If you don't have a copy of the Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian
Birds I consider it exceptional - see below.
Regards
Richard NOWOTNY
Port Melbourne, Victoria
M: 0438 224 456
THE READER'S DIGEST COMPLETE BOOK OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS:
In my opinion any Australian birder or birder visiting Australia can (and
probably should) significantly add to the pleasure of their birding in this
country by complementing their field guide with a copy of THE READER'S
DIGEST COMPLETE BOOK OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS (2nd edition 1986, revised 1998,
approx A$75, available from bookshops and major department stores).
This large format (33cm x 24cm / 13" x 9.5", 640 pages, hardcover), high
quality paper, "coffee-table" book is in fact a superb resource for birders
- one to be kept in the car or back at base to refer to before and
particularly after birding each day (it's far too heavy to carry in the
field). With a stellar Australian and international cast of consultant
editors and contributors it is structured as follows:
Part 1 ( 10 pages) - Where birds live (in Australia)
Part 2 ( 20 pages) - The life of birds (in Australia)
Part 3 (580 pages) - BIRDS of AUSTRALIA*
* This section, the heart of the book, mostly has only one species per page.
On that page is a high quality colour photograph of the species from the
National Photographic Index of Australian Birds, and much the same
information as that provided in any standard field guide (ID, voice,
nesting, distribution - with range map). An interesting addition is a list
of Other Names, often of historical interest (eg for Willie Wagtail -
"Shepherd's Companion; Black and White Fantail; Australian Nightingale").
However, what is truly special about this book (apart from the superb
photographs) is the text section on each species, which provides carefully
selected behavioural, scientific and other information which is otherwise
generally only available from scientific publications, monographs or
word-of-mouth from experienced birders or ornithologists (and most of which
is not to be found in any of the field guides) - presented in discursive
rather than concise form. To illustrate this, the first two (of seven)
paragraphs of the text section from the page on the Australian Magpie
follows:
Taking its name from an unrelated pied crow in Europe, the Australian Magpie
is essentially a butcherbird that feeds on the ground, has become
insectivorous, and lives in communal groups. To suit its different niche it
has developed long powerful feet for walking, running and hopping, a short
tail that keeps out of the way of the ground, a straightened bill for
probing and grasping, and long pointed wings for flying over open spaces
quickly.
Daily routines are simple. The birds leave their roosting trees in the
early morning, usually after several carolling duets to reaffirm territory,
and fly and glide down to open fields, spreading out to feed. They stay
there for most of the day, walking methodically about, stopping and looking,
head on side, then jabbing the bill into soft ground, under cow pats or into
crevices to grasp a range of invertebrates. Only during hot midday hours or
rainy weather do they go to shelter in trees.
Etc, etc.
Such detail, so different from the necessarily dry information provided in
concise form in field guides, significantly enhances the Australian birding
experience! [Every country should have such a volume (I know of very
similar equivalents for New Zealand, The Reader's Digest Complete Book of
New Zealand Birds, and Southern Africa, The Complete Book of Southern
African Birds).]
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Alastair Smith
Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 9:11 PM
To: Birding-aus
Subject: Bird books
I have just been given an Angus and Robertson gift voucher for $50 and
(obviously) I would like to purchase a birding-related book. I have all the
usual suspects - HANZAB, all the Australian field guides, books on
bird-watching (kingbird highway, The big year, Birding on borrowed time,
Dools' two books etc) and bios such as the new one on Roger Tory Peterson.
Therefore I wonder if the combined readership of birding-aus could help me
identify a worthwhile book - perhaps the one book that should be in any bird
watchers library.
Regard
Alastair
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