canberrabirds

Field Guide Requirements-- some thoughts

To: "COG chatline" <>
Subject: Field Guide Requirements-- some thoughts
From: "Tony Lawson" <>
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2013 07:25:07 +1100
Some more thoughts on Field Guides - from Birding Aus chatline in 2007 - maybe some of the suggestions have been taken up by now.

-----Original Message----- From: Bob Forsyth
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 5:16 PM
To: Messages Birding-aus
Subject: Field Guide Requirements-- some thoughts

G'day all,

Peter Cooper wrote 28/02/2007 " ... I think we need a new web site called 'Australian Birds From Below and Behind'..."

that prompted me to post a few words about the design of Field Guides.

Novice Birdos rely 100% on Field Guides (FGs) & thus their ease of use is essential.

Australia is very fortunate to have a number of very good Field Guides to Bird Identification

.. although texts over 1Kg such as Pizzey & Knight, and Morcombe barely qualify as Field Guides

My latest versions include >

- Morcombe, FG to Australian Birds

- Morcombe, FG to Australian Birds, Complete Compact Edition, 2006, lightweight edition

- Pizzey & Doyle, FG to Birds of Australia, revised edition 1991

- Pizzey & Knight, FG to Birds of Australia,1st ed'n, Reprinted 1997 with corrections

- Simpson & Day, FG to Birds of Australia, 2004, 7th Ed'n

- The Slater FG to Australian Birds, (Revised & Updated) 2003

Each has their strengths and consequently their followers.

... and probably many birdos will have their unique priorities on this subject.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are a few thoughts that come to my mind >

STATEMENT

Field guides 1st priority is to enable the user to ID the bird ! !

Once the bird has been identified the user can then refer to one of umpteen texts to read that author's version of the birds' sequence in a Taxonomic listing.

SEQUENCE

- Look alike birds should be placed together. Slater does a good job

 but Morcombe has Brown Quail & Little Button-quail  84 pages apart)

- Waders/Shorebirds should be in size sequence (or as close as practicable)

ILLUSTRATIONS

- Illustrations for a particular species, should be placed opposite the appropriate text

 (except where grouped with the text, e.g. Morcombe Compact Edition)

 Slater has a number of annoying exceptions to an otherwise good layout

 S&D placement of illustrations defies logic.

- Birds that are frequently seen on the wing, should also be illustrated as such

 e.g. Quail, Waterfowl, Raptors, Nightjars

- Birds that are frequently seen from their rear (or below) should also be illustrated as such

 e.g. Crakes, Rails, Gallinules (i.e. Swamphen, Moorhen)

DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES

- Diagnostic features should be highlighted on the illustration, not hidden in the text.

 .. as they say "a picture is worth a 1000 words"

  INDEXES

- The most frequently read pages, the Indexes, should be printed in easily read font.

 (and road tested by someone with failing eyesight .. in the dusk !)

- Scientific Names and Common Names should be listed separately,

- Common Names listing should be printed nearest the cover,

and highlight the start of each letter of the alphabet (e.g. Morcombe Compact FG)

- Quick Indexes (see S & D 7th ed'n & Morcombe Compact Edition) are a welcome addition to FGs

(e.g. S & D 7th Ed'n, Morcombe Compact Ed'n) and should be located on an inside cover

PAGE NUMBERS

- Page numbers should be in large bold print, and printed on the outer edges of the page

IDENTIFICATION TABLES

- These are a feature of some International texts such as >

- Shorebirds, An Identification Guide, Hayman, Marchant, Prater (p391-399)

  - Crows and Jays, Madge and Burn (see p166 for Australian Crows)

  - 5 others are listed on Birds Qld Web Page www.birdsqueensland.org.au

COLOUR CHART

- I have yet to see any Field Guide include a colour chart ! Why not ?

 How else do you define Rufous, Cinnamon, Scarlet, Olive ?

GLOSSARY & BIRD BODY PARTS

All FGs should include >

- Glossaries    (example S&D 7th ED'n p346-349)

- Illustrations   (example S&D 7th ED'n p1)

WEB PAGE

All should have their own web page listing any errors or extra information and a facility to allow feedback of errors to the author.

The internet is here .. let us use it !

BOOK CONSTRUCTION

- Covers should be rugged. I find S&D vinyl cover perhaps the best... but easy to get dog-eared.

- Glossy paper must be kept dry. Nor ideal for a book used in all weathers !

earlier Slater editions could be dried out in a microwave (I have yet to test out the 2003 edition)

- The latest version of Slater has a clear slip cover which appeared to be a good idea, but mine disintegrated after a bit of use

- Rounded corners seem to prevent dog-ears (latest edition of Slater)


OTHER IDENTIFICATION BIRD MONOGRAPHS

- A Quick Guide to some Waders of Moreton Bay, Litz-Tyne & Venables,1996, QOSI/BQ

- Field Guide to the Waders, Condon & McGill. 6th Ed'n, 1974, BOCA

Both these publications provided relative sizes and silhouetes .. a great idea.

 I look forward to obtain Andrew Geering's forthcoming wader book.

- What Bird of Prey is that ? Beruldsen, 1995

  Contains useful information but requires editing and reformating.

-The Birds of Prey of Australia, Debus, 1998

Contains useful information but the illogical placement and lack of an index to the illustration disqualifies the book as a Field Guide

- Birds of Queensland's Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef, Nielsen, 1996

Introduces a unique method of listing birds within a unique identification feature e.g.

Red or orange beak, yellow breast, white rump, etc. Thus a bird can be listed under multiple headings. I found the book useful for this region.

Well, I'll now wait for some useful feedback.

Regards from Bob Forsyth Mount Isa, NW Qld.












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