>Could somebody please recommend a good field guide to the birds of New
>Zealand? I'm going there soon, and would like to buy a field guide before
>going to better acquaint myself with the native birdlife.
>
>Thank you,
>--Mich
>
>
>Mich Coker
>Brisbane
>(07) 3217-7687
>
Hello Mich,
One vote for the "Collins Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand",
authors R.A. Falla, R.B. Sibson & E.G. Turbutt, illustrated by Elaine
Power.
Size 130 X 200 X 26 mm. "Over 480 illustrations". Publishers:
HarperCollins (London, Sydney, etc., etc.) Copyright New Zealand
Ornithological Society, so presumably as reliable as one can get.
First published as "A Field guide to the Birds of New Zealand in 1966.
Revised in 1970.
Revised, extended, re-illustrated and re-set as "Collins Guide to the Birds
of New Zealand" in 1978. Reprinted with addenda in 1981. Then reprinted
'82, '83, '85, '86, '87, '88, '91 (twice).
Reprinted as "Collins Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand" 1993, 1996.
So clearly it is popular, well tested, and presumably problems (if any
existed) have been fixed.
My copy was purchased, 04.03.98, from Whitcoulls Ltd. in Nelson, (South
Island) for NZ$39.95, (and American Express charged my total book purchase
of NZ$71.90 as $63.49 Australian). I also saw a Whitcoulls bookshop in
Christchurch, and surmise that most sizable NZ cities have a branch.
If you have difficulty in sighting a copy in a Brisbane library or bookshop
and would like to have a look at mine before deciding, phone me on 3399
8830. (I live in Hawthorne.)
Cheers,
Syd
H Syd Curtis
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