Lloyd & others who have commented
With the amount of effort you have gone to to check the book, and your own
knowledge of the areas concerned, I wonder whether you have considered
writing to the author and the publisher to pass this on. While many people
will have been misguided by this edition, perhaps if a few people were to
advise the author, there may be an effort to produce a revised edition with
corrections.
If the author was advised of the birding-aus mail list, he may be able to
request assistance with corrections - he may even offer to provide a
complimentary copy of a revised edition to those who assist.
Eventually it is in all our interests to ensure that guides to Australia
that are sold overseas are of the best quality to raise the reputation of
our country and its birdlife and to improve the enjoyment of our overseas
visitors.
Bob Cook
----------
> From: Lloyd Nielsen <>
> To:
> Subject: birding-aus Where to watch birds in Australasia and Oceana
> Date: Thursday, 22 April 1999 19:55
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> Thanks to those who responded to my original posting regarding 'Where
> to Watch Birds in Australasia & Oceania'.
>
> I have now had time to look more closely at this book (it was published
> last year - 1998). My intention in purchasing a copy was twofold -
> to help with planning some eventual personal visits to the islands and
> areas to the north and east of Australia and as a possible reference to
> recommend to intending international visitors when enquiring about a
> good guide for this greater region.
>
> No doubt, the best way to test the accuracy of such a book is to read
> the pages that cover your own back yard - in my case Atherton Tableland,
> Julatten and Mount Lewis and Cairns - a bit over 7 pages of text all
> told - and see how it stacks up. This I did and all I can say is that I
> was horrified! Reading it makes one doubt if the author has ever been
> to these areas at all. Someone suggested that it seemed to be an
> abbreviated account of Thomas and I am inclined to agree. Indeed
> mistakes in Thomas have been carried over into this book. The following
> is what I found - and I am not going to be as kind to it as Murray was.
>
> For a start, five friarbirds are mentioned for these areas - Little,
> Noisy, Helmeted, Silver-crowned and New Guinea. Not bad considering
> only three occur in the area. Silver-crowned occurs well to the north
> (Cooktown). Most people would not know that 'New Guinea Friarbird' is
> an alternative name for the Helmeted Friarbird in New Guinea, but no
> mention is made of this. (Using Clement's taxonomy ? can be confusing
> to Australians).
>
> Many birds are listed which just do not occur or are extremely rare in
> the areas they are listed for - Bar-breasted Honeyeater at Cairns,
> Torresian Imperial Pigeon at Julatten and Mt Lewis, Lovely Fairy-wren on
> top of Mt Lewis, Red-browed Pardalote and Silver-crowned Friarbird at
> Big Mitchell Creek, Ground Cuckoo-shrike and Buff-breasted Paradise
> Kingfisher on the Atherton Tableland, Double-banded Plover presumably at
> Cairns Esplanade from Feb-Aug - (it is a very rare straggler to Cairns)
> . Some names are wrong and confusing to Australian birdwatchers and to
> visitors who are usuing Australian Field Guides e.g. 'Green Oriole' and
> 'Green Figbird' at Cairns - presumably should be Yellow Oriole and
> Yellow Figbird.
>
> A number of localities are given where the target birds have not been
> there for some years - ' the rice fields alongside Pickford Road west of
> the Kennedy Highway' (it is actually the Peninsula Development Road -
> the Kennedy Highway runs north to Mareeba and then down to Cairns) was
> converted to sugar-cane growing about 4 years ago - there has been no
> rice (and very few birds!) since then. The Bakers Road site is still
> perpetuated for Buff-breasted Button-quail. I have not seen any there
> since about late 1993 - early 1994, despite many searches. (And on top
> of that, directions to the site are way out. Trying to find the fourth
> grid will take you many kilometres to the west onto Font Hills Station
> (where you have got a rather good chance of being kicked out by an
> obnoxious manager). The site was originally past the third grid, never
> the fourth. These days, the old site is 500 metres past the first
> grid. Two grids were pulled up a few years ago. (It would be so much
> simpler to say '6.5 km down Bakers Road'). The Great Bowerbird at Mt
> Molloy Cemetry vanished about 4 years ago (and his bower fell into
> disrepair). The Blue-faced Parrot-finch site about 3 km up the Mt Lewis
> road in a lush gully became overgrown about 4 years ago and the finches
> have not returned. It was never the site where it 'occurred most
> regularly' - the site at the top of Mt Lewis at the clearing had that
> reputation. Many birding people have known of a new and excellent site
> at the base of the mountain for at least 2 years but this is not
> mentioned.
>
> Directions are sometimes way out e.g. Abattoir Swamp 'situated a couple
> of kilometres along McDougall's Road which leads east of the Mt
> Molloy-Julatten Road' - McDougall Road actually leads west and has
> nothing to do with Abattoir swamp. Following those directions leads
> into the cleared hills at the base of Mt Lewis! (Interestingly, Thomas
> makes an identical mistake and it appears that it has been copied to
> this book). And you would have to visit Abattoir Swamp many many times
> before you will get a Green Pygmy-goose as promised! To find the Beach
> Stone-curlews (at Yule Point) by 'heading for Pebbly Beach which is well
> sign-posted and walking north' probably only guarantees that you will be
> sure to miss the birds 19 times out of 20 - the birds mostly occur at
> least 2 kilometres to the north beyond a band of mangroves. ( Pebbly
> Beach is very poorly sign-posted, and thus difficult to find for
> visitors - many locals would have never seen the small sign that has
> been obscured by foliage for years).
>
> Place and business names are often wrong - as Chris pointed out the
> wrong name is given for his tour (the only serious birdwatching tour on
> the Daintree River and the only one where you will see the species
> mentioned most times. It is only by circumstance and good luck people
> following the direction in this book would get to book the right tour.
> Kingfisher Caravan Park has been Kingfisher Birdwatchers Lodge for at
> least 4 years. Yarrabah (?) Turf Farm (not the right name but a local
> name) becomes 'Yarrabunda Turf Farm (no such business?) a little way
> along the road to Yarrabunda' (no such place) - and if it is the turf
> farm I think the reference is to, it is not really on the road to
> Yarrabah. (Again, the same mistakes were made in the Thomas book but
> appear to be accentuated through abbreviation in this book).
>
> There are some rather odd statements e.g. ' Chowchillas which are often
> found in groups accompanied by musky-rat kangaroos' - is so fanciful it
> does not deserve comment. As Susan pointed out, early in the book we
> are told that 'some people have almost been killed by leeches'. Surely
> he means 'scrub ticks'.
>
> In 'Other Wildlife' for Julatten and Mt Lewis, Coppery Brushtail
> (possum), Herbert River Ringtail (possum) and Red-necked Pademelon are
> listed, none of which occur there.
>
> All phone numbers are the old obsolete numbers which changed in this
> area about 12 months ago and are very confusing to people coming into
> the country for the first time, let alone a nuisance to Australian
> travellers. There is no excuse for this and a check with Telstra would
> have fixed that. My book was published in late 1996 and a check with
> Telstra in mid 1996 indicated numbers would be changed in 'about 18
> months' from that date - it turned out to be 2 years - so I was able to
> include the relevant information.
>
> In the Cape York section, it is stated that at Iron Range 'there is
> usually some freshwater fit for drinking in the creeks'. Suggesting
> this is unbelievably irresponsible especially with such animals as feral
> pigs (and their myriad of diseases), wallowing and defecating in the
> creeks and waterways - and in a remote area where medical help can be
> sometimes very difficult to come by in an emergency. Thomas states
> that 'we always sterilised this water before drinking it' - a wise move.
>
> I also read the section on Lamington NP in S Queensland, an area I know
> very well having guided and lived there for quite a few years. Again,
> there are similar mistakes with bird names and directions. Directions
> to Rufous Scrub-bird are confusing and basically wrong (track names
> have been confused) while that to the Eastern Bristlebird spot is
> completely wrong. Again the text appears to have been abbreviated from
> the Thomas book. Thomas gives directions to a lesser known site for
> the scrub-bird - I think he may have been first to describe this, the Mt
> Merino spot. This book also mentions this spot but in the process
> errors have crept in e.g.- the Mt Merino circuit is not at the end of
> the Pensioner Track but about another 4 km further on - see the map and
> text in Thomas (Thomas's directions are 100% spot on). In all, I found
> about 8 rather serious mistakes on roughly 2 pages of text including
> the 'clanger' where Superb Lyrebird is mentioned as an inhabitant of
> the Park along with Albert's!
>
> I think I have said enough even though that is only a proportion of the
> errors. In fairness, the section on the Townsville area seems to be
> reasonably accurate.
>
> If this sounds like sour grapes, it certainly is not even though it is
> probably not nice to slam an author for his work, but afterall, he is
> obliged to his readers - those people who put good money out for his
> book - to get it right!. All serious birdwatchers will agree I am sure,
> that when one pays for supposedly good and accurate information, then
> one expects just that. To get to a destination , often in another
> country and to find that the information is innaccurate (grossly
> innacurate in this case) costs precious time, something one cannot
> afford when on an expedition/vacation - and to say nothing of cost,
> anxiety, frustration and disappointment.
>
> I paid $60 all up for my copy. Now that I am landed with it, I am
> wondering what I should do with it! I most certainly will not be using
> it to plan any visits to near-by countries - and I certainly will not
> be recommending it to visiting birdwatchers. At least it has an
> attractive cover!
>
> Lloyd Nielsen
> Mt Molloy Qld
>
> I might add that Thomas and Thomas may have a few shortcomings and a few
> mistakes here and there but it is still way ahead for overall Australian
> birding.
>
>
>
>
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