Dear all,
I've just logged back on after a period away and noted the thread last week
on Japanese field guides. I was in Japan last month and have a few
comments.
The Wild Bird Society of Japan (WBSJ) guide in still in print but only in
Japanese (as Tim said). Nevertheless, it is still a nice compact guide with
range maps and arrows to point out diagnostic features. As I recall there
are scientific names for each species but not English names. One common
forest bird that is not mentioned in the guide but that I came across
regularly is the introduced Red-billed Leiothrix, so not every bird is
shown.
Tim, Trevor and perhaps others mentioned photographic guides. I took with
me the one with the Japanese Robin on the cover ("Wild Birds of Japan"). It
is a nice photographic guide but I found myself only using it as a backup
and relying on a copy of the (now out of print) English version of the WBSJ
guide that a friend let me borrow while I was travelling. (In fact it was
brand new. He had planned a trip to Japan some years ago but it never
eventuated.) The other photographic guide that was mentioned is the two
volume "550 Birds of Japan". It is also a very nice photographic guide and
the pictures are somewhat larger than the single volume guide. However, in
most cases the number of photos for each species seemed to be about the
same. In several bookshops I visited I saw another more recent single
volume guide called "590 Birds of Japan". (Surely it is only a matter of
time before the 600 barrier is broken! There were also several others
covering smaller numbers of species e.g. "230 Birds of Japan" and "120
Birds of Japan".) So the bottom line is visit a decent sized bookshop when
you get to Tokyo if you haven't managed to find anything before then.
Of the birdfinding guides I agree with Trevor that the guide by Brazil is
more useful than Robinson, although both are worthwhile. I was able to
obtain a copy of the Robinson guide before I left and Tim kindly let me
borrow his copy of Brazil's guide so I could study it before the trip. I
happened to be in Tokyo on the weekend of the Tokyo Bird Festival and
learned at the WBSJ stall that Mark Brazil's guide (which is in English) is
still available through them. Try checking their website. Apparently their
HQ is near Shinjuku Station so it is easily accessible.
Hope this information helps.
Regards
Greg
Greg Anderson, PhD
NHMRC Senior Research Fellow
Head, Iron Metabolism Laboratory
Population Health and Human Genetics Division
Queensland Institute of Medical Research
P.O. Royal Brisbane Hospital, Herston, Queensland 4029, Australia
Tel: +61-(0)7-3362-0187
Fax: +61-(0)7-3362-0191
E-mail:
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