Apologies for the stroppy piece I mailed in response to Niven's mail - I
meant it to go to him rather than everyone.
Good comment from John on the White-browed Treecreeper. WBTs look a wee
bit like arid-zone Red-browed Treecreepers with eyebrow makeup;
definitely quite slaty-grey on the back.
A couple of extra things about the P&K guide:
(a) a flying pose of the Fig-Parrot would have been useful; rather
curiously there's a stationary & a flying Little Lorikeet on that plate
for comparison, but in terms of flying, comparison with what? Their
shape in flight is quite different to the small lorikeets, and could be
usefully included in a new edition.
(b) the swiftlets in Simpson & Day probably have the best "in flight"
jizz of the guides (yes I did say "best" in the same sentence as S&D);
Collocalia swiftlets are often rather paddle-shaped or spatula-shaped in
the wing department in flight, compared with the more crescent-winged
swifts-proper; P&K and Slater both make the swiftlets a bit too
"pointy-winged".
I hope someone at Harper/Collins is collecting all these comments.
Edition 2 will be an absolute cracker if they incorporate even half the
suggestions; Edition 1 is almost that already.
Lawrie Conole
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
http://yarra.vicnet.net.au/~birdsaus/painted.html
http://www.xnet.com/~ugeiser/Birds/TripReports/JavaBali96.html
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