I picked up a copy of the Morcombe guide at Angus & Robertson, Forest Hill
(Melbourne eastern suburbs) for $29.95 on Friday (Father's Day gift for Dad;
I received a birthday copy for myself a couple of weeks back). As a
non-professional birdo - except, I suppose, one day a year on the
Twitchathon - I think it looks a very handy complement to my Pizzey and
Knight. I think he has caught the jizz of those species that I'm familiar
with quite effectively, and personally I like the use of pointers with the
illustrations to highlight ID features. I also like his willingness to use
poses that depart from some of the common conventions for bird illustrations
(eg some of the "face-on" pictures). Certainly there are a few errors
scattered through the book, as I guess is almost inevitable with a first
issue of something as packed with facts as a field-guide. On the whole,
however, I reckon it's a useful addition to the literature and I'll be happy
to have it in the car or even, sometimes, the back-pack.
Hope as many of you as possible are assembling Twitchathon teams for the big
day. Regards to all.
Jack
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