Birds of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East (Collins Pocket Guide)

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Browse through the beautiful illustrations by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterström, and read the detailed text by Lars Svensson. which are often seen in flight the wingspan is added (WS). It follows the 2nd-winter plumage and is worn until

The book provides all the information needed to identify any species at any time of the year, covering size, habitat, range, identification and voice. Accompanying every species entry is a distribution map and illustrations showing the species in all the major plumages (male, female, immature, in flight, at rest, feeding: whatever is important).The new illustrations are, as you'd expect given the calibre of the authors, superb. From the perspective of the British birder, updates to some of the terns, swifts, Old World flycatchers and finches are among the most relevant. Among my favourites were the updated harriers and redstarts, while the distinguishing of Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll is also welcome. into two or more species. These 'new' species are, for very All the maps have been revised. AI though small, our ambi- after publication of the first edition it was evident that it was have decided to await further research and more universal Olsen, Urban Olsson, Eugeny Panov, David Parkin, Mike jendijk, les Meulmeester, Mars Muusse, Theodoor Muusse.

Here we wou ld like to mention particularly those who have Hellstrom, Paul Holt, Hans Larsson, Antero Lindholm, two oldest groups of birds are the wildfowl Anseriformes and Peter J. Grant was deeply involved in the planning of andThese advances in knowledge have had the effect that a & doves, thrushes, warblers, shrikes) we are pleased to have measurements in the current literature are misleading. eclipse plumage- cryptic, female-lil

Collins Bird Guide (3rd edition)by Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom is published by Collins. nomic status of many taxa formerly regarded as subspecies. which were a bit crammed in the previous edition (pigeonsIn 2013 Lars Svensson, was presented with the first Marsh International Award for Ornithology by the BTO recognising his work on the international stage as having had significant influence on British ornithology. the book, with advice on identification, in both words and as Algeria, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Morocco, Another extensively reworked species is Great Grey Shrike, which now has 13 rather than eight figures, and there are two more for the newly split ‘Iberian’ Grey Shrike. Lars Svensson has broken with convention, not just in unilaterally renaming this form Iberian, despite it also breeding in southern France, but in restricting it to the single taxon meridionalis; so all other Old World large grey shrikes here, including the vagrant pallidirostris from Central Asia, are lumped within Great Grey, yet the Nearctic borealis Northern Shrike has been split as a vagrant. Although Svensson has researched the systematics of this complex elsewhere and outlines the need for more research here, I question the wisdom of trying to establish a different grouping of taxa and inventing a new English name as an interim position. With expanded text and additional colour illustrations, the third edition of the hugely successful Collins Bird Guide is a must for every birdwatcher.

date as possible. Some of tllis required more space than al- wagtails would be fitted in between sparrows and finches. knowledge and experience. Many thanks also to Per Al- ageing and identification for the benefit of all has been of Collins Bird Guide covers the UK, Europe and the North Atlantic Islands as well as much of North Africa and the Middle East, and with this much detail it will continue to be the field guide of choice for most bird watchers.

rius, Andrew Grieve, Marcel Haas, Magnus Hellstrom, Guy any real justice to their work but the assistance of Ruud Al- The illustrations are accurate, useful and aesthetically pleasing, and in my copy somewhat more washed-out than in the original edition, which actually makes them even more realistically coloured. If you have the first edition it IS definitely worth investing in a copy of the new edition, and I suspect this will long continue to be the field guide of choice for most birdwatchers – although, as always with a comprehensive Europe-wide field guide, the sheer number of species can be bewildering and confusing for people new to birdwatching, or those that only watch birds in the UK. Collins Bird Guide claims to be The Most Complete Guide To The Birds Of Britain And Europe and was described in a review by Mark Golley in Birding World as undoubtedly the finest field guide that has ever been produced”, and “the last great bird book of the 20th century”. oped all the time, and a good field guide needs to be as up to and flycatchers would come close together, while pipits & This book treats all bird species which breed or regularly relationships and best arrangement, mean in~ that in possi-