It is not designed just as a field guide but as a comprehensive overview of the status, range, habits of Japanese birds.

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Product Description

Japan, with its great range of climatic zones and habitats and consequently its exciting mix of species, is a fascinating country in which to birdwatch. The Japanese archipelago is on the migration route of many species breeding in Siberia and wintering in mainland southeast Asia, in Indonesia and even Australasia. It is the wintering grounnd for many northern birds, for thousands of cranes, hundreds of thousands of waterfowl, thrushes and buntings and the breeding ground for a wide variety of species of more southerly origin. The long isolation of the archipelago has been conducive to the evolution of numerous distinct sub-species and also a number of endemic species. The range is extraordinary from the northern pink-cheeked and grey-breasted bullfinch, to the southern local race of the Narcissus flycatcher in the Nansei Shoot; even some of the endemic species have distinct populations. Over the last two decades there has been a marked increase in the number of Japanese birdwatchers, as leisure pursuits have become fashionable and as the Japanese have become increasingly affluent. The science of ornithology has expanded too during the same period, resulting in a major advance in the study of Japanese birds. This book brings together information on the avifauna of Japan. It is not designed as a field guide but as a comprehensive overview of the status, range, habits of Japanese birds.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #984752 in Books
• Published on: 1991-04-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

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Customer Reviews

Warning
This is not a field guide in the common sense.
It contains excellent text and maps for the birds, but there are very few colour figures and not even black-white figures of most of the birds.

Not a fieldguide but still useful
This is not a fieldguide and does not pretend to be. The text for each bird - which is often quite substantial - will tell you nothing about how to differentiate between, say, a Chinese Grossbeak (E. migratoria)and a Japanese Grossbeak (E. personata) but it will tell you when and where they have been observed. Each species entry includes a review of the bird's documented history in Japan. This makes it of some interest to those of us who live in Japan but this is unlikely to be a book many visitors to the country will need (or want to carry at 1.3Kg). A further point is that it is of course now twenty years old and thereby long out of date.

There are just six colour plates which illustrate a total of thirty-five birds - mostly Japanese specialities.

The author will imminently (January 2009) publish his long-awaited fieldguide to the region's birds. THAT is likely to be the one we've been waiting for. Birds of East Asia (Helm Field Guides)