Laurie
I started, a few years ago, collecting field guides, usually inexpensive
second hand books as I come across them but also some new books. Wished
I had started years ago. Some of these books have interesting
geographical information but are often just nice pictures and some
information of the birds of a country. I prefer the painted images
rather than photo guides. I figure I am unlikely to ever get to every
country in the world but could easily collect enough field guides to
cover all the birds of the world. While there are lots of expensive
books from the 1800's and earlier bird field guides are a genre that
started only early in the 1900's. Some guides cover a region such as
Britain, Europe and parts of the Middle East and North Africa but it
would be nice to get a guide for each country. So the answer to your
question, I don't know, but it should not take that many books or too
much money to collect enough to cover the world. However another way to
get good information on all the birds at a reasonable price is to buy
the Handbook of the Birds of the World as they are produced. Apparently
there are quite a few people who collect field guides. It would be
interesting to form a group to notify when a guide is seen in a shop
somewhere. For example. A second hand bookshop on the main street in
Hamilton, near Newcastle, NSW, has a heap of good but expensive bird
books, not just field guides.
Greg Little
Greg Little - Principal Consultant
General Flora and Fauna
PO Box 526
Wallsend, NSW, 2287, Australia
Ph 02 49 556609
Fx 02 49 556671
www.gff.com.au
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of L&L Knight
Sent: Monday, 7 December 2009 6:49 PM
To: Birding Aus
Subject: How many field guides are needed to cover all
thespecies in the world?
G'day I was leafing through the Princeton "Birds of Peru" Field Guide
the other day. It covers ~1,800 species, or about ~20% of the world
total.
This got me wondering what is the minimum number of field guides one
would need to purchase to cover all the species in the world [and
which guides would those be]?
This is likely to change over time, given that species will continue
to be lumped and split [guides the cover races that are candidates for
splitting would have a higher level of future-proofing]. However, it
is a challenge that the bird nerds might want to take up.
Regards, Laurie.
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