an affiliate link and I will receive a small commission if you buy this or any other product on Amazon.com after clicking it.  As always, I appreciate your support, thank you!

Birds Of The Indian Subcontinent Field Guide

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The best field guide to the birds of the Indian subcontinent is now even better. Thoroughly revised, with 73 new plates and many others updated or repainted, the second edition of Birds of India now features all maps and text opposite the plates for quicker and easier reference. Newly identified species have been added, the text has been extensively revised, and all the maps are new. Comprehensive and definitive, this is the indispensable guide for anyone birding in this part of the world.

  • The leading field guide to the birds of the Indian subcontinent–now thoroughly revised and improved
  • 1,375 species illustrated and described, including all residents, migrants, and vagrants
  • 226 color plates–including 73 new ones–depict every species and many distinct plumages and races
  • Concise text and accurate distribution maps opposite plates for easy reference
  • Includes newly identified species

*Disclaimer:  The link above contains an affiliate link and I will receive a small commission if you buy this or any other product on Amazon.com after clicking it.  As always, I appreciate your support, thank you!

Avifauna Brasileira – Guia De Campo Avis Brasilis

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Avifauna Brasileira: Guia De Campo Avis Brasilis: The Avis Brasilis Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil by Tomas Sigrist is arguably the definitive guide to the birds of Brazil.   I probably never would have heard of this book if my guide, Gilberto didn’t have a copy.  It’s what he would use to communicate to me which species we had seen during the day as he doesn’t speak English.  It’s an excellent field guide and has the names of the birds in Portuguese, English and the scientific names.  After I left Urua, I checked a bookstore in Belem with no luck.  Surely I would find it in Sao Paulo where we had a day layover?  Nope, nada!  One bookstore checked all their branches by computer and no one had it.  Either it’s VERY popular or out of print.

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I struck out with my usual port of call for books – Amazon.com.  It’s not that they don’t have the book but I think $375 for a used copy is a bit too much! Just for fun, I Googled it again last week and found a copy at a more reasonably price through a British company which specializes in books on science and nature:  NHBS.  It’s still not cheap and I paid for express shopping to make sure it didn’t get lost but it’s an investment that a keen birder will use over and over again so I felt it was worth it.  The service was excellent and the book showed up in Australia in about 5 days including a weekend so I can recommend this company.  The listing is here and they also have some sample pages.  It comes in 2 volumes, one has the pictures of the birds and the maps where they are found; the other book contains a short paragraph about each bird in both English and Portuguese.

Sample page showing ranges of birds

Sample page of bird pictures

Sample page of text (Portuguese). The book also has English text>

A Field Guide To The Birds Of Brazil

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I always advise bringing a birding field guide with you to help you identify the birds you see.  Your guides will know the birds but especially in Brazil, they may not speak English……….but they can definitely point to the right photo in the book.  This guide is very comprehensive and covers birds from the whole country.  Some of the reviewers feel the book is a bit heavy to carry but most of them were happy with the quality of the guide.  This is my affiliate link, I do appreciate your support if you use it to click through for any of your Amazon purchases.

A Photographic Guide To The Birds Of Indonesia

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This is the book I wish I had known about BEFORE my trip!  It was only just published in Dec 2012 and we left on 28 Feb so had stopped looking around by then.  It’s well laid out with photos of all the birds you can expect to see in Indonesia with the bird’s habitat highlighted on a map.  Great planning tool, can also help with communicating with guides who don’t speak English.  I found it in a book shop in the Surabaya airport on my way back to Bali for around $35 but you can order it on Amazon (affiliate link) for $23 and have it to study in advance.