Re: FW: [canberrabirds] Field guides

[martin butterfield <>]

I have a memory of someone doing a survey of the more popular guides some years ago but have been unable to track this down on the Chatline archive or CBN.  However my memory is that as Sandra says everyone has a favourite.

The huge advantage of print is that one can go into a library or bookshop and look at the thing before you buy.  (Incidentally Canty's Books in Fyshwick often has used or remaindered copies well below new price.)

While digital is the current flavour of the month/minute/millenium - and you get calls as well as pix - there are traps for players of all ages.  By way of example there are two iPad versions of Morcombe - one costs $31 and the other is free.  The former has some 850 species and the latter (described in the fine print as a sample) 50 - but this isn't immediately clear.  Similar differentials in price and content exist for on-line guides to the birds of the UK.  I'm not sure what exists for Windows or other platforms.

Martin

On 25 February 2013 09:54, sandra henderson <> wrote:

Erika - to each his own. everyone is going to have a different
favourite guide. I've got a Slater I always take with me on long
trips, and write in it when and where I first see a bird - I like the
compact size.  If I want to look up info on a known bird, I prefer
Pizzey, and buy new edition each time that comes out (and pass the old
one on to family or friends), but it's too heavy for me to want to
carry in the field. I sometimes carry my iPod with Morcombe on it in
the field, but a book is so much easier if you need to scan through a
lot of pics to identify something. I don't buy overseas guides - I
don't travel overseas, but I do have all the well-known Australian
ones. and I do tend to buy "local" guides for various places in
Australia - it's all a matter of money and bookshelf space...

sandra h

> I recently acquired a new field guide (Parrots of the World, by Forshaw) and
> I began wondering about how others use field guides. Is it common for
> birders to annotate their field guides (i.e. add additional common names to
> species entries), and to note in the guide when and where they have seen a
> species? I was also wondering how many of you "study" before taking a trip
> to a new place, in order to memorise species that you may encounter.
>
>
>
> I love field guides, and if I had the money I'm sure I would be buying new
> ones all the time. I suppose next on my list should be a current version of
> an Australian field guide, as my current copy (given to me by my grandma) is
> as old as I am (Simpson and Day, published in 1986)! Which reminds me, is it
> actually worth investing in an up-to-date copy? Any recommendations for
> which guide to get (author-wise)?
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
> Erika
>
>

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--
Martin Butterfield

http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/