Field guides - a vote for Slater

[Julian Robinson <>]

I have neglected my very old Slater guide since getting Pizzey&Knight
and then the skinny version of Morcombe.  Philip's note made me go
back and have a look at Slater and I'm glad I did.  Not only are the
images of younger Pallid Cuckoos much better than those of my other two
guides, but I found the ID notes generally better than the newer
guides.  I suspect many will tell me that Slater misses finer detail
and for sure the distribution maps are not the best, but the
diagnostic/descriptive notes seem pretty good for the general birder and
easier to use for me.  I really liked the groupings into arbitrary
but useful lots like "Scrubwrens with prominent 'eyebrows'" --
not only useful for searching but also to direct your attention to what
diagnostic features might be significant for different groups of
birds.

Lastly I also appreciate the short general descriptive paragraph written
about each group or sub-group on the main identification pages. 
Gives a context and directs the attention more accurately as well as
providing an efficient location for info like the group diet or general
nesting habits that is often missing in other compact guides.

Anyway this is just an observation after my own realisation that it pays
to cross-check current 'fashions' in all sorts of things.  I'm not
in Slater's pay :) but will be looking at his more recent edition in case
there have been significant changes besides taxonomic developments. 
And I should look at Simpson and Day I suppose.  Thanks for the
pointer Philip.

Julian


At 03:38 PM 3/01/07, Philip Veerman wrote:
> ...looking at the available field guides, there is a big difference in
> illustrations of the juvenile Pallid Cuckoo. The pictures in P.P.& R
> Slater, Simpson & Day are very good, Pizzey & Doyle and Morcombe
> are mediocre and Pizzey & Knight is terrible. I'd even say that
> sometimes the mottled grey and white of a juvenile Pallid Cuckoo can even
> resemble an untidy cockatiel. 


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