Happy New Year to all birding-aus subscribers!
I received a copy of the compact Morecombe Field Guide for Christmas and I
am very impressed with sheer volume of information contained in what is a
pocket sized guide. As a birder who previously carried Slater in the field
(because of its size), I always felt the need to have a second field guide
handy because of the limited information and poor distribution maps in the
Slater guide. I also felt gypped when the supposed 'revised & updated'
edition of Slater was released in 2003 and found that basic things had not
been updated such as gerygones still bearing the name warblers.
As with Frank, I particularly like the ease of finding family groups and the
pictures of all related illustrated table. I think that Michael's drawings
are particularly suited to the smaller format.
The compact Morecombe has certainly become my 'field' guide of choice.
Cheers
Alastair
_____
From:
On Behalf Of Frank O'Connor
Sent: Monday, 3 January 2005 1:07 AM
To:
Subject: Michael Morcombe's New Compact Field Guide
Has anyone else bought a copy of Michael's Morcombe's new compact field
guide? I picked it up for $34.95 RRP.
I have always recommended Michael's field guide as the best for WA. I am
now likely to recommend the compact guide as the best for all of Australia
(except the external territories) in preference to Pizzey & Knight, and the
best to take on a trip in preference to Slater.
A few very quick impressions.
I like :
* the compact size and comparative weight
* quick guides inside the front and back covers
* the page marker ribbon (fantastic new idea to mark the page)
* the new illustrated introductions to family groups drawn to scale
* the sub species information and coloured dots
* the plastic cover
* the ease of finding information about each species
* overhead raptor comparison plates
* web site for more information
* no back section on nesting, eggs, etc. Takes out nearly half the
weight.
There are still items that I feel can be improved, but Michael's new guide
is probably than the other field guides in most cases anyway
* I would prefer the territories to be included (at the very least
check lists). When I travel to these places, I would love a compact field
guide to reduce weight and number of books required.
* Distribution maps of vagrants / rarities is inconsistent. If there
are only a handful of records, then mark each record as a dot rather than
shade the area between them. Some records missing (e.g. Northern Shoveller
in south west; Black-headed Gull in Darwin)
* taxonomic order different to Christidis & Boles. General order of
families is consistent, but order within families is different in many
cases. I accept that all white egrets need to be together in a field guide,
but some other differences don't seem necessary.
* inconsistent maps. e.g. most Cape York endemics map blown up to
only show Cape York, but some show all of most of Australia. Tassie
endemics should only show Tassie
* Introduction to migratory waders plate is missing many species
reducing its usefulness. It would be better to show more common species
such as Bar-tailed Godwit, Great Knot, Grey-tailed Tattler rather than mega
rarities such as Upland Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, etc. This plate could
be a very useful starting point for IDing waders if all waders shown. These
plates are an excellent introduction, but if they were filled out they would
be an excellent aid for ID.
* Some incorrect distributions (e.g. Little Crow in south west) but no
field guide is going to get this perfect.
* Two sub species shown for Welcome Swallow but not on map or
illustrations.
* Colours in some plates don't quite seem right. e.g.
"red-shouldered" fairy-wrens.
* I would love a comparison plate of terns
What do other people think?
_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
<http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au/>
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