Can anyone recommend a good bird identification book for SE Asia and where to buy it? Jan
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18 comments to Bird book for SE Asia |
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Bird book for SE AsiaCan anyone recommend a good bird identification book for SE Asia and where to buy it? Jan 18 comments to Bird book for SE Asia |
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Mick,
I am afraid that “Birds of Wallacea” is out of print and the authors have no plans to reprint. You can still find it at times on the second hand market, but the last copy I saw listed was priced at USD130.
I have a copy if you would like to borrow it ( there will be the small matter of a lien on your first born as security :). I regularly get up to Newie to see my daughter, so I could drop it off at your office.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
I’ve come in late on this, but would like to point out that in the text accounts for range, Robson does provide a detailed description of range within SE Asia, but it is a subset of the range and status of the species throughout its entire range. This gives a good indication of where else the birds occur and I find it very useful. The Aussie guides have touched on this, but not in a consistent manner like in Robson (and many other guides). Maybe because we have so many endemic species?
Also – does anyone know where a copy of “Birds of Wallacea” is available? I was fortunate enough to blunder into some copies of Mackinnon and Phillips at the Sabah Museum (wasn’t cheap) but have had trouble tracking down Coates and Bishop. I’m not well-versed with on- line searches but the sites I have seen it come up on have all said “out of print”.
Mick
________________________________ Sent: Tuesday, 10 January 2012 5:28 AM
the Robson guide covers mainland SE Asia (Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia). If going further eastwards you have the MacKinnon guide to Borneo, Sumatra and Java (there’s also a couple of Borneo specific guides); the Coates and Bishop guide for Wallacea (the Lesser Sundas and Sulawesi); and then the Beehler guide for New Guinea. The Wallacea guide alone weighs almost 2kg.
Robson is really the only guide of use if covering several countries on the mainland, but it does have certain issues with the pictures. Especially the babblers are really crap when trying to identify the birds from them. Its almost like the artist hadn’t actually seen any of the babblers in life. Having said that, I have used it many times in the field and it is acceptable. The lack of maps in Robson is a bit of an annoyance but not terribly important (the text is concise but describes the distribution of subspecies well). Note that there is a Thai version of the guide (covering Thailand only) which does have distribution maps.
As also stated, bookdepository.com is cheaper than bookdepository.co.uk (for those who don’t know, delivery is free worldwide from Book Depository)
________________________________ Cc: janbuhmann8@gmail.com; birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au Sent: Tuesday, 10 January 2012 12:02 AM
Rosemary,
I think Craig Robson had to stop somewhere, as SE Asia stretches from eastern India to Papua and north to the Philippines. I don’t think I would like to lug around a field guide that covers the whole of the region. It would be nice to have one in the book case though. It would certainly make a lot more room in it.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
re Robson – Birds of South East Asia – I bought this book in the UK from Amazon for £11.39 in Jan 2011 but it was published by New Holland and has a yellow cover. Looking inside the cover I see it is the 2007 edition. The lack of maps is an irritant but the distribution information is all there in the text.
Note that if you are going to Malaysia, as we were, this book does not cover Sabah!
It would certainly be worth checking that whichever publisher / retailer you by it from that you get the latest (2009) edition.
Rosemary
I’ve come in late on this, but would like to point out that in the text accounts for range, Robson does provide a detailed description of range within SE Asia, but it is a subset of the range and status of the species throughout its entire range. This gives a good indication of where else the birds occur and I find it very useful. The Aussie guides have touched on this, but not in a consistent manner like in Robson (and many other guides). Maybe because we have so many endemic species? Also – does anyone know where a copy of “Birds of Wallacea” is available? I was fortunate enough to blunder into some copies of Mackinnon and Phillips at the Sabah Museum (wasn’t cheap) but have had trouble tracking down Coates and Bishop. I’m not well-versed with on-line searches but the sites I have seen it come up on have all said “out of print”. Mick
________________________________ Sent: Tuesday, 10 January 2012 5:28 AM
the Robson guide covers mainland SE Asia (Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia). If going further eastwards you have the MacKinnon guide to Borneo, Sumatra and Java (there’s also a couple of Borneo specific guides); the Coates and Bishop guide for Wallacea (the Lesser Sundas and Sulawesi); and then the Beehler guide for New Guinea. The Wallacea guide alone weighs almost 2kg. Robson is really the only guide of use if covering several countries on the mainland, but it does have certain issues with the pictures. Especially the babblers are really crap when trying to identify the birds from them. Its almost like the artist hadn’t actually seen any of the babblers in life. Having said that, I have used it many times in the field and it is acceptable. The lack of maps in Robson is a bit of an annoyance but not terribly important (the text is concise but describes the distribution of subspecies well). Note that there is a Thai version of the guide (covering Thailand only) which does have distribution maps. As also stated, bookdepository.com is cheaper than bookdepository.co.uk (for those who don’t know, delivery is free worldwide from Book Depository)
________________________________ Cc: janbuhmann8@gmail.com; birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au Sent: Tuesday, 10 January 2012 12:02 AM
Rosemary,
I think Craig Robson had to stop somewhere, as SE Asia stretches from eastern India to Papua and north to the Philippines. I don’t think I would like to lug around a field guide that covers the whole of the region. It would be nice to have one in the book case though. It would certainly make a lot more room in it.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
re Robson – Birds of South East Asia – I bought this book in the UK from Amazon for £11.39 in Jan 2011 but it was published by New Holland and has a yellow cover. Looking inside the cover I see it is the 2007 edition. The lack of maps is an irritant but the distribution information is all there in the text.
Note that if you are going to Malaysia, as we were, this book does not cover Sabah!
It would certainly be worth checking that whichever publisher / retailer you by it from that you get the latest (2009) edition.
Rosemary
Thank you everyone for such detailed information. The microeconomics is still a puzzle however.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Field-Guide-Birds-South-East-Asia-Craig-Robson/9781780090498 has the 2011 paperback edition (New Holland Publishers) at $39.98
http://www.bookdepository.com/Field-Guide-Birds-South-East-Asia-Craig-Robson/9781780090498 has it at $35.45
http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Field-Guide-to-Birds-of-South-East-Asia-Craig-Robson/9781780090498?cf=3&rid=1855883141&i=1&keywords=birds+of+south+east+asia has it at $35.27
The booko.com.au site pointed me in the direction of http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=5395850835&cm_ven=PFX&cm_cat=affiliates&cm_pla=links&afn_sr=gan&cm_ite=k272518&pfxid=a_1405835444 and they
have it for US $27 = AUD$26.41 !!! All of these offer free postage…
So i had better be quick; prices probably change by the hour.
Cheers and thanks again, Jan
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the Robson guide covers mainland SE Asia (Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia). If going further eastwards you have the MacKinnon guide to Borneo, Sumatra and Java (there’s also a couple of Borneo specific guides); the Coates and Bishop guide for Wallacea (the Lesser Sundas and Sulawesi); and then the Beehler guide for New Guinea. The Wallacea guide alone weighs almost 2kg. Robson is really the only guide of use if covering several countries on the mainland, but it does have certain issues with the pictures. Especially the babblers are really crap when trying to identify the birds from them. Its almost like the artist hadn’t actually seen any of the babblers in life. Having said that, I have used it many times in the field and it is acceptable. The lack of maps in Robson is a bit of an annoyance but not terribly important (the text is concise but describes the distribution of subspecies well). Note that there is a Thai version of the guide (covering Thailand only) which does have distribution maps. As also stated, bookdepository.com is cheaper than bookdepository.co.uk (for those who don’t know, delivery is free worldwide from Book Depository)
________________________________ Cc: janbuhmann8@gmail.com; birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au Sent: Tuesday, 10 January 2012 12:02 AM
Rosemary,
I think Craig Robson had to stop somewhere, as SE Asia stretches from eastern India to Papua and north to the Philippines. I don’t think I would like to lug around a field guide that covers the whole of the region. It would be nice to have one in the book case though. It would certainly make a lot more room in it.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
re Robson – Birds of South East Asia – I bought this book in the UK from Amazon for £11.39 in Jan 2011 but it was published by New Holland and has a yellow cover. Looking inside the cover I see it is the 2007 edition. The lack of maps is an irritant but the distribution information is all there in the text.
Note that if you are going to Malaysia, as we were, this book does not cover Sabah!
It would certainly be worth checking that whichever publisher / retailer you by it from that you get the latest (2009) edition.
Rosemary
The wonders of modern economics. Perhaps the prices from the .co.uk are inclusive of VAT and the .com site prices are minus VAT.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
Hi,
Sorry to jump in again but recently I’ve found that everything on bookdepository.com is cheaper than bookdepository.co.uk by around 10%. Not sure why as they are all delivered from the same warehouse!
Cheers,
Ed
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Rosemary,
I think Craig Robson had to stop somewhere, as SE Asia stretches from eastern India to Papua and north to the Philippines. I don’t think I would like to lug around a field guide that covers the whole of the region. It would be nice to have one in the book case though. It would certainly make a lot more room in it.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
re Robson – Birds of South East Asia – I bought this book in the UK from Amazon for £11.39 in Jan 2011 but it was published by New Holland and has a yellow cover. Looking inside the cover I see it is the 2007 edition. The lack of maps is an irritant but the distribution information is all there in the text.
Note that if you are going to Malaysia, as we were, this book does not cover Sabah!
It would certainly be worth checking that whichever publisher / retailer you by it from that you get the latest (2009) edition.
Rosemary
Paul,
It is all to do with copyright law. In the Americas, Princeton has the publishing rights for the Americas, Helm has UK & Europe and New Holland has Asia-Pacific. I think New Holland has the main rights.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
I have what appears to the same book published as the ‘New Holland Field Guide to Birds of SEA’.
Another nom de plume, as it were.
Paul
Hi Richardson,
Abebooks is certainly a great site for out of print titles. Fishpond is sometimes one of the cheaper options. I have found that Book Depository is one of the better online booksellers, as far as range of titles goes and their pricing is pretty good. You also can’t sniff at their free postage. Another online bookseller that is worthwhile checking for new and used titles is Better World Books. They are a non- profit organisation which ploughs back their operating surpluses into providing funds for literacy programs throughout the world.
Cheers,
Carl
Hello Clifford,
I plugged in “Birds of South East Asia” into booko.com.au and it came up with a number of guides from the region, see below.
http://booko.com.au/books/search?utf8=✓&q=birds+of+South+East +Asia&commit=Search&product_type=1
As for Fishpond, the numbers of guides does fluctuate and you often have to “fish” (pardon the pun) around to find what you’re after. Over the years I’ve found Abebooks an excellent way to search around within certain subject matter for reference material, but it sometimes requires a little patience to find what you want, although some excellent bargains can be had if you don’t mind pre-loved editions.
Regards,
Allan
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Hi,
Sorry to jump in again but recently I’ve found that everything on bookdepository.com is cheaper than bookdepository.co.uk by around 10%. Not sure why as they are all delivered from the same warehouse!
Cheers,
Ed
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re Robson – Birds of South East Asia – I bought this book in the UK from Amazon for £11.39 in Jan 2011 but it was published by New Holland and has a yellow cover. Looking inside the cover I see it is the 2007 edition. The lack of maps is an irritant but the distribution information is all there in the text.
Note that if you are going to Malaysia, as we were, this book does not cover Sabah!
It would certainly be worth checking that whichever publisher / retailer you by it from that you get the latest (2009) edition.
Rosemary
I have what appears to the same book published as the ‘New Holland Field Guide to Birds of SEA’.
Another nom de plume, as it were.
Paul
Allan,
It is not that comprehensive. It only lists the Princeton edition of Robson and there are two other printings, by New Holland and Helm, on the market. Hopefully, it will become more comprehensive, as users contribute data.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
Dave,
That is an unreal book resource, thank you for sharing.
Regards
Allan
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Hi Jan,
Craig Robson’s “Birds of SE Asia”, which is published by Helm, Princeton Uni and New Holland Press, is the only single field guide for SE Asia. It is useful for southern China as well. It has stood me in good stead for some 15 trips to SEA.
Book Depository http://www.bookdepository.co.uk lists it for AUD29.65 (free postage ), and is probably the best price you will find. This is the New Holland p/back edition.
If you buy it and would like an index sheet for pasting inside the cover (very handy), let me know and I will send you a copy.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
Can anyone recommend a good bird identification book for SE Asia and where to buy it? Jan
Hello Clifford,
I plugged in “Birds of South East Asia” into booko.com.au and it came up with a number of guides from the region, see below.
http://booko.com.au/books/search?utf8=✓&q=birds+of+South+East+Asia&commit=Search&product_type=1
As for Fishpond, the numbers of guides does fluctuate and you often have to “fish” (pardon the pun) around to find what you’re after. Over the years I’ve found Abebooks an excellent way to search around within certain subject matter for reference material, but it sometimes requires a little patience to find what you want, although some excellent bargains can be had if you don’t mind pre-loved editions.
Regards,
Allan
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Dave,
That is an unreal book resource, thank you for sharing.
Regards
Allan
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The Princeton Guides are also published under the Helm Field Guides cover – worth checking the prices out for both as the content is identical.
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It is worth comparing prices at http://booko.com.au/ ===============================
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Hi Jan,
I have the Princeton Guide to the Birds of SE Asia by Craig Robson, who has authored a number of books on the region. The guide is comprehensive and well set out, but it does not have individual distribution maps for each bird. However it does give a written description of distribution and an excellent map in the rear cover to refer to. I’ve not had the pleasure of using it in field in SE Asia , but it contains succinct and detailed information accompanying excellent drawings for each species. I generally buy my guides from Fishpond, see link below to the latest manifestation of this guide by Craig Robson, which looks to be very up to date (and at a bargain price to boot):
http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Field-Guide-to-Birds-of-South-East-Asia-Craig-Robson/9781780090498?cf=3&rid=1855883141&i=1&keywords=birds+of+south+east+asia
Kind Regards
Allan Richardson Morisset, NSW
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