Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #452053 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 512 pages

Synopsis
First published 50 years ago and never out of print, this is the classic birdwatcher's field guide For 50 years Collins Birds of Britain and Europe has been the standard field guide, providing an concise guide to the essential features of bird recognition. This classic guide, now in its fifth edition, will be relaunched in new livery to attract a new generation of birders. The 'Peterson' guide is well-recognised for giving prominence to key identification features, so is ideal for beginners, as well as providing extensive coverage for more expert birdwatchers. In Peterson's words, 'the purpose of this field guide is to make it easier for 999 out of 1,000 readers to identify birds'. Nearly 700 species are described in Guy Mountfort's clear, readable text, and there are over 1500 colour illustrations by Roger Tory Peterson. The maps compiled by P.A.D. Hollom show the breeding range and winter range for each species. In the case of confusable species, additional notes draw attention to their distinction from those with which they are most likely to be confused.

Descriptions also include how to identify birds in flight and offers a concise introduction of what to look for when trying to distinguish different species.

Customer Reviews

Old-fashioned format, but the best paintings
I use both this and the newer Collins guide by Lars Svensson, but when I can only take one field guide with me, I take the Peterson. His immensely skillful paintings, which I appreciate more each time I use them, still seem to be the best available at showing the significant differentiating details that actually help me to identify new birds. Peterson also didn't allow his painted birds to strike eccentric poses that can make comparison between species difficult. (The paintings by Killian Mullarney that make up half of the Svensson book give Peterson a run for his money in clarity and beauty, but the other half, by Dan Zetterstrom, do not.)

The textual descriptions in Svensson's book are longer and more helpful on behavior than those in Peterson's, so it's nice to check my observations against Svensson when I get home. But I find the Svensson guide large, heavy, and tiring to carry around compared to the more compact Peterson. Compared to Peterson, Svensson has too few birds illustrated per page (and many of them are from regions of Europe far, far away), so that flipping through the pages to find the bird you've just seen is always faster and less frustrating in Peterson. Strangely, in this regard I suppose the dated format of Peterson's guide--with all the plates bound together on glossy paper at the center of the book--is really an advantage: you can visually home in on the right bird with minimal turning of pages. Perhaps the best of all worlds would be a format more like Peterson's American field guides--which find a happy medium between the closely-packed visual conciseness of this guide and the thick sprawl of Svensson--but in the meantime I much prefer this.

Both books are pan-European in coverage, but Svensson does have some added value for birders in Scandinavia, with more prominent illustrations of the local races of birds that are especially characteristic of this region--just as Peterson has added value for birders in the British Isles, who are likelier to encounter the British races of many species to which Peterson gives pride of place in his plates.

In sum, I would say that you really cannot go wrong with Peterson as your primary or indeed only European bird book--and certainly not if you live in Britain. This guide has won its place in my heart and my field bag.

Not-so-bad-as-all-that guide
I am spurned to rate this book due to the only other review being a bit harsh in my opinion. I have been using this book (from the institute's library where I have been a student placement) for a year and found it good. The lay-out is quite normal for Collins guides, effectively arranging text and images, and maps in this case, into sections for the sake of expediency. Pictures can be browsed, without the distracting text, to find a 'match' in the field (as one does); text can then be referred to as can the maps. It also serves to keep the book to a nearly manageable size - something that I find is a problem with good ornithology field guides.

Fantastic book for learners - comprehensive & well laid out
I have just started learning more about birds and was recommended Rory Tory Peterson's US Field Guides. This book brings the same detail to European birds. It gives easy to read information for the learner on identification, habitats, calls, range, etc. The colour plates show the natural position of the birds and identification indicators. Much more useful than some of the fanciful positions of birds in other guides I looked at. Having the range maps at the back allowed me to quickly build up a list of birds I could experience in my location. All fuel for my new enthusiasm. A good reference, a great read.