|
Collins Bird Guide: The Most Complete Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe
|
| Price: |
5 new or used available from £49.00
Average customer review:
Product Description
"Collins Bird Guide" provides all the information needed to identify any species at any time of the year, with detailed text on size, habitat, range, identification and voice. Accompanying every species entry is a distribution map and illustrations showing the species in all the major plumages (male, female, immature, in flight, at rest, feeding).
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #111870 in Books
- Published on: 2001-04-02
- Original language: Swedish
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 412 pages
Editorial Reviews
Bird Watching
The world's best fieldguide - every birdwatcher should have a copy.
From the Publisher
Reviews of the prize winning field guide
Winner of the British Birds/British Trust for Ornithology Bird Book of the Year and Birdwatch Book of the Year
our standard guide for many years to come - BBC Wildlife
As essential as binoculars - New Scientist
it really is a very good book - RSPB Birds
The richest and most comprehensive of the current guides - The Times
About the Author
Lars Svensson is Europe's leading field ornithologist. Killian Mullarney is one of the world's finest bird illustrator's. Winner of numerous awards, this is the first guide that he has illustrated. Dan Zetterstr?m is widely acclaimed for his bird illustrations.
Customer Reviews
The best field guide to any avifauna
This book emerged onto a highly competitive market already burgeoning with numerous field guides, most by renowned authors and many having benefitted from improvement over several editions. Quite simply though, this book won instant recognition as the best field guide available for Europe - and perhaps a model for field guides everywhere. Its authors are well known experts in their field having spent many years studying and publishing on the birds of the region. However, the key to the guide's success is the fact that so much more useful information has been condensed into a guide which is much the same size as existing books. The book boasts excellent illustrations, succinct text and handy maps, all presented on a the same page. Small enough to fit into a pocket and cheap, it is a must for anyone even remotely interested in British or European birds. Don't hesitate!
Very good, but not quite the definitive guide.
Much attention and comment has been focused on this book since its original publication in hardback, and deservedly so. As stated in The Times review, it most probably is 'the richest and most comprehensive of the current guides'. Just holding the book and looking at the cover, you get the impression that the publishers had every confidence that this book would sweep away the competition, and wanted to display it that way. The front design is striking - jet black, with bold, shining, gold and white upper-case text - 'BIRD GUIDE' - the image of a barn owl on silent wings and the proclamation of 'the most complete field guide to the birds of Britain and Europe' adding to the effect. The book seems to scowl 'Buy me, I'm brilliant and I'm the best!'. Clever, yet the appearance is strangely unwelcoming and almost intimidating.
Does it live up to the hype? The earlier 'Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe' with Bertel Brunn is a landmark, a classic book that had everything right - perfect illustrations, clear and unambiguous descriptions. Has this continued in that vein? Well, yes and no. By-and-large, the contents are excellent. Extraordinary works of art show the appearance of each species, immaculate, stunning and intimate in their detail. This, coupled with perfectly clear and in-depth descriptions of form, plumage, song and flight, provides a wonderful guide to the identification of even the most easily confused species. For the size of the book, everything has had to be crammed in, and the visual 'feel' is of slight overcrowding - but this is unavoidable if you want a book this informative and descriptive for field use. The major fault is that for some species, some distribution maps contain inaccuracies. Examples - the cormorant breeds quite happily along most of the Irish coast and on lakes in the midlands, yet the relevant map wrongly indicates it is only a winter visitor to most of the coast, and a resident only in pockets. The map for the yellow wagtail shows it as absent from Ireland and Wales, though it is not. Also, the nightjar breeds in parts of the Algarve, yet is only shown as a passage visitor to the region. I have spotted several more examples relating to Ireland, Portugal and Italy which makes me wonder if other maps are unreliable for other countries. This is a real dissapointment for what otherwise is a very fine book, and could cause confusion for learners and those hoping to use this book while travelling - defeating the purpose of a field guide.
If these errors could be corrected, this book would be the definitve guide to Europe's birds.
Excellent book for the seasoned bird-watcher
The original version of this book is good but the larger print version is even better. The diagrams are first class. Overall a first rate reference book to have at home to check on those birds you are still unsure of after reviewing your field guide. The section on gulls shows the different appearances of first winter gulls, second winter etc., something most field guides omit. The size of the book prohibits it being taken into the field but is ideal for those cold dark winter nights when the repeats are on telly.
