Field guides and bird books recommended by Birdingpals.

[birding]

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You will find bird guides and books recommended by Birdingpals listed here
http://www.birdingpal.org/guidebooks.htm
Knud

[birding]

Alaska
For Alaska birding, here are my suggestions for books:
1. Nat'l Geographic Guide to Birds of North America is the best (most compact and yet good pictures, descriptions) field guide in my opinion. (Armstrong's book doesn't have very good pictures; so difficult identifications are made even more difficult.)
2. George West's A Birder's Guide to Alaska is a must-have for finding all the good birding spots throughout the state.
Keith and Cathy Foerster cfoerster@gci.net
I have found the following to be indispensable in Alaska: Birds of Europe by Killian Mullarney, Lars Svensson, Dan Zetterstr?m, and Peter J. Grant.
It's published in the US by Princeton UP and in the UK by Collins. Not only will it be handy for vargrants, but also has better illustrations of many residents (e.g. shorebirds) than most North American guides. An essential addition to what's already available for North America.
Chris Sharpe
BIRDING VENEZUELA
Caracas, Venezuela
sharpebirder@gmail.com
As is the case for the rest of the USA and Canada, the current two best overall field guides are the Nat'l Geographic and Sibley's.
For the birder with baggage-weight restrictions - and who hasn't? - I would give a slight edge to NatGeo, as its smaller size AND greater amount of Asian vagrants more than compensates for the overall superior paintings in Sibley.
Now, most Eurasian birders to Alaska are not so eager to chase that Eurasian rarity - after all, the Bullfinch or Great Spotted Woodpecker that causes so much excitement among North Americans typically does not generate that enthusiasm for a Japanese or a Swede. Nevertheless, many birders come to Alaska in search of what rarities may show up on the Bering Sea and Aleutian islands. For these, I suggest the nicely compact softcover edition of Bhushan, et al "Waterbirds of Asia" is an excellent addition. Dennis Paulson's "Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest" may be too heavy to bring to Alaska, but it is the best reference to these birds. For those lucky enough to go on a cruise, the fairly compact Harrison's photographic guide "Seabirds of the World" would be my choice. I eschew photo guides for other birds, but not for pelagic birding.
For Euarasian landbirds, the choice is tougher. Flint, et al "Birds of USSR" has plates nowhere near up to today's standards, and the book is heavy.
Perhaps a softcover edition of your favorite European guide - Lars Johnsson's, for example. Finally, Rising and Beadle's "Sparrows of the US & Canada" - NOT the photographic edition - is superb for its depiction of the field-identifiable distinctions amongst subspecies of sparrows, which is of excellent use in Alaska as many of our residents differ from those elsewhere in North America. This book also covers seven of the Eurasian sparrows better than NatGeo or Sibley: specifically, the Little, Rustic, Gray, Yellow-breasted, Pallas's, Reed and Pine Buntings.
I further the coment that Rob't Armstrong's photographic book "Guide to the Birds of Alaska" is not appropriate as a field guide. That said, the EARLIER edition (2nd, 1983) is superior to the 3rd edition. Poor Armstrong had a fire destroy his photographic files and the latter ones are not so good as his more extensive earlier photos.
For location guides, Nick Lethaby's book is out of date and I do not recommend it. Under the compilation of George West, some two dozen guides around Alaska wrote chapters of varying quality for the ABA guide and, in the interest of full disclosure, yes, I was one of them (two and a half chapters), but that said, it is a good and absolutely necessary resource. Also, George has a weblink for updates, as mentioned in the book. On a more local level, if one is ONLY going to be in the immediate vicinity of Anchorage, R.L. "Buzz" Scher's "Field Guide to Birding in Anchorage" is worthy and available in city bookstores upon your arrival. Lastly, Geo. West's earlier Guide to Birding the Kenai Peninsula is superseded by the full-state book mentioned above.
Audie Bakewell from the Heart of the Alaska Range
Denali Highway Cabins www.denalihwy.com
denalihwy@cvalaska.net

Alberta
Best Field Guide for the area, Sibley's Birds of Western Canada. Best Guide to where to find birds: The Cold Lake section of J.C. Finlays a Bird Finding Guide to Canada.
Also recommended as companion book for the text articles for where to find birds in Alberta is Birds of Alberta by John Acorn/Chris Fisher (not recommended as a field identification guide).
Prior to coming to Cold Lake a recommended stop for information on where to find Birds, Books, Cd's etc is The Wild Bird General Store in Edmonton http://www.wildbirdgeneralstore.ca/
A Checklist has also been developed by the local Beaver River Naturalist Society for the Cold Lake area. It is avail at local visitor centers, at the Wild Bird General Store, and through the naturalist society at beaverrivernaturalists@telus.net
Ted Hindmarch tedh@telusplanet.net

Argentina
For Argentina birding, here' are my suggestions for books:
After my trip to Argentina I recommend as a field guide: Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica by Martin R de la Pena and Maurice Rumboll.
It is not a very user-friendly guide and some of the illustrations are somewhat confusing but it was the only one I could find.
The new Collins Field Guide "Birds of South America" by Jorge R. Rodriguez Mata, Francisco Erize and Maurice Rumboll is also usefull.
Knud Rasmussen krkr@sympatico.ca
As I?m a bird lover and amateur birder from Argentina, will reccomend you the GUIA DE AVES DE ARGENTINA Y URUGUAY, written by Tito Narosky and Dario Izurietta, which was for me a little amateur, great and very usefull, including the size, little enough as to travel with me in the side pocket of my pant.
If you need more info about, do not hesitate to contact me.
Cordially, from north Patagonia
Gustavo gustavod@symbolic.com.ar
With almost 1000 species" which is the most correct situation now accepted. We follow Mazar Barnett's latest December 2001 "An Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Argentina" a Lynx Edicions publishing. By far the only, true and best bilingual book describing the local birds situation.
Sergio Corbet sergiobdfan@surfbirder.com

Arizona
Here is a list of my favorite birding books for the Arizona area.
For the Maricopa County area (Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale, Tempe, Gilbert, etc) the best book is "Birds of Phoenix and Maricopa County AZ" by Janet Witzeman, Salome Demaree and Eleanor Radke. It tells you the best spots in this area to bird.
For Southeastern Arizona "Finding Birds in Southeast Arizona" by the Tucson Audubon Society it is a Davis and Russell book.
For North America... The National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America is probably the most respected and well used book in North America.
As for DVD's I do not have many of this area but there is one out "Birding Southeastern Arizona." I am sure it can be found through the Tucson Audubon Society. I have seen it and it is very good. In fact, the Tucson Audubon Society has an excellent gift and book shop. They carry a lot of DVD's and cassettes of sound. The Peterson Field Guides "Birding by Ear" Western edition is very good. My copies aretapes and quite old,however,I am sure they have been reproduced in CD'sby now.
Millie Bilotta,Mesa, AZ MillieBird@aol.com
Birds of Arizona - Field Guide by Stan Tekiela ISBN: 1591930154 New and Used prices from $8.50 to $15.00
Sibley's Guide to Birds of Western North America is what I rely on most and I haven't found a bird yet in Arizona that I haven't been able to identify with this guide.
Robert Mortensen robert.mortensen@suncoraz.com
Any of the major US or western US will do, but I prefer Sibley (both forms) and National Geographic. For beginners, we also recommend Kaufman Focus Guide. As for finding birds, we prefer FINDING BIRDS IN SOUTHEAST ARIZONA, 6th ed. published by Tucson Audubon. The ABA Lane Guide to Southeast Arizona by Rick Taylor covers similar ground. There is a two disc, compact disc of birdsongs of SE AZ and Sonora put out by Cornell, which thoroughly covers the area. We would also recommend that anyone planning a trip to this area peruse the AZ/NM Birdlistserv for daily reports and a weekly summation of rare birds.
Gene Loring geneloring@iopener.net

Australia
I use Simpson and Day's Field Guide to Australian Birds (currently in its 7th edition) and find it an ideal trade off between detail and weight/size. Pizzey and Knight has more detail and possibly slightly better pictures, but is twice the size. Morcombe's has (in my opinion) bad pictures with poor colour renditions and too much 'cluttered' information.
The only bird finding book I have used is 'Where to Find Birds in Australia' by John Bradbury. Not bad, but a little out of date.
I have never used calls - so I don't know about them.
David Wilson davidw@cres20.anu.edu.au
We have most of the field guides and refer to them all from time to time. For Australia generally we have found Pizzey and Knight, "Field Guide to the Birds of Australia" to be our favourite. That's what we take if we are going somewhere by car and just want to carry one guide. It's fairly heavy though so is probably not suited to back packers or those going on a long walk. We have copies of "The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds" which we lend to guests wanting something lighter. It's pretty good too.
When we lived in Victoria we found the Gould league series to be wonderful. They are small and will even fit in a pocket. We had them all and took which ever one was appropriate to where we were going. The titles are:
Urban Areas The Ranges
Oceans, Bays, Beaches
Inland Waters
The dry country
Rare Species
Farmlands
In Tasmania we swear by the "Field Guide to Tasmanian Birds" by Dave Watts. While we may look in one of the other guides, if the bird we are trying to identify isn't in Watts we surmise that we probably haven't seen it.
The Tasmanian National Parks all have bird lists. These should be available by contacting their central office. Go to www.parks.tas.gov.au/ then click on Contact Us.
Margaret and Alan Morgan, sheoaks.bandb@bigpond.com
We have 4 fieldguides in Australia and I would rate them; 1.Pizzey & Knight.2.Simpson&Day.3.Morcombe.4.Slater.None of them are pocket size,but I would pick either 1 or 2 for illustrations and add a "Where to find birds guide";either Thomas&Thomas(1st choice) or Wheatley.For birdcalls:David Stewart has some excellent tapes and CD s available in Australia or from the ABA in the USA.These, however are not complete and for a complete series of all Australian species the BOCA(Bird Observers Club Of Australia) can supply Tapes or CD's.
Hans Beste hjbeste@bigpond.net.au
My personal choice for a Field Guide is Birds of Australia by Jim Flegg and the Australian Museum published by Reed New Holland ISBN 1 876334 78 9 This book retails for about $30.00 (Aus)
My other reference is Neville Cayleys What Bird is That and the accompanying cassette set What Bird Call is That Because of where I live (its sub tropical), my reference CD is Australian Bird Calls Subtropical East with 80 examples by a company called Nature Sounds they do a whole series.
Cliff Greet cliffg@iimetro.com.au
Morecombes Field Guide (both the pocket edition and the larger book) are the best in their field. Where to find Birds in Australia by John Bransbury, Lloyd Neilson's Birds of Queenslands Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef, and Jo Wieneke's Where to find Birds in North East Queensland, are good value, Simpson and Day's Birds of Australia 5.0 CD Rom, and the Field Guide to Australian Bird Song by Howard Plowright takes some beating for birdsong.
Rod Bloss. brisboca@birdobservers.org.au
Aussie Field guides. I can tell you my thoughts on them. I reckon the best is Pizzey and Knight's guide. It's the biggest and most expensive but the most comprehensive and it has great pictures. Michael Morcombe's guide doesn't have the best pictures, but the distribution maps are awesome. And there is a section at the back on eggs and nests. His full guide is almost as big as Pizzey & Knight. His compact guide (the most recent Aussie guide), doesn't have the nest info but pretty much packs all the rest of the info into a well laid out, easy to carry guide. The compact guide has a plastic cover and ribbon bookmark. Simpson & Day released their 7th edition a couple of years ago. This guide is more a strict ID guide, there is very little information about the birds habits or behaviour, with mainly physical features being noted. The pictures are gorgeous, but perhaps better as art than as pictures showing identifying features. The actual book is smaller than the two large ones I've previously mentioned, but larger than Morcombe's compact guide. The inside and outside covers are wipeable (the inner covers have actual size diagrams of the beaks of pelagic species), and has a removable dust cover. The last guide of note here is Slater's Field Guide. I tend not to recommend this but it is often purchased by those new to the hobby due to it's cost and compact size (before Morcombe released his compact guide, this was the only pocket size guide available). The pictures are okay, but for some reason the writer's refuse to update their information. Taxonomy is out of order and many birds are labeled with outdated names. There is also some switching about of pictures and information on pages, making things confusing. The distribution maps leave a lot to be desired too.
As for CD's, I find Dave Stewart's collections to be pretty good. I haven't really listened to any others.
So, there's my review. Hope it helped.
Belinda gemfyre@iinet.net.au
Hi. In answer to your enquiry, first field guides. I use Michael Morcombe Field Guide to Australian Birds. This is a fairly large book for a field guideI also use Simpson and Day Field Guide as well. This is a bit smaller.
Somewhere people can go if they are on the internet is the Bird Observers Club of Australia web site which is......information@birdobservers.org.au
In their latest newsletter thay have CDs No 8 has just been done.
CD 1 starts with Ostrich to Brown Booby
CD2 Darter to Red know
CD 3 Red-necked stint to ??
and so on.
Where to find birds !!I have found probably the latest is Lloyd Nielsen's "Birding Australia". I have not seen this but it says here....."contains information on the best birding regions in Australia, Key species and where to find them, itineries, giuding services, pelagic trips, and accomm at bird-friendly places"..About $50 Aust dollars. I will have to get this myself!!!
The Bird Observers also have a shop email shop@birdobservers.org.au
I have never been on their website, I am a member though. I find any more books etc I think may be of interest I will let you know.
Janis Hosking BirdingPal glossyblack@crt.net.au

Bahamas
For Bahamas birding, here' are my suggestions for books:
So far as The Bahamas are concerned, we normally use the following field guides:- Sibley, Peterson's Eastern Birds, National Geographic or Raffaele's Birds of the West Indies.
The best bird finding guide is A Birder's Guide to The Bahamas Islands (including Turks and Caicos) by Tony White published by ABA.
Tony Hepburn ach@coralwave.com
I thought I should let you know that an excellent new field guide was recently published. It is called "Birds of The Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands" by Bruce Hallett. It is included in the Caribbean Pocket Natural History Series by MacMillan Caribbean.
I can highly recommend it to anyone interested in birds to be found in this area.
Yours sincerely - Tony Hepburn.

Belgium
The best book to use in the field in Belgium is Birds of Europe by Killian Mullarney, Lars Svensson, Dan Zetterstr?m, and Peter J. Grant. It's published in the US by Princeton UP and in the UK by Collins.
For some species : waders, warblers e.g. the book "Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East" from Lars Jonsson can be a usefull supplement.
If you are specially interested in gulls (e.g. Pontic gull which is regular in Belgium) specialised identification guides are needed. Also for raptors specialised identification guides are not to be neglected (e.g. Hen Harrier, Montagu's Harrier, Pallid Harrier).
For sounds I advise to read our french neighbours recomandations.
Belgium laying just south of the Netherlands can offer you the following specialities : pink-footed geese in the months december, january, february; bluethroat in march, april and may, black woodpecker : the whole year round, middle spotted woodpecker peaking from march up to may, tengmalm's owl from march up to may, corn bunting. For rare temporarily vagrants like e.g. the seldom observed baillon's crake, buff-breasted sandpiper or lanceolated warbler call 090000194 (only reachable if you are in Belgium) our birdline or visit www.natuurpunt.be or www.aves.be
Over the years in Belgium have been seen about 430 species, of which 180 are vagrants.
Yvon Princen pseudo2doces@yahoo.com
For Western Europe, and therefore Belgium, the best field guide is "Le Guide Ornitho", Mullanrney, Svensson, Zetterstr?m & Grant. Published by Delachaux et niestl?.
Fanny Ellis
reesfannyellis@yahoo.com

Belize
Greetings from beautiful Belize! I wanted to add a couple of books to the list for future visitors to Belize. ISBN - 0198540124
1. A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America by Steve N. G. Howell and Sophie Webb - This one is pretty heavy but very comprehensive, I call it my birding bible for Belize.
2. Birds of Belize by H. Lee Jones ISBN-10: 0-292-70164-0 This lists all resident and migratory birds as well as some of the unreported but possible sightings.
3.Peterson Field Guide to Mexican Birds(British Honduras and El Salvador - the first birding guidebook I ever had in my collection. Still a good book to carry around - it's the right size!
Luz Hunter
belizehunter@yahoo.com

Bermuda
Check the Audubon website http://www.audubon.bm
M. Adams-Brown
mabawn@northrock.bm

British Columbia
In British Columbia I primarily use "The Sibley Guide to Birds" but have also just received for Christmas Sibley's "Guide to Birds of Western North America" which is the hands down favorite for the power to weight ratio! I also would use Dennis Paulson's "Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest" for shorebird identification on the Pacific coast to Alaska and Hawks in Flight by Sibley and Dunne as well as "North American Raptors" by Wheeler and Clark for great raptor field identification. For more information about You can consult the Birding BC site: http://birding.bc.ca/articles/birding-references.htm for more information.
Dannie Carsen, Brentwood Bay
dcarsen@shaw.ca
Hi Knud,
There are no nature stores and the like in Penticton or in Kelowna. Chapters at the Orchard Park Mall in Kelowna and the Cherry Lane Mall in Penticton are the best bet for books. There is no field guide to the birds of BC, so the Peterson and Sibley books on Western birds are the most useful,although Dick Cannings has just published a small volume on the more common birds in BC. We have no "where to find birds" guide, other than Cam Finley's work of Birdfinding in Canada.
"Checklists of the Birds" (2005) can be obtained from the South Okanagan Naturalists Club (SONC) at PO Box 20017, Penticton, BC, V2K 8K3 for $2.00. The website is www.members.tripod.com/~sonc/
The best CD recording for Birds of the Okangan is made by JohnNeville on Salt Spring Island. He can be reached at 250-537-4121 or www.nevillerecording.com He has a marvellous of bird recordings from all over BC and other parts of Canada, so check it out!
And of course, there are always your Pals out here to help out as I did with a fellow from Rimouski last year..over the phone!!
Cheers....................Laurie
hardrock@vip.net

California
The best field guides are the 4th Edition of the National Geographic Field Guide (best for beginners) and the Sibley Field Guide to Western Birds (best for intermediate and advanced birders). The best bird book would be Birding Northern California by John Kemper (Falcon Press).
The best CD would probably be the one for Birds of California produced by Thayer Birding Software.
Kevin Guse
kguse@parasec.com
Here is the information you requested.
"A Birder's Guide to Southern California", by Brad Schram.
CD's - Geoffrey A. Keller's CD's on Birds of Califronia and Birds of Southeastern Arizona and Sonora, Mexico.
I recommend these to Birdingpals when they are planning a trip to my area. It helps them prepare and it helps me when they gethere.
I think you are doing a great job with this organization. I have had a wonderful time with those that come to this area.
Doug Nail
naildo@sbcglobal.net
With regard to my 'general' area, Northern California, thebest bird-finding guide is "Birding Northern California" by John Kemper (Falcon Press). Joe Morlan's web site will lead you to specific info on finding birds in any county in the state (http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/county.htm). Just click on the county of interest and you will find just about everything you'd want to know.
Another book I'd recommend to those birding Northern California is "Birds of Northern California" by David Fix and Andy Bezener. The book is not useful as a 'field guide' for anyone remotely serious about birding (just one illustration per species), but it does have the best available range maps for birds of Northern California. The range maps in other guides are either not sufficiently large to be of use for this area or are just plain wrong. It also contains good descriptions of habitat preferencesfor eachspecies.
On a much more local basis, I'd recommend anyone coming to the general Sacramento area to check out Bruce Webb's website on Placer County: http://www.geocities.com/placerbird/placercobirding.htm
It contains excellent info on where and when to find lots of species that those coming from elsewhere may need. Since Placer County runs west-east from the Central Valley, over the Sierra and into the east-Sierra areas, as well as taking in much of Lake Tahoe, this guide could lead you to many of the species people most want to find when the come to California.
Best bird song CD for California (by far) is "Bird Songs of California" by Geoffrey Keller (Cornell Labs). Has the local dialects, right species, and each species is on a separate track. If you are coming from the east and want to be prepared to find CA species, use Dick Walton's "Birding by Ear-west".
Ed Pandolfino
ERPfromCA@aol.com
Best field guide for Mendocino County, California is the Sibley Guide to Birds. The best CD's are the 3 CD set from Cornell Lab of Ornithology "Bird Songs of California" recorded by Geoffrey Keller. Unfortunately, there is no local birding book. However, there are 2 websites packed with local birding information. One is Mendobirds, a Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MENDOBIRDS/.
The other is the website of the local Peregrine Audubon Society: http://www.peregrineaudubon.org/
Chuck Vaughn
cevaughn@pacific.net
I live in the San Francisco Bay area. The field guide recommendations are the same for anywhere in the U.S., so I won't comment on that.
The CD answer is simple: the excellent "Bird Songs of California" CD set from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (While the playback sound seems to have too strident a high-frequency component, the selections of songs (and some calls) and the time devoted to each species are very good.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by "Bird book". Are you referring to bird-finding guides? I know of three such guides for northern California as a whole.
John Kemper's "Birding Northern California" (in the Falcon seriies, 1999) is worth having, and generally available. An identically titled book by Jean Richmond, from about a decade earlier, was very good for its time and still worthwhile, but may be hard to obtain. The third book (by two authors of the same name) is to be avoided -- since I assume you don't want to post dis-recommendations, I won't say more. Also, don't expect from any of these the detail and expertise found in Brad Schram's most recent edition of the Lane guide for Southern CA, which I highly recommend. Many Bay Area counties also have their own bird-finding and distribution guides. "Birding at the Bottom of the Bay", for Santa Clara County, put out by my local Audubon society, is a very nice summary of birding sites. Slightly farther afield, Don Roberson's "Monterey Birds" is excellent for bird-occurrence (including rarities), and has a relatively short but useful section on birding sites.
Finally, although it may be hard to obtain, I must mention David Gaines's "Birds of Yosemite and the East Slope", from 1992 but still largely valid, a classic which not only contains a great deal of information but is superbly written.
Al Eisner
eisner@slac.stanford.edu
The best source for our location (Santa Cruz) is the Birding Guide to the Birds of Santa Cruz County, which we just put up on the web: Http://santacruzbirdingguide.org
Barry McLaughlin, Webmaster SCBC
barry@coincidence.net
Here's our local birding guide http://www.scvas.org/index.php?page=text&id=bbb
Jack Cole, San Jose
snoyowl@yahoo.com
I am located in Siskiyou County on the OR border in CA. I use "The Birds of California", A. Small; "Klamath River Bird finder", B. Claypole; "Birds of North America", National Geographic Society; and bird lists for the county by the Audubon chapter and local lists for the wildlife areas and National Wildlife Refuges.
Sam Williams
wsw@finestplanet.com

Cambodia
The guide book for the area is: Craig Robson's Birds of South-East Asia(New Holland Publishers). Karen Wachtel Nielsen
karen.w.nielsen@gmail.com

Cameroon
Cameroon is timidly but gradually becoming a great birdwatching destination, thanks to the recent field guide on Birds of Western Africa by Nik Borrow and Ron Demey as well as the Bird Songs by Chappius. These have been of great help to bird watchers visiting the area.
I have had three birdwatchers so far who have contacted me through Birdingpal.
Looking forward to more birdwatchers.
Birdingpal Taku Awa II
takuawa@yahoo.co.uk

Chile
The best field guide must be "Birds of Chile" by Alvaro Jaramillo Illustrated by Peter Burke & David Beadle.
A good Cd with Chilean birdsongs is "Voces de Aves chilenas" by Guillermo Egli.
And great places to do Birdwatching in Central Chile is: La Campana National Park (Coastal mountain range, with some of the most typical birds from Central Chile and up to 6 endemics), Aconcagua River (Coastal wetland with a great diversity of birds), El Yali National Reserve (Coastal wetland), Batuco (a wetland in the central valley), El Yeso (Cordillera de los Andes with som of the great Andeanbirds) and Valparaiso and Quintero (pelagic trips to the Humboldt current). All these places are around the Santiago and Valparaiso area).
Kind regards,
Rodrigo Reyes.
rodreyes77@hotmail.com
http://www.trenkatrail.com
Best field Guide : Birds of Chile, Alvaro Jaramillo, Princeton Field guides (also available in spanish)
An other very good field photo guide for the south of the country is "Birds of patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and Antarctic Peninsula", E. Couve and C. Vidal
Where to watch : the only available is "The essential guide to birding in Chile", Mark Pearman (good, but need some updates... )
CD: Voces de aves chilenas de Guillermo Egli (very good but not all the chilean species)
Fabrice Schmitt
fabrschmitt@yahoo.com.ar

China
In China now, nearly all the birdwatchers have a volume of "A Field Guide to the Birds Of China"(by John MacKinnon), though there are so many errors in this book, it's really a good one for the beginners and those who come to China for the first time.
In local keen birders' opinion, they should read as many books as possible, and get information from different ones. For north China, "Collins Bird Guide" is a very good supplement. For southeast China, I recommend "Birds of Hongkong and South China"(by Clive Viney, LCY etc.). For southwest China, "A field Guide the Birds of South-east Asia"(by Craig Robson) and "Field Guide to the Birds of the India Subcontinent"(by Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp) can help a lot.
Lei Jinyu
lei.jinyu@163.com

Colombia
A guide to the Birds of Colombia: Princeton University Press SL Hilty, WL Brown - Princeton, New Jersey, 1986
GUIDE OF THE PLOVERS AND BEACH BIRDS OF THE REGION NEOTROPICAL of P.Canevari, G.Castro, M.Sallaberry and L.G.Naranjo
BIRDS OF THE VALLEY OF ABURR?: Book elaborated by the Antioquian Society of Ornithology with the patronage of the Metropolitan Area. Contains a commented list of 436 species that have been registered in the Valley of Aburr?, as well as illustrations of 115 species elaborated by four artists of Medellin and a knowledgeable North American of the local avifauna.
BIRDS OF THE BOGOTA SABANA
GUIDE OF THE BIRDS OF THE NATURAL RESERVATION OF THE SONSO LAGOON
GUIDE OF THE BIRDS OF THE BOTANICAL GARDEN "Jose Celestino Mutis".
CHECKLIST OF THE BIRDS OF COLOMBIA
Beside containing 671 genus, the 1865 species and all the registered subspecies in Colombia until March, 2001, presents in a very synthetic way the updated information about geographical and ecological distribution of the species and their status of conservation (categories of threat) as well as their migratory, transient, or stray(vagabond) condition.
Also includes an appendix with the species registered near the border with the neighbouring countries and that have not yet been found in Colombia and a relatively extensive bibliography to document the changes that are presented.
WINGED JEWELS OF COLOMBIA:
Work where more than 110 species are recorded, of hummingbirds and, additionally, an important number of subspecies in their natural environment. This text relies on the production, the design and the photographs of Luis A. Mazariegos, texts by Luis Germ?n Naranjo, Humberto ?lvarez, Carolina Murcia and Jorge Enrique Orjuela and on the presentation and support on the Antioquian Society of Ornithology, among other entities
Sergio Ocampo-Tobn
socampo@aguasdemanizales.com.co

Connecticut
Sibley Field Guide To Birds of Eastern North America-or Kaufman guide fits in back pocket better.
ConnecticutBirding Guide by Devine and Smith is the best available guide book for CT.Finding Birds in CT is less detailed but has 450 habitat based sites- hard to get a hold of though-By Gene Billings and Dave Rosgen.
There is software available called Our Birds-Connecticut which includes all of CT.'s birds including pictures-songs and quizzes.
A good source for information
Larry
lvn600@hotmail.com
We have two books that are very helpful for CT birders:
Connecticut Birding Guide by Devine and Smith, 1996 This gives the best birding locations , maps, directions.
Finding Birds in Connecticut by Rosgen and Billings, also 1996 This has more sites, habitat based with locations, maps and directions.
This link is very helpful for visitors to CT.
Connecticut Birding Web Site--Thorough Info on Birding in Connecticut
Mary Carter
Marcart@aol.com

Costa Rica
INBIO (Institiute of Biodiversity) and Julio Sanchez (field ornithologist) published a book on Birds of Tapanti National Park, the area is incredible and the book is basic, pretty draws and good information, and the most accurated bird lsit for the area.
Randall Ortega Chaves
nativoscr@yahoo.com

Birds of Costa Rica by Stiles and Skutch.
This book is a classic, and as is the case with classics it has aged somewhat unevenly. Following the typical format for older field guides, the illustrations are all in the middle of the book, and the user must therefore thumb furiously from one end to the other in search of the written species descriptions. The plates have cursory written descriptions, but these are sometimes at variance with the more detailed text. There are no range maps, and a lot of the range information is quite outdated either because the species in question has changed its range, or because more is now known. Recent lumps and splits are not represented. For example, Paserrinis Tanager and Cherries Tanager are treated as a single species Scarlet-Rumped Tanager.
A new guide to the birds of Costa Rica by Richard Garrigues is due out in the early summer of 2007 and may be worth the wait.
All that said, however, Stiles and Skutch is invaluable, and the small annoyances are greatly outweighed by the depth of information that the book provides. One caution: some people would have you cut the plates out and take them with you while leaving the text behind. That, in my opinion, would be simply dumb. It IS a big book, but the text is essential to proper identification of many species. Besides, it is just wrong to desecrate such a great book. If you want, you can purchase a quick-reference folding card of the common birds of Costa Rica. There is also a small photographic pocket guide of the 250 more common species that could be useful. Both publications, printed in English, are relatively easily obtained in Costa Rica.
John Pratt, Ottawa, Canada
w_j_pratt@hotmail.com

Cuba
The best guide in English, in my opinion, is by Orlando H. Garrido and Arturo Kirkconnel, "Field guide to the birds of Cuba", Cornell University Press, 2000.
Peter T Johnson
merops_ornatus@verizon.net

Denmark
Et lille pip fra DK. Dansk Ornitologisk Forening har mange sider se bare her:
A little chirp from Denmark. Danish Ornitologich Federation has many pages of information here:
http://www.dof.dk
www.dofbasen.dk
www.fuglevaernsfonden.dk/
Deri er engelske opslag.
Also English version
Elisabeth Mygind
em@kms.dk
I,m living on an island in the baltic sea, and we have a homepage with a lot of information about the birds in the area.
The adress is: http://www.bornholmsfugle.dk
John Johansen
JOHN.JOHANSEN@JOHANSEN.TDCADSL.DK
For Denmark birding, here' are my suggestions for books:
From my trips to Denmark I recommend as a field guide: Birds in Europe by Lars Jonsson. It is very user-friendly and has great illustrations(I use the Danish version but I believe it is available in several other languages).
I also use "Welcher Vogel ist das?"(in Danish) by Walter Cerny and illustrated by Karel Drchal. It is very user-friendly and I like it because it gives the names in Danish, Latin, Swedish, English, German and French. Great when you are doing multi-cultural birding.
Knud Rasmussen
krkr@sympatico.ca

Dominican Republic
Here in the Dominican Republic, the best book currently out is The Birds of the West Indies, by Herbert Raffaelle et. al., Princeton Press (Full hard-covered version, published in 1998; second compact edition in 2002 - also published in the UK, Helm Field Guides)
This year(2006), hopefully will see the publication of a new field guide of The Birds of Hispaniola by Steven Latta simultaniously in English, Spanish and French. (Princeton Press).
Cornell Audio Lab had a cassette of 100 bird songs of Hispaniola.
There are web pages too: http://www.geocites.com/birdsofhispaniola and http://www.soh.org.do/component/option, ... /Itemid,1/
Steve and Sandra Brauning
stevebrauning@gmail.com

Ecuador
Birds of Ecuador - Robert Ridgely and Paul Greenfield Cornell Univ. Press, 2001. This long-awaited, monumental work depicts nearly all of the 1,600 species known to have occurred in Ecuador. Ninety-six beautiful color plates, detailed species accounts, covering voice, behavior, habitat, nesting and distribution. Range maps aid in locating specific birds. Because this definitive guide is quite hefty at 760 pages, we recommend "splitting" the book.
* For a more portable and convenient alternative to carrying the full field guide, we can "split" your guide. We can remove the 96 plates that occupy the middle section of the book, bind them in a plastic spiral binding, and do the same with the remaining text. One may choose to carry only the plates with the short descriptions while in the field, leaving the text at the lodge to refer to later- eliminating more than 70% of the weight of the book!
760 pages 61/2 x 9 1/2, 96 color illustrated plates; range maps
A Neotropical Companion Second Edition - John Kricher Princeton University Press, 1997
This is an extensively expanded and revised edition of the classic originally published in 1989. The geographical focus of the first edition was Central America while the new book is expanded to equally treat South America. It is an extraordinarily readable introduction to the birds, animals, plants and ecosystems of the New World tropics. Krichner presents the complexities of tropical ecology as accessible and nonintimidating with just the right amount of informality and humor. The most comprehensive one volume guide to the neotropics. Highly recommended.
451 pages, 6 x 9, color photographs and line drawings
The New World Tropics; An Introduction for Naturalists - Richard K. Walton, Brownbag Productions, 2005
This new DVD is a must-have for the first-timetropical visitors as well as more seasoned travellers. Filmed at three of the moust famous eco-lodges in the world - The Asa Wright Center in Trinidad, La Selva in Costa Rica, and Chan Chich in Belize - The DVD presents a superb introduction to the world's more biologically diverse region. Dazzling footage of birds, butterflies, trees and orchids. Highly recommended for birders, naturalists, and outdoor enthusiasts.
Birds of Tropical America: A Watchers Introduction to Behavior, Breeding, and Diversity - Steven Hilly University of Texas Press, 2005
Back in print, Birds of Tropical America offers a comprehensive look into the lives of some of the most fascinating birds in the world. Topics such as why antbirds don't eat ants, why tropical birds are so colorful (or not), an how hummingbirds survive and even prosper in the high Andes are covered. Hilly writes with knowledge, grace, and humor. You'll come back to this wonderful book every tie you're lucky enough to return to the neotropics.
312 pages 6x9 b&w illustrations
Tropical Nature - Adrian Forsythe and Ken Miyata Scribners, 1984
Fascinating introduction to the extraordinary richness of plant and animal life in the lowland rainforests of the neotropics. In 17 chapters, each with a brief essay on tropical nature observed, the authors evoke the magic and wonder of a world completely contained within itself.
248 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/4, b&w illustrations
Ecuador; The Ecotravelers' Wildlife Guide - Lee Beletsky Academic Press, 2000
This unique guide features nearly 350 of the most common amphibians, reptiles, ammals and birds - the species you are actually likely to see. This beautifully illustrated and easy-to-carry guide provides up-to-date info on the ecology, behavior, and conservation of all of the families of the species described. Common plants and habitats are also covered. While it won't replace any one field guide, Beletsky's book provides a wonderful overview of Ecuador's rich wildlife. Special bonus is a section on the Galapagos Islands with color plates on all the endemics. Highly recommended.
462 pages, 5 3/8 x * 1/2, full-color illustrated plates
Where to Watch Birds in South America - Nigel Wheatley Princeton University Press, 1995
Excellent guide to a bird-rich continent. Detailed bird lists of specialties, endemics, and near endemics in all the country's habitats make this a great tool for preparing for your adventure.
431 pages 5x8.25
Map of Ecuador - International Travel Maps and Books
The best map of the country you can get! All major roads, national parks and topography. It's good to know where you've been!
Wildlife of the Galapagos - Julian Fitter, Daniel Fitter, David Hosking - Princeton U Press 2000
The most complete identificaation guide to the wildlife of the Galapagos. Over 200 commonly seen species of birds, mammals, reptiles, invertebtrates, plants and coastal and marine life. Info on the history, climate, geology, and conservation of the islands.
254 pages 7.5x4.5 400 color photos, maps and drawings
Recordings/DVDs
Birds of The Ecuadorian Highlands - Niels Krabbe, J.V. Moore, Paul Coopmans, Mitch Lysinger and R.S. Ridgely - John V. Moor Productions 2001
The four-CD publication presents vocalizations of nearly all bird species found in the high Andes of Ecuador. It contains over 860 separately announced recordings of 246 species and represents the first attempt to publish an audio series devoted entirely to the birds of the high Andes. It is outstanding in its completeness. Including not only song, but also a variety of calls of each species and distrcit subspecies, several of whihc are endemic to the region. The high Andes of Ecuador supports a diversity of habitats ranging from the cushion plants near the snowline through the high-elevation grassland, wetlands and Polylepis-Gynoxys woodland, to humid forest on the rainy slopes and dry scrub in the intermontane valleys. These habitats are occupied by different species of birds, each with a voice adapted to it's specific environment and life style. This CD-set is part of a series that will eventually cover all the birds of Ecuador, one of the the richest avifaunas in the World. WOW!
4 compact discs, 2 booklets
The Birds of the Northwest Ecuador Volume I: The Uppoer Foothills and Subtropics - John V. Moore, Paul Coopmans, Robert S. Ridgely and Mitch Lysing - John V. Moore Productions, 1999
This three-CD publication presents vocalizations from 190 bird species and features over 425 separately announced recordings. The mid-elevaion montane and premontane forests of northwest Ecuador support a wealth of birdlife, including a large numbr of species and subspecies endemic to the exceptionally rich "choco Faunal Region". This important biogeographic area extends northward into western Colombia and this is the first audi opublication to feature a large number of these endemics. For some of the wider 0ranging species included in this publicaation, the discrening listener will note certain differences between the vocalizations presented and those of the same species (but usally a different subspecies) found elsewhere.
3 compact discs, booklet
The Birds of Northwest Ecuador Volume II: The Lowlands and Lower Foothills - Jahn, Moore, Valenzuela Krabbe, Coopmans, Lysinger ad Ridgely - John V. Moore Publications 2003
This two-CD publication includes vocalizations of many of the bird species found in the humid, wet lowlands and lower foothills if nortwestern Ecuador. It contains recordings of 253 species, many of them presented for the first time in an audio publicatioin. The goal of this summary version is to present the more often heard, most typical and spectacular bird sounds to tbe broader public. The area covered belongs to the "Choco Endemic Area", which extends northward into western Colombia. It supports an exceptionally rich birdlife and the highest number of endemic bird species of any bidemic Area are featured.
2 compact discs
Birds of Southwest Ecuador - Coopmans, J.V.Moore, Krabbe, Jahn, Berg, Lysinger, Navarrete and Ridgely - John V. Moore Productions, 2004
Features almost 1000 separate vocalizations from 235 species found in Southwestern Ecuador. The habitats covered are diverse and range from desert, desert scrub and dry forest to humid forest, and also include lakes, marshes, salt ponds, sandy beaches, and mangroves. A large numbere of species and subspecies confined to the important "Tumbesian Endemic Area" are featured.
5 compact discs, 68 page booklet
Regards,
Cheryl Korowotny
San Jorge Eco-Lodge and Botanical Reserves
Quito, Ecuador
The Magic Birding Circuit
http://www.eco-lodgesanjorge.com
info@eco-lodgesanjorge.com
So, bird books? No such things as a birding guidebook as far as where to go, except for the extremely outdated Clive Davis book that I'm not even sure where to get anymore, really. The Field Guide by Ridgely and Greenfield continues to be fantastic, though the ranges have been slightly off in Psittacidae and Caprimulgidae, somewhat in a few of the hummingbirds, too. David complained about the browns being too rufous and the rufous being too orange in the plates, but they are very good, despite, and we're all very happy with having that for Ecuador, finally.
Forrest Rowland
rowland_phd@hotmail.com

Florida
The best guide I can recommend For my area ( Sarasota and Manatee counties in Florida) is put out by our Audubon center. It is called HOTSPOTS OF SARASOTA AND MANATEE and is available through our website at Sarasotaaudubon.org
All the birds in our area can be found in the Sibleys guide to Birds of North America (eastern edition)
Rick Greenspun/Sarasota Audubon
r.greenspun@verizon.net

Finland
Field guide: definately this one: Mullarney, K., Svensson, L., Zetterstr?m, D., et al.: Birds of Europe.
Bird Finding Book: Hard to say as I have not seen any such book for Finland... Only book I know is Finding Birds in Finland by D. Gosney, but I it's out of print...
CD's for Finland: Probably Schulze (2003): Vogelstimmens Europas, Nordafrikas und Vordasiens. Also All the bird songs of Britain and Europe by Jean C. Roch? (1990)
Olli Haukkovaara cruzan@gmail.com
The best field guide is the Collins guide (Svensson, Mullarney, Zetterstr?m, Grant) - the name and the authors seem to vary between editions, but you probably know what I mean. Jonsson's (Fat Birds of Europe is another great guide. About bird finding books I do not know, if there are any relevant ones. Usually foreign people wish to find forest owls, woodpeckers and some Eastern passerines here, and most of these are not tied to certain places from one year to another.
When it comes to cd's, Schulze's Vogelstimmen and Roch?'s (& Chevereau's) Bird Sounds of Europe (& NW Africa) are the most used ones.
Harri H?gmander
hogmande@maths.jyu.fi
Identification guide:
There are some recent good(ish) guides in Finnish, but definitely the best guide all over Europe is "Collins Bird Guide" (Svensson, Grant, Mullarney & Zetterstrom). Some twitchers recommend Jonsson's "Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East" (which covers the same geographical area), but I think that's for advanced birders, with basic idea "how to mix birds" rather than how to tell them apart.
If Finnish language is not a problem, I would recommend these: "Suomen lintuopas" (Koskimies) or "Suomalainen lintuopas" (Laine). They both have all the regular birds of Finland with good photographs (several ones/species), distribution maps and especially the first one uses plenty of visual symbols which may help foreign users. Laine's book got a prize as "the most beautiful science book" when it was published. Both of these books are largely sold in discount (under 20 euros) in bookstores and even mall stores.
Site guide:
"Where to Watch Birds in Scandinavia" (Aulen) covers some 40 birding hot spots (except for Iceland) per country in Finland, Sweden, Norway & Denmark.
In Finnish, last year was published "Lintutornit" ("Bird towers", by S?dersved) which describes and maps all the bird towers in Finland. Pretty much of these towers are good birding sites. Helsinki visitors are recommended to get "Let's Explore Nature in Helsinki" (Nieminen & Haapala).
Recording:
There are some comprehensive Finnish collections, which unfortunately are very difficult to get. In large book series "Suomen luonto, linnut" (by Weilin + G??s Company) was published a three cd series (Bruun) and "Suuri suomalainen ??nikirja linnuista" (Hanhela) comes with about 18 cassettes of all different voices in excellent quality. These books are large, not for field. In bookstores there are smaller books with cds, which contain less species, eg "Laulava lintukuvasto" (Tinggaard, Lahti, Manninen & Voipio) and "Kotimaan linnut" (Koskimies & Lokki - NOTE: the cd is not always supported with the book).
In Finland, Birdlife's Lintuvaruste (http://www.birdlife.fi/lintuvaruste/index.shtml) sells books, recordings, optics etc. They can be contacted at lintuvaruste@birdlife.fi.
Karri Jutila
k_karwin@hotmail.com
The best field guide is absolutely Mullarneys and Svenssons book. I think there is no updated bird finding book. All I know are too old to use. And I think nobody is going to do a new book because it would be bad for some professional bird guides like Finnature and our own Ornio. Many Finnish birds are too difficult to put to any book - Owls are shown from their nests, nightsingers are not in same places in different years and so on. Of course the best places are easy to tell. Oulu area (Liminka bay, Hailuoto island and so on) even there are no Yellow-breasted Buntings or Terek Sandpipers anymore, Parikkala Siikalahti (our place) in Eastern Finland, Kuusamo area and of course Lappland. Some of the famous places are not good anymore (for example V?rtsil?).
There are many CD:s about Finnish birds but I would recommend some of the European CD. The Finnish ones are not as good as some of the French CD:s.
So the best way to come to Finland is absolutely to do some birding of your own (and find a Birdingpal, Knud), but then if you really want to see as many birds as possible you really need to get a guide in some places.
Janne Aalto
Parikkala
Suomi-Finland
jaaalto1@mbnet.fi
Lot of information about birding in Finland can be found from my sites.
http://koti.mbnet.fi/caligata

France
For France birding, here' are my suggestions for books:
The best field guide (to Europe in general) is without a doubt this one Birds of Europe Killian Mullarney, Lars Svensson, Dan Zetterstr?m, and Peter J. Grant
It is published by Princeton in North America, and by Collins in Europe. It also exists in French as well
There is also Where to watch birds in France published by Helm in the UK. The original in French is published by the LPO (Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux).
Mike Bowman
mbowman@libertysurf.fr
For France (and Western Palearctic), I have a strong preference for Lars Jonsson's field guide[1a in French, 1b in English, 1c in German]: large, very nice and detailed drawings (watercolor, as opposed to 1) Peterson small/simple drawings and maps separated from the monographies, 2 (photographies, which I dislike). One can have an idea of his paintings on his web site http://www.larsjonsson.se/ When it comes to bird finding book, I know of only one, recently re-edited by the French Bird Protection Society[2]. I think it's quite good.
For CD's of bird songs, I like Jean-Claude Roch?'s ones[3].
[1a] Les oiseaux d'Europe d'Afrique du Nord et du Moyen-Orient
Lars Jonsson
Translated by Philippe J. Dubois, Marc Duquet, Guilhem Lesaffre
Nathan editor
published 01/2004
560 pages
ISBN 2092410520
[1b] Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East
Lars Jonsson
Translated by David Christie
A & C Black (Publishers)
ISBN 0713680962
[1c] Die V?gel Europas und des Mittelmeerraumes
Lars Jonsson
Translated by Peter H. Barthel
Publisher: Franckh-Kosmos Verlag
ISBN 3440078280
[2] O? voir les oiseaux en France
Nathan editor
published 03/2004
400 pages
ISBN 2092611763
[3] Tous les oiseaux d'Europe (4 CDs)
Jean-Claude Roch?
396 species in systematic order, 297 minutes
Sittelle editor http://www.sittelle.com/
Olivier Debre
pyrrhocorax@free.fr
The best field guide is "Le guide ornitho" and for finding birds I recommand "O? voir les oiseaux en France" . These 2 books are available in english (Collins Bird Guide : the most complete field guide to the birds of Britain and Europe, and the second is Where to watch birds in France).
For CD's, there is the excellent "Le coffret ornitho" by J.Roch? in 10 vol, but I prefer "Coffret 17CD Die Vogelstimmen - Les Chants des oiseaux".
Take a look at these websites:
http://www.sittelle.com/ for CD's, DVD's
http://www.wildlifebooks.com/birdwatchi ... tching.htm for books
http://www.lpo.fr/voyages/index.shtml some good birdtrips but in french only
Willy Maillard
pogotingwithbats@free.fr

Germany
For Germany birding, here' are my suggestions for books:
A The best Field Guides are: - Svensson, Grant, Mullarney, Zetterst?m: Der neue Kosmos Vogelf?hrer
- Jonsson: Die V?gel Europas
Both are the German editions of the well-known guides.
B Bird finding book: There is a brandnew book - but only about Southern Germany. It's excellent:
- Moning, Wagner: V?gel beobachten in S?ddeutschland. - The authors also maintain their excellent website: http://www.birdinggermany.de/ - The 3 volume-edition "Vogelparadiese" is out of print and cannot be recommended today. The books are too old.
C CD's:- Andreas Schulze: Die Vogelstimmen Europas, Nordafrikas und Vorderasiens
Manfred Schleuning
Schleuning.Sontra@t-online.de
Here in Germany I find the best field guide to be Pocket Guide to the Birds of Britain and North-West Europe (Paperback) by Chris Kightley, Steve Madge, Dave Nurney (Illustrator), published by Yale Univ. Press
The Collins field guide for Europe and N.Africa is very good, but the scope is so much broader, since it covers all of Europe, the Middle East and N. Africa. It's easier to have something more concise covering the area in which one lives.
When I'm back in Monterey, California, USA, I use Roger Tory Peterson's A Field Guide to Western Birds
Bruce Belknap
belknap@lycos.com

Georgia
Everyone has their favorite field guides and I think most of us know the major ones already. The one guide for Georgia isn't as much to indentifying birds as it is to areas where particular birds are found. A true "guide' book by Giff Beaton. "Birding Georgia"
Giff is an outstanding person and very active in wildlife activities here in Ga. He is currently working on a dragonfly guide for Ga which should do well as none exist at this time.
His Birding Georgia beats anything out there as to places to go, detailed directions up to and including footpaths with maps and charts showing when and how often certain birds have been seen in Georgia. It is the only real guide to the state.
As for 'guides'... depends on who you are and what your needs are.
Sibley's, Kaufman's, Nati'l Geo, Peterson's..anything but Audubon of course.Yech
Walter Gene Carswell
Macon Browserbo@aol.com

Greece
The book I recommend for Greece is Collins Bird Guide: The Most Complete Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe by Lars Svensson, Peter J. Grant, Killian Mullarney et al.
Also, the best maps are printed by ROAD, and you can find them all over Greece in good bookstores and touristic stores.
If you need more info concerning birds & Greece, please ask me so
Spyros Skareas
spyros_skareas@hotmail.com
Here are a few words about a book for the Pelion region of Greece.
The definitive book on birds covers the whole of Greece. Entitled "The Birds of Greece" by George Handrinos and Triantaphyllos Akriotis: ISBN 0-7136-3929-6 it is now unfortunately very hard to find a copy.
A small book on The Birds of Pelion by myself, Barbara Martin is now available. It only contains information on 31 species out of a total 226 recorded in the region but it's a start. Copies can be obtained by sending a cheque to the equivalent of ?10 (English) to her at: The Post Office, Promyri, Pelion, Greece 37006.
If you need any more information, just let me know.
Barbara Martin
post@pelion-birds.com

Guyana
For birding in Guyana, "Birds of Venezuela" by Steve Hilty is the best bird book available so far. Another option is the "old version" of "Birds of Venezuela" by de Schauensee and Phelps, which covers almost all species in Guyana. Another great resource is "A Field Checklist of the Birds of Guyana" by Michael Braun, Davis Finch, Mark Robbins, and Brian Schmidt. It contains information about the habitat and abundance of nearly all the species found in Guyana. This is really h helpful for finding out what birds are common and which habitat you might find them in. This checklist is available online at http://www.mnh.si.edu/biodiversity/bdg/ ... intro.html. Hard copies were once available, but I'm not sure if they still are.
Nigel Wheatley's "Where to Watch Birds in South America" has a good bit of info about birding sites in Guyana.
Christopher Colby
colby@solutions2000.net

Hawaii
Field guide: Hawaii's Birds by the Hawaii Audubon Society
Lance Tanino lancemanu@hotmail.com
The best bird guide for visitors to Hawaii is the newly revised "Hawaii's Birds" Sixth Edition. Published by the Hawaii Audubon Society, P. O. Box 4714, Honolulu, HI 96812
A more thorough but less field-friendly guide is the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific by H. Douglas Pratt, Phillip Bruner and Delwyn G. Berrett.
Keith Swindle
kaspdx@juno.com

Hong Kong
For Hong Kong birding, here' are my suggestions for books:
In regards field guides, I can offer the following: Hong Kong - 'The Birds of Hong Kong and South China' by Clive Viney et al, published by HK Govt. and available from the Govt. website http://bookstore.esdlife.com A steal at HK$158, lovely illustrations, now in its 8th edition so earlier mistakes have been corrected, this is THE book for the region. Includes species found on Hainan Island, but not Taiwan.
Andy Smith, Hong Kong
andysmith99@yahoo.com

Idaho
1) Idaho is divided into essentially two parts, the Mountains and the High Desert. Only easy way here is by air into Boise, the capital and a full service city, population 200,000+. Once one gets here an automobile is a must. There is not really any internal infrastructure called public transportation, no trains, few buses, no easy intrastate air service. You drive everywhere to get anywhere. That being said, we do have many places with great birding opportunities; state and/or federal parks, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, a national monument and forests, lakes, rivers and ponds scattered all over. Most all accessable if you've the time. Over 400 documented species of birds.
2) What do I recommend for bird guides? If you can only choose one, I say go for The Sibley Guide to Birds, the big one as opposed to the splits, the newer Western/Eastern editions. The drawings of the species varied plumages are larger and more plentiful and I like the Peterson method of using pointers to indicate critical identifiers. Drawbacks: weight, maps needing updating more often, lack of much descriptive text. I keep three copies, one by my computer, one in my truck at all times and one in a pack ready to go if someone calls to say "Let's go bird, I'll pick you up". The splits are more portable, lighter, maps are more recent, more text. Drawbacks: fewer and smaller drawings. The National Geographic, 4th ed., is a distant 2nd choice. There are, of course, other choices depending on one's own likes/dislikes about photos vs. drawings etc. I think I've most every field guide published for N. America. Use them all, too.
3) Audio CD's/tapes, I have not much to say. Only rarely do I use them, never been really sure which are the truly good ones.
4) On "where-to-go" birding in Idaho, we have only one book: The Idaho Bird Guide, what, where, when, 2nd ed., softback, Dan Svingen, Kas Dumroese eds., Backeddy Books, 2004, ISBN number: 0-9710813-1-X. Available in most local bookstores and bird shops as well as online at Amazon. It is a reprint of the 1995 ABA 1st ed. with some updating of the state birdlist. Though ten years along it is still an excellent resource. If you are going to spend any time in Idaho, get a copy and do some homework. Remember, getting around the state could require a lot of driving; from Boise, north-to-south 10-12hrs., east-to-west 5-8hrs. on the road not counting stops along the way. Right now we are in the development of a birding trail as an adjunct to the guide, but that is still 1-2years to conclusion.
5) Because of the driving, an Idaho atlas is necessary. There are two: the 1998 Idaho Atlas & Gazetteer published by DeLorme of Maine; the other is the 2005 Idaho Road and Recreation Atlas published by Benchmark Maps of Oregon.
The DeLorme, while flawed and full of errors, is still the atlas all sighting locales are referenced to. The Benchmark is new on the market and not everyone has seen it yet, but I believe it will soon become the new Idaho master map reference, it's that much better.
6) Websites and bulletin boards: There are two main boards that cover all or parts of the state. The Idaho Birders Linked Electronically site, ible@yahoogroups.com is the statewide network for Idaho. "Inland-nw-birders" at "Birdingonthe.Net" covers N. Idaho and E. Washington. Several of the Audubon chapters in the state have their own websites and can be accessed thru the National Audubon Society link for State, Centers & Chapters.
Idaho's premier website for birding is IdahoBirds.net. It has a calendar of events and the latest state checklist (July 05) in a downloadable pdf format and more. Since Idaho uses a Latilong (one degree of latitude by one degree of longitude) system for reporting bird sightings there is also a "continuously-in-work-but-not-yet-completed" distribution guide that can be viewed on a species-by-species basis. Can be of great help for birders in locating some of their desired target species to best locale and/or time of year.
R. Rowland
BOISEBIRDGUY@aol.com

India
1. The Birds of Pakistan (2 Volumes) by T.J. Roberts, published by Oxford University Press,
2. Birds of the Indian Sub-continent by Richard Grimett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp, published by Oxford University Press
3. Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Sub-continent by Richard Grimett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp published by Oxford University Press
4. Birds of Noerthern India by Richard Grimett and Tim Inskipp
5. A Field Guide to the Birds of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives by Krys Kazmierczak, published by Om Book Service
6. Birds of Western Ghats, Konkan and Malabar (including Birds of Goa) by Satish Pande et al, published by BNHS
7. Birds of Kangra by Jan Willem den Besten, published by Moonpeak Publications
8. A Birdwatchers Guide to India by Kryz Kazmierczak and Raj Singh, published by Oxford University Pres
9. Birds and Mammals of Ladakh by Otto Pfister published by Oxford University Press
10. Birds in Bhutanm by Peter Spierenburg, published by Oriental Bird Club
11. Photographic Guide to the Birds of Indian Sub-continent by Bikram Grewal, Bill Harvey and Otto Pfister
Suresh C. Sharma
sureshcsharma@rediffmail.com
After my trip to India I recommend as a field guide: Birds of India by Richard Grimmett, Carold and Tim Inskipp. It is not the most user-friendly guide but the illustrations are good.
I also used Birds of India by Bikram Grewal, Bill Harwey and Otto Pfister. It is much more user-friendly, but it uses photographs and it is difficult to identify almost all birds in it.
Knud Rasmussen
krkr@sympatico.ca

Iowa
I haven't lived in the area long, but here are a few recommendations:
Along the eastern edge of Iowa (Mississippi River) the guide for Wisconsin is helpful (Wisconsin's Favorite Bird Haunts by Daryl Tessen, 2000).
For bird distribution (not bird-finding) the best book is Birds in Iowa by Thomas H. Kent and James J. Dinsmore, 1996. For learning bird songs of the region the best CDs are BIRD SONG EAR TRAINING GUIDE: Who Cooks for Poor Sam Peabody? by John Feith and the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern Region (Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs).
Best field guides are the standards: National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of NA, Peterson's Field Guide to Eastern Birds, Sibley Guide.
Unfortunately there is no site guide for the state at this time, but the state ornithological website has a few detailed accounts (www.iowabirds.org).
Jason Paulios, Iowa City
jpaulios@earthlink.net
For birding in Iowa, here are my suggestions.
I think that the best references for identification are David Sibley's Guide to Birds and the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Kenn Kaufman's Birds of North America and Peterson's Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America are good pocket guides for quick reference in the field. I think that they are the best guides for new birders to start with, but this is a highly controversial point.
The ideal bird finding guide for Iowa has not yet been written. Much of the most useful information for bird finding in Iowa is passed along by word of mouth and by the state birding e-mail list. The Iowa Ornithologists' Union web site includes a link to the IA-BIRD listserve.
It also has a site guide with directions to some of the more popular birding sites in Iowa, but many excellent sites are missing from this guide at the present time. Its web address is as follows: http://www.iowabirds.org/places/site_guide.asp
More sites are being added gradually, so this resource may be more comprehensive in the future.
For now, the only book available that covers many of the birding sites in Iowa is the Falcon Iowa Wildlife Viewing Guide . Birds in Iowa by Kent

[leppie]

For birding in USA and Canada, I think I have all of the field guides that are out there! My favorite to take into the field is either eastern or western Sibley, depending on where I am. How many guides I take depends on how I am traveling and how much room I have. Yes, I tend to travel with a library!! Most of the time my eastern Sibley and a pair of binoculars have permanent residency in my van.

The eastern and western guides are pocket sized, and contain range maps, song info, plus a variety of photos. There also are learning pages when difficult groups - like lbbs! - are grouped (little brown birds!). I have not yet figured out how to catagorized "flits".

For electronics I really like the Thayer guides. Prior to going on a trip I can set up quizes for either a state or a group of birds. If I have laptop with me when birding, can put in noted characteristics and id wizard will give you best possibilities, and you can even hear the song. There is also a place where you can maintain a trip list. I can also print off individual bird id info and make up flash cards for target or possible life birds on a trip.

Some one mentioned the Birds of Alaska book, and I probably would not take it into the field. However, when I go to Alaska, I will take it with me, even tho we are flying, then taking boats - no car at any time!! (at least not one that we own or rent!) One feature that I find very useful is the graphs that show what bird is likely to be in what area of Alaska.
and at which season.

Happy birding to all, and if any of you happen to wander around the southern Adirondacks, please give me a call!

leppie

To find best price for guides, CD's etc. recommended
http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch. ... ode=direct
Set currency to suit

[Willie Lawrence]

There seem to be plenty of guide books out there!

But does anyone know if there are any plans to create a guidebook for birds of Central Asia? Currently I am using Flint's 'Birds of The USSR' but this is not very detailed and the images are not great.

[birding]

You may want to checkout Mal Jenkins Printable Field Guide Checklist
http://www.printablebirdchecklists.home ... Lists.html

[birding]

Italy
For Italy birding, here' are my suggestions for books:
I would definitively recommend "A birdwatcher's guide to Italy" by by Luciano Ruggieri and Igor Festari Lynx Edicions 2005
Marco Girardello girardellomarco@yahoo.it
There is not any Field guide about Italian birds.The best is Svensson guide. There is an ongoing publication on Italian avifauna with status photo consevation not in English (vol III due to be published within a few months) by P Brichetti and Fracasso. The best birdfing guide is the brand new A Birdwatchers Guide to Italy by my great friends and excellent birders L Ruggieri and I Festari(Lynx ed)
Gianluigi Castelli pedrolamar@tiscali.it
At the moment, in Italy has been published only one Bird Finding book (A Birdwatcher's Guide to Italy by L Ruggieri and I Festari, 2005) that therefore it is the "best book" available.
Nevertheless, if you want my opinion on books and CD to make birwatching in Italy, these are: Collins Bird Guide, by L Svensoon, K Mullarney, D Zetterstrom and P J Grant
All the Bird songs of Britain and Europe, by J C Roch? (4 CD set)
Marcello Grussu, Sardinia, Italy porphyrio@tiscali.it
A Birdwatcher's Guide to Italy Finding most important Italian birds Luciano Ruggieri and Igor Festari 303 pages, maps.Lynx Edicions Softcover | 2005 | ?18.95 | approx. $34/?28 ISBN: 8487334865
Guide to finding birds in Italy, incl. Sardinia and Sicily. You can buy it online at: http://www.nhbs.com/title.php?bkfno=156489 It came out late last year, so it has up to date information. Its authors are among the founding members of EBN Italy ( http://www.ebnitalia.it/), the first Italian birdwatching organisation and mailing list, of which I am a member and which publishes a six-monthly newsletter on CD-ROM.
More information, especially about the Po Delta area, one of Italy's foremost birdwatching areas can be found on: http://www.birdinitaly.net/
As for field guides, again, the Italian ones are mostly translations of older "historical" guides such as the Bruun-Singer and the Peterson-Mountfort-Hollom, but most serious birders tend to use the Collins Bird Guide (Mullarney, Svensson, Zetterstrom) (in English), which is regarded as the best field guide for Europe and the Western Palearctic. In Italian there is also the new edtion of Hayman and Hume's .../ , which fits in your pocket and has a lot of good-quality illustrations for each bird, but only covers "regular" species (no vagrants). I keep it in the car or take it with me if I am going anywhere on a non-birdwatching trip.
In Italian there is also the new edtion of Hayman and Hume's The New Birdwatcher's Pocket Guide to Britain and Europe (ISBN: 1857328043) (in Italian "la nuova Guida del Birdwatcher", published by Muzzio), which fits in your pocket and has a lot of good-quality illustrations for each bird, but only covers "regular" species (no vagrants). I keep it in the car or take it with me if I am going anywhere on a non-birdwatching trip.
Cristiana Marti, Abbadia San Salvatore - Siena Italy cristiana@montegualandro.com

Jamaica
1. Birds of the West Indies - Herbert Raffaele et al It is a good easy reference guide with 94 colour plates and is useful throughout the West Indies. Extremely useful for Caribbean endemics which are resident in Jamaica and for our summer visitors.
ISBN 0691-11319-X
2. The North American Bird Guide - David Sibley
This is a well illustrated work and invaluable for identifying many of our resident birds and the large numbers of migrants and vagrants that we find in Jamaica.
ISBN 1-873403-98-4
3. New World Warblers - Helm Identification Guides - John Curson et al
Excellent book with very detailed descriptions of warblers (mostly migrant) that are found in Jamaica. The colour plates are superb and a real aid to identification of birds in non-breeding plumage.
ISBN 0-7136-3932-6
4. Birds of Jamaica -Audrey Downer and Robert Sutton
Superb photographs and text on Jamaican endemics. Sadly out of print but a few copies can still be found.
ISBN 0-521-38309-9
Regards
Vaughan Turland
vaughan.turland@cwjamaica.com
http://www.reliableadventuresjamaica.com
876 8654257

Japan
Birds of Japan by Mark Brazil is not out-of-print (despite what American booksellers say); it is still available from the UK, new; I recommend buyers go to www.wildsounds.com. I have copies of A Birdwatcher's Guide to Japan, still available should anyone wish to buy one.
Next year my new book: Field Guide to the Birds of East Asia will be published.
Mark Brazil, Author. markbrazil@world.email.ne.jp
"A Field Guide to the Birds of Japan" by the Wild Bird Society of Japan and "A Birdwatcher's Guide to Japan" and "The Birds of Japan" by Mark Brazil that are all very usefull, but unfortunately all out of print and rather pricey.
I know that Mark Brazil is working on a field guide for birds of the region, but suspect that we are still several years away from seeing.
Mike Yough myough@gmail.com
Actually, Japan is not very well represented in ornithological literature, although I can't think why as it's interesting in all seasons as we're on the flyway for stuff moving to and from the North of Russia and China.
I have not yet found a field guide in any language other than Japanese, and myself use a photographic guide called, in Japanese, 'Wild Birds of Japan'. Although the text is entirely in Japanese, the English names are also given as well as the scientific names. Unfortunately it's not in any real systematic sequence as it's a cobbling together of two books which were (and still are) published separately, Land Birds and Water Birds. It has numerous plates for most species, showing all of the plumages likely to be encountered, but the distribution maps show the species distribution world-wide, which is a bit silly for cosmopolitan species as you get a picture of the whole surface of the globe in a fairly small space. It does show you the months during which it can be expected to be seen in Japan though. There is an identification guide which uses drawings, too, but I think it's out of print and it has no English names.
The story for birding sites is almost as sad. The only comprehensive guide is Mark Brazil's book on Japanese sites, but this seems also to be out of print, although I was able to get a copy frpom the Japanese Wild Bird Society and I believe they may still have some copies. This book is also fairly old now (c.20 years, perhaps?) so I'm also not sure how accurate it still is, given the Japanese propensity for roadbuilding!
The really major and popular sites are, of course, mentioned in the Nigel Wheatley book dealing with Asia, but apart from Cranes and Sea Eagles, Japan seems not to be well-known to birdwatchers at all.
Another book which may be useful is the Mark Brazil book 'The Birds of Japan', which is a survey of the status of all species which have occured in the country. NHBS have recently cut the price on this one, but the only birds illustrated in colour (there are numerous line drawings) are the endemics.
All in all not too happy, I'm afraid. People who want a book in English will probably find the field guide to Korea the most useful. It has most if not all of the same birds.
Tony Bannister igirisujin@japan.com
Japan is pretty straightforward to deal with; there are not a lot of options. The major authoritative reference in English is Mark Brazil's The Birds of Japan(1991), ISBN 0-7136-8006-7.
The lone English-language field guide, Field Guide to the Birds of Japan, by the Wild Bird Society of Japan (WBSJ) and illustrated by S. Takano, has been out of print for several years, and is poorly illustrated by today's standards, while the text and taxonomy are considerably out of date. Used copies occasionally appear for sale at exorbitant prices, but are not worth the money unless you are a real sissy birder and need the moral support. An adequate substitute for the Takano field guide is A Field Guide to the Birds of Korea, Lee, Koo & Park, (2000), ISBN 89-951415-1-4, which covers many of Japan's accidentals and rarities in more detail than the Takano book, but lacks information on Japan's strict endemics, many of its pelagics, and species of the tropical islands south of Kyushu.
There are two English-language birdfinding guides, both out of print: A Birdwatcher's Guide to Japan, by Mark Brazil (1987), ISBN 0-87011-849-8 and A Birder's Guide to Japan, by Jane Washburn Robinson (1987), ISBN 0-934797-02-1, both growing outdated, but still quite functional. I recommend using both (if the miracle of their concurrent possession should occur), as their information is often complementary. Either is good on its own, however. As to availability, the Wild Bird Society of Japan bookstore still has new copies of the Brazil finding guide in stock, but their website and bookstore use only Japanese, and they do not mail order outside of the country.
For the multilingual, there are a number of excellent, up-to-date national and regional field guides (both photographic and with paintings) and birdfinding guides in Japanese. One good field guide is A Guide for Bird Lovers: 630 Birds (Japanese Society for the Preservations of Birds, 2002), ISBN 4-87246-532-6. It has an English index and English names in the species entries, but all else is in Japanese, so a non-speaker can glean no further information from the entries, except for the range maps.
The best CD set to my mind is the 6-CD set published by Shogakkan, called The Songs and Calls of 333 Birds in Japan(SNZ-480071-1 through -3 and SNZ-400072-4 through -6). The identifying voice on the tape is Japanese, but they do come with a trilingual (Japanese-English-Latin) index.
Charles Harper mistermicawber@gmail.com
The main source is The Wild Bird Society of Japan. Unfortunately most of their information is in Japanese. They have a website, but only in Japanese. They published an excellent Field Guide to the Birds of Japan in English, which was the same as the Japanese version ,but it was allowed to expire and no new editions have been published. Copies are available on Amazon.com but they are expensive, about $160+. There are books available in English describing locations in Japan by Mark Brazil who wrote for the English newspaper Japan Times. I live in Aomori Prefecture, and the Birdwatching groups here have published a book of photos and descriptions of birds found in this Prefecture with photos taken by local members. It's very good, but in Japanese. I'm assuming that most of the other Prefecture groups have published similar books.
Herb Bastuscheck, Misawa, Japan japanherb@yahoo.com
Here are my recommendations for bird books and CDs useful for Japan.
Unfortunately, there are no illustrated fieldguides that even come remotely close to those published in Europe or the US.
The only half-decent English-language field for the region is A Field Guide to the Birds of Korea
Text: Woo-shin Lee, Tae-Hoe Koo, Jin-Young Park
Illustrations: Takashi Taniguchi
Translated by* Desmond Allen
Supported by: L.G. Evergreen Foundation
Published by: Toyokan Publishing Co, Ltd 2000
ISBN 89-951415-0-6 06490
This is a useful book as it includes the majority of commoner birds that can be seen in Japan, with reasonable illustrations and a relatively useful English text. However, it doesn't have any informantion on most of the 13 Japanese endemics or saome of the species that might occur in the Ryukyus islands, or in Hokkaido. The Wild Bird Society of Japan, published an English version of their field guide back in the early 1980's. Unfortunately it is out of print, and the illustrations also by Takasi Taniguchi are very poor for the most part, though the text was OK.
The best Japanese language field guide is the two-part book
'Nihon no Tori 550'. Like all the other current filed guides in japan, it is a photographic field guide. It is split into two books, the first is called Mizube no Tori (Waterbirds), covering everything from divers to terns. The second installment is called Sanya no Tiro (mountain birds), which covers from raptors to crows.
They were written by Masashi Kirihara, Norio Yamagata, Toshiyuki Yoshino and Himaru Iozawa.
Published in 200, and ISBN 4-8299-0163-2 and 3 respectively.
What sets it apart from the other guides is the number of photos llustating pumages other than adult and subspecies and depth of description (albeit in Japanese). There is another photographic fieldguide published in 1998, by Yamatei Publisher's Co, Ltd...which might make a good cross-reference. It is called Wild Birds of Japan (Nihon no Yacho). It was written by Takuya Kanouchi, Naoya Abe, Hideo Ueda. It has less variety of plumages in the photos, but does give dates and places for some of the rarer birds found in Japan. I am guessing this is currently out of print, as I haven't seen it in the shops for a while.
The only siteguides with any detail for Japan are Mark Brazil's 1987 book (A Birdwathcer's Guide to Japan) and a book by an American woman called Robinson, published sometime in the 1980's. Brazil's is the slimmer, less verbose and better of the two. Unfortunately, both are long out of print and very hard to get on the net. Brazil's book is published by Charles E Tuttle..who publish lots of English language books on Japan. Sorry I don't have more details on either of them, but I lent my copy of Brazil's book and never got it back, and I only have photocopies of extracts from Robinson's book.
Mark Brazil also published an excellent book called The Birds of Japan in 1991,w hich is basically a monograph of all species recorded in Japan. It was published by Helm, illustrated by Masayukli Yabuchi, ISBN 0-7-136-8006-7. He is currently working on an updated version of this book, but unfortunately not the site-guide.
The only CD7s I know of, are Yasei Tori no Koi 283 (translates as Songs and calls of 283 Wild Japanese birds. It is a set of 4 CD's published by Yama-kei in 1998 and recorded by Hideo Ueda. There are a few other slim guides on raptors, ducks, gulls and waders respectfully which are wonderfully illustrated. I can provide further details if necessary.
I would also recommend bringing along a copy of Collins Bird Guide, by Mullarney, Svennson, Zelterstrom and Peter Grant, as it is usueful for confusion species or vagrants if you are on the offshore islands...and helps to supplement the Japanese guides, wich don't have English text. The 2 Macmillan Guide is also useful for confusiopn gulls, warblers and buntings.
There are many ecellent websites with even more information, alas largely in Japanese, which I can provide at a later date if you want.
Happy Birding
Sean Minns
Hiroshima,Japan minnsfuji@yahoo.com

Kansas
First of all, thanks for birdingpal! I hooked up with a swell guy in the Netherlands, when I was living there last year.
I live in the state of Kansas in the U.S. - the northeastern part of this rather large state. The books to have are the following:
Zimmerman, John L. and Patti, Sebastian T. A Guide to Bird Finding in Kansas and Western Missouri. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1988. ISBN 0-7006-0366-2. This is still the most useful guide to find places and match them to seasons and species.
Thomson, Max C. and Ely, Charles. Birds in Kansas. (2 volumes). Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1989 and 1992. ISBNs: 0-89338-027-X (vol. 1) and 0-89338-040-7 (vol. 2). Not a field guide but a reference work - VERY thorough, though it's getting a bit outdated as to record sighting dates and county records. (hope they update it)
Also see the Kansas Ornithological Society web site: http://www.ksbirds.org/kos/index.html for rare bird alerts, birding locations, etc.
In our neighboring state of Missouri, the Audubon Society publishes A Guide to Birding in Missouri. For St. Louis, use Birds of the St. Louis Area and Where to Find Them, published by the Webster Groves Nature Study Society, in that city. All of these books are available via the American Birding Association on-line store. The Missouri Dept. of Conservation publishes a free pamphlet, Enjoying Missouri's Birds, that has a terrific chart of species, with abundance by month and by habitat. This works well for the eastern fourth of Kansas, as well.
For the US more generally, the National Geographic Guide to Birdwatching Sites (2 vol) is very helpful - we are in the "Eastern US" volume.
Joe Harrington, Lawrence jharring@ku.edu

Kazakhstan
GAVRILOV, E. I. (2000): Guide to the Birds of the Kazakhstan Republic. Published by the author, Almaty. (Available from www.osme.org)
KAZMIERCZAK, K. & B.v. PERLO (2000): A Field Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. Pica Press, ---. RYABITSEV, V.K. (2001): Ptitsy Urala, Priuralya, i Zapadnoy Sibiri. Thesis, Yekaterinburg (russ.). Hard to get, if you want to have a copy, please write me an e-mail.
SVENSSON, L., K. MULLARNEY, DAN ZETTERSTR?M & P.J. GRANT (2001): The Complete Guide to the Birds of Europe.Princeton, London.
Mark Ashcroft markjashcroft@yahoo.co.uk

Kenya
There have been quite a large bunch of birding books that have been published and used by most of the birding client who come to Kenya but I would hate to say which ones. Most of them heavily depends on most beautiful birds they come across during their safari in kenya.
The most convinient and comprehensive of all is
1)''Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania' by Zimmerman, Turner and Pearson it is Seconded by Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi: by John Fanshawe and Terry Stevenson
This are the only I would advise and recognise as a guide to Kenya birds.
We still do not have the CD's for Kenya birds but there is a copy that Brain Finch who has been a guide to Kenya and has recorded several sounds is about to launch and soon it is I will let you know.
With kind regards
Joseph Mwangi ornithologicalexpenditions@yahoo.co.uk

Malaysia
1) New Holland Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia New
C. Robson
2005, Paperback; 304 pages
ISBN 1843307464
2) A Field Guide to the Birds of West Malaysia and Singapore by Allen
Jeyarajasingam and Alan Pearson
3) A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia
M. Strange
2000, Paperback, 400 pages
ISBN 9625934030
Lee Kok Chung kclee@endemicguides.com
Title: Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia -New Edition
Author: C. Robson
Publicher: New Holland 2005, Paperback; 304 pages
ISBN 1843307464
Ahli Chung ahlichung@yahoo.com
I find that there are no "best" field guide for Birds of Malaysia. The most comprehensive is written by Allen Jeyarajasingam and Allan Pearson "A field Guide to the Birds of West Malaysia and Singapore" (Oxford University Press). However the illustrations by Allan Pearson resulted in "fat" birds and some errors of illustration. Allen Jeyarajasingam also collaborated with Morten Strange and co=authored "Birds: a photografic guide to the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore" (Sun Tree Publishing Limited, Singapore; 1993)
My wife and I prefer to use the Thai book, "A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand" by Boonsong Lekagul & Philip D. Round. The illustrations of the 900 odd species by Mongkol Wongkalasin and Kamol Komolphalin are very accurate although there are a few errors. A new field guide to the Birds of Thailand by Craig Robson is also one that we increasingly use as it is more comprehensive with the addition of the 30+ species from the south which were left out of Boonsong's book (the south was a hotbed for communist insurgency so the jungles were mined and no one dare to venture there until the ceasefire and eventual peace treaty).
Hope this is sufficient for you to put for general knowledge.
Happy birding.
Cheaw Hon Ming cheawhm@streamyx.com

Main
Currently there is only one book available for the State of Maine. "A birders Guide to Maine" Elizabeth C. Pierson, Jan Erik Pierson and Peter Vickery 1996 Down East Books PO Box 679 Camden, ME 04843 This book is pretty good at the local level, I can attest to that in the Down East area. Though some of the info is a little dated it still is pretty acurate. I have been told that Peter Vickery is involved in putting together a new book, though I'm not sure when it will be completed. The only other guides that would pertain to Maine would of course, be bird guides to New England, of which there are several. I hope this info is helpful take care
In reference to the local guides; the Peirsons, Jan Erik and Elizabeth C., also created "The Birders Guide to Coastal Maine", 1981. I have not read the book so I cannot give my opinion, though if it's similar to their other publication Im sure its is pretty acurate.
Barry Southard, Machias brdman@hotmail.com

Mali
Best field guide is without a doubt Birds of West Africa - the field guide version- 2005- Borrow and Demey.
Best CD's are Claud Chappuis' 11 CD set. That same set of CD's is for North and West-Central Africa.
There is no birdfinding guide yet for Mali. Maybe when I retire I will write one. Callan Cohen was recently in country and did a trip, so we slowly but surely gather info. There's a lot of places I have not yet been
Mary Crickmore MaryCrickmore@compuserve.com

Maryland
Finding Birds in the National Capital Area by Claudia Wilds
T. Beal THBeal@aol.com
For the Baltimore Region the Birders Guide to Baltimore City/County. It was a collaborative effort by members of the Baltimore Bird Club. It is $10 per copy and if anyone wants a copy they can email me and I can get them one.
Wendy Olsson rwolsson@verizon.net

Massachusetts
David Sibley, http://www.sibleyguides.com/ , has the what I consider to be the ultimate field guides for North America.
He has also taken the time to separate his original oversized guide with and East Coast Version and a West Coast Version:
SIBLEY'S GUID TO BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA
SIBLEY'S GUIDE TO BIRDS OF WESTERN NORTH AMERICA
All his publication are listed on his website: http://www.sibleyguides.com/publications.htm
I like to use this guide because he has a leader page that lists side views of all the birds of that general description: i.e.; gulls, kittiwakes.
A Birder not familiar with field markings of the Birds of this area has an opportunity to choose the side view [from smallest to largest] most resembling what is seen...a good starting point.
Calls are also noted in the text.
Ara Charder arastours@yahoo.com
Birding Western Massachusetts
Habitat Guide to 26 Great Birding Sites written and illustrated by Robert Tougias
Birding Western Massachusetts features 26 great birding locations in Western Massachusetts. Every site has been chosen either for diversity and volume of bird life, or for its unique and rare birds. All sites are easily accessible and are open year-round. Whether you are an avid birder looking for specific birds, or a casual nature enthusiast with an interest in seeing different kinds of birds, this guide will provide you with everything you need to make your experience a success.
Author Robert Tougias presents a "habitat" approach to birding, showing how to use the awareness of habitat to find birds. With mountains, meadows, rivers, and reservoirs, a wide variety of habitats exist in western Massachusetts. Within each habitat, a unique set of birds can be found. And what a variety! There are over 100 different birds nesting in western Massachusetts, and at least 200 different birds that migrate through the region -- a total of over 300 different birds are recorded annually through the seasons. Few people realize the ideal situation of such a large variety of birds, together with a large number of easily accessible places in which to see them. It is a winning combination for every birder at every level to enjoy. This guide allows you to seize this opportunity in an easy, user-friendly way. Bob Tougias rtougias@snet.net
Birding Cape Cod (2005 edition) compiled by the Cape Cod Bird Club, published by On Cape Publications P.O .Box 218, Yarmouth Port MA, 02675 USA http://www.oncapepublications.com Excellent information on birding by season, habitats, and tides, easy-to-read maps and parking recommendations for all sites. In Massachusetts, this guide is available in birding stores and Massachusetts Audubon gift shops as well as from the publisher.
Pat White, porchbird@charter.net

Mexico
I`ll send you the best site for birdwatching in north of Quintana Roo when can you to see about 80 or 100 species in one birding 06:00 to 13:hours
Botanical Garden DR. ALFREDO BARRERA MARIN Central Vallarta, Boca del Puma, Tres Bocas, siete bocas y verde lucero these site It?s a 20 km Botanical Garden across hightway in Puerto Morelos, Q. Roo Coba and Punta Laguna Muyil, Boca paila and vigia chico part of Sian Ka`an Felipe Carrillo Puerto
These site It`s the best for birdwatching in all site can you to see about 280 species in one or two week
The best field guide are for me:
A guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America Steve N. G. Howel and Sophie Webb, Oxford University
Field Guide to the birds of North America National Geographic Four Edition
AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY`S FIELD GUIDE: ALL THE BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA
These three books It`s the best for birdwatching
LUIS KU, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo motmotbird@hotmail.com
My recomendations for Mexico are the next field guides:
Mexico its between two regions neartic and neotropical, then you need to use many guides that compliment:
A guide to the birds of M?xico and Northern Central America
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America.
Aves de M?xico of Peterson and Chalif. I think its more complete the spanish version than the english version.
Sibley field guide to the birds. Western or Eastern North America.
Alejandro from Quer?taro, M?xico ale220171@yahoo.com
I would think that the best birding guide here in Mexico is Birds of Mexico & central America by Howell & Web.
The field guide to birds of North America by National Geografic , in winter we have many resident from the north that are not ilustrated in the Howell's book so the National is convinient to carry in the field for its size & exellent illustration.
Roque Antonio roque_antonio740@hotmail.com

Michigan
The Sibley Guide to Birds (David Allen Sibley) is the best field guide for Michigan, but it is lacking in regard to habitat and habits info. The National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America is solid all-around. Sibley has better drawings. The large Sibley is inconvenient to carry, so I leave mine in the car and carry the smaller Sibley Eastern or Nat'l Geo.
If you're birding in Michigan, a "must have" is A Birder's Guide to Michigan, by Allen T. Chartier and Jerry Ziarno. Its 660 pages are full of maps and info about all of the best birding locations in Michigan.
Bruce Bowman, Ann Arbor bbowman99@comcast.net
#1 Birds of Michigan, excellent book, great maps, great species information all and all this guide goes the distance, another nice thing, it's very understandable, you don't need a PHd. in Orinthology to understand it. Just for edification, Amazon.com lists this book at 13.57 (new). Authors Charles Black and George Kennedy, 2003, Lone Pine Publishing.
#2 If still availabe is a wonderful guide put out by Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources and the Natural Heritage Program. Michigan State University Press 1994, last I knew it was a donation type situation, I would check with the Michigan DNR in Lansing, MI. or onlne. Not only does this guide break the state into three geographical areas it also lists several (36-over 50 areas for each region) places with a nice description of not only birds, waterfowl ducks and wildlife and the times of the year to look, and done in an attractive manner.
Dick Burley, South Boardman blackdogphoto@hotmail.com
I live in South East Michigan
Here is a good web site that covers the area. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbowman/birds/
Here are 3 listservs that report the bird activity in the state.
http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/MCHL.html
http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/MICH.html
http://www.upbirders.org/
I recomend the Sibley Field Guide and the Stokes set of 3 CD's for Eastern US.
Andy Dettlinger Andrew.R.Dettling@irs.gov

Missouri
First of all, thanks for birdingpal! I hooked up with a swell guy in the Netherlands, when I was living there last year.
I live in the state of Kansas in the U.S. - the northeastern part of this rather large state. The books to have are the following:
Zimmerman, John L. and Patti, Sebastian T. A Guide to Bird Finding in Kansas and Western Missouri. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1988. ISBN 0-7006-0366-2. This is still the most useful guide to find places and match them to seasons and species.
Thomson, Max C. and Ely, Charles. Birds in Kansas. (2 volumes). Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1989 and 1992. ISBNs: 0-89338-027-X (vol. 1) and 0-89338-040-7 (vol. 2). Not a field guide but a reference work - VERY thorough, though it's getting a bit outdated as to record sighting dates and county records. (hope they update it)
Also see the Kansas Ornithological Society web site: http://www.ksbirds.org/kos/index.html for rare bird alerts, birding locations, etc.
In our neighboring state of Missouri, the Audubon Society publishes A Guide to Birding in Missouri. For St. Louis, use Birds of the St. Louis Area and Where to Find Them, published by the Webster Groves Nature Study Society, in that city. All of these books are available via the American Birding Association on-line store. The Missouri Dept. of Conservation publishes a free pamphlet, Enjoying Missouri's Birds, that has a terrific chart of species, with abundance by month and by habitat. This works well for the eastern fourth of Kansas, as well.
For the US more generally, the National Geographic Guide to Birdwatching Sites (2 vol) is very helpful - we are in the "Eastern US" volume.
Joe Harrington, Lawrence jharring@ku.edu

Mongolia
Actually there is almost nothing special guide book for Mongolian birds by now. It has a some clear reasons, for example the bird checklist of Mongolia is still not complete (now 464 species).
Our birds are from many different resources:
- from Siberia
- from Korea and Manjuur (North East China)
- from Central Asian desert
- from South East Asia
- from Australia and other Pacific countries
So we usually use different kind of field guidebooks of many regions. But I have some recommendations, those books were useful in my last trips.
1. Birds of Europe by Killian Mullarney, et al. 2001 year
It includes about 80% of our birds. This guidebook useful for Mongolia
2. Birds of Khentii region in Mongolia by N.Tzeveenmaydag, N.Bold 2005 year
The guidebook from Science Academy of Mongolia, the illustrations isn't good, but other informations are useful such as distribution and status. It has over 300 species. The Khentii region is center and east part of Mongolia.
3. A field guide to the Birds of Chinaby John Mackinnon, Karen Phillipps 2000 year
Important thing is it includes the most species of Mongolia. However it's illustrations aren't good, it is better than nothing. If there is a new good guide book for birds of China, it must be important for Mongolian birds.
4. I can't remember the name of this guide book, it is like as "Asian Waterbirds"... small book.
The most birds of Mongolia are migrants from Siberia, India, Pakistan, South China, Korea, Japan, Australia etc. So birders can use those countries guide books in Mongolia. But we have some special and endemic species in Mongolia, those are difficult to identify, I'm try to collect some pictures and materials about them, I can share it others.
End of mail, I'm good guidebook for Mongolian birds. It's joke :
By the way, I'm glad for new birders forum, soon I will join it, when my web become ready. Last year some birders visited to me from America and Germany, they found me with birdingpals site. They enjoyed both of birds and Mongolia.
Uugan Chulunnbaa uu_bb2001@yahoo.com

Morocco
I think the most usefull birdguide in French (and not too havy to take in the field), for Morocco, is, for the moment : "Le guide Ornitho", from Mullarney (K.), Svensson (L.), Zetterstr?m (D.) and Grant (P. J.), Ed. Delachaux et Niestl?, Paris (tirage 2004).
http://www.go-south.org for usefull informations for ornithology in Morocco.
Jacques FRANCHIMONT
MEKNES - MOROCCO
j.franchimont@menara.ma
"Where to watch birds in Morocco" (Bergier) is really the best one, with maps, accomodations, species list (not only birds but mammals, reptiles, amphibians and orchids). Otherwise, the fieldguide to use would be "The Birds of Europe" or "Guide ornitho" (in french) from Svensson and all. There is also a song CD which is "Oiseaux du Maghreb" (J-C Roch?), very well made.
Olivier Fontaine Olivier62136@yahoo.fr

Namibia
As field Guide I would go with Sasol?s Birds of Southern Africa, as a finding guide Hugh Chittendens top Birding Spots is the most recent, I was ask to comment on the Namibian section of the much belated Birdfinding Guide by Cohen and Roussouw...and at the time of reading 2000 (??) I thought the information was outdated and lacked of any novel sites, hinged very much on old and already existing information, often outdated. Many birders and tours have cruised Nam since and a better job of deserving. Tropical Birding is busy putting together a birdfinding site which is yet not posted but coming....
CD wise i would reccomend Guy Gibbons collection... also his video collection and many other videos we are busy placing on the International Bird Collection http://www.hbw.com/ibc
Christian Boix christian@tropicalbirding.com

Netherlands
The information below is very similar to these from the surounding countries like Belgium, France and Germany but here it goes:
There is a whole pile of fieldguides to choose from for The Netherlands but I like the Collins birdguide by K. Mullarney, L. Svensson, D. Zetterstrom and P. Grant the best. Another very good one with beautifull plates is Birds of Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East by Lars Jonsson.
'Where to watch'like information is quite common in Dutch but there's not much choice in English. The best one (although I have not used it myself) is probably where to watch birds in Holland, Belgium and Northern France by Arnoud van den Berg en D. Lafontaine. Of course the relevant chapters in Wheatleys where to watch birds in Europe (although very poor) and Gooders book ould be consulted.
There are seveal good sets with songs and calls but the old one of J. Roche ?ll the birdsongs of Brittain & Europe is good and very complete for Western Europe.
For recent news of national rarities you can check http://www.dutchbirding.nl at the section sightings. These are updated daily (in the evening)
Pierre van der Wielen
wiele054@planet.nl

Nevada
Having a site with recommended books/guides for travel ling birders is a good idea. My recommendations for North America are:
Field guide: National Audubon Society: The Sibley Guide to Birds. Sibley, David Allen. Alfred A. Knopf, New York US$35.00.
My recommendation is the large format, it having more aspects of each bird than the smaller edition. Yes, it is bigger than either of the European books I have: Peterson, et al., and Heinzel, et al, but I think the Sibley is worth it.
Tour guide: American Birding Association: Birdfinder: A Birder's Guide to Planning North American Trips. Cooper, Jerry A. US$23.95. Lower 48, Churchill & Alaska
Tourist birder who comes to Las Vegas, I have these books. If your birder would wish to buy copies of his own, Amazon.com can ship them to me for him to collect here, or, at a perhaps greater expense, to addresses outside of the U.S.
John Taylor jcalhount@netzero.net

Newfoundland, Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador (Newfoundland) is not served by its own field guide. However, any of the guides for North America will suffice. Birders traveling to Newfoundland and Labrador should choose a guide that provides good information on gulls and seabirds, and might even consider bringing The Seabirds by Peter Harrison. A dedicated gull guide, such as The Gulls by P.J. Grant, might also be of considerable use, particularly in the winter when as many as 13 species of gulls in varying plumages can be seen in one day around St. Johns. Of the many excellent general-purpose field guides available, the most popular among Newfoundland birders are the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, and the Sibley Guide to the Birds of North America (either the large original Sibley or the smaller Eastern North America Sibley will serve the purpose. Newfoundland gets more than its fair share of European rarities, and carrying a copy of Birds of Europe by Killian Mullarney, Lars Svensson, Dan Zetterstr?m, and Peter J. Grant is not a bad idea, either especially if you are visiting in the fall or winter.
Cam Finlays Bird Finding Guide to Canada 2nd Edition can be very useful for anyone planning a trip to Newfoundland. Be sure to get the SECOND Edition however, as the First Edition is badly out of date.
Visitors to Newfoundland should check the Saturday editions of The Telegram for Bruce Mactavishs birding column, entitled Winging It. The column regularly reports on rare and interesting birds seen throughout the province. NOTE: Although The Telegram is available on-line, Winging It is not available without a paid subscription.
The Checklist of the Birds of Insular Newfoundland is published by the Natural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, and is available at this website: http://www.cs.mun.ca/~nhs/cbc_etc/checklist.htm
Hard copies can be purchased directly from the Society. Their website is: http://www.cs.mun.ca/~nhs/index.html .
John Pratt

New Jersey
For New Jersey (which includes world famous Cape May), The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America is the current field guide of choice. Boyle's "Birdfinding in New Jersey" is the best guide to local birding areas.
Also check out www.njaudubon.org for latest sightings
and other information, as well a as a source to order both.
Gary Wilson k2gw@optonline.net
Guide - Sibley, National Geographic
Local site guide, Bill Boyle's Guide to birdfinding in NJ, John and Justin Harding's Birds of the Delaware Valley.
Matt Sharp sharp@acnatsci.org
I live near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. However, I am on the border of New Jersey, which is where I do most of my birding. For bird locations, I highly recommend A Guide to Bird Finding in New Jersey by William J. Boyle, Jr.
Unfortunately, the equivalent guide for Pennsylvania is in my opinion the worst state guide I own (I have purchased and used over a dozen). The name is Birders Guide to Pennsylvania by Paula Ford. In my opinion, the directions lack the detail, clarity, and precision Ive found in other guides. The whole book is simply too general.
For my immediate region (encompassing southeastern PA, central and southern New Jersey, and northern and central Delaware) I also recommend Birding the Delaware Valley Region by John and Justin Harding. The book has not been updated since 1980, so some areas are no longer as described in the book (especially around the Philadelphia Airport), but it is still a good guide and is better than the aforementioned state guide.
With regards to field guides, I personally use two: The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, by David Allen Sibley, and the venerable Birds of Eastern and Central North America by Roger Tory Peterson.
With regards to CDs for bird songs and calls, I used Eastern/Central Birding by Ear by Richard K. Walton and Robert W. Lawson for learning. For reference, I also use Eastern/Central Bird Songs produced by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (part of the Peterson Field Guides series).
Steve Dupont birdman52@comcast.net

New York
One book is Where to find Birds in New York State by Susan Roney Drennan, and the other is put out by the Mohawk Hudson Bird Club, and covers eastern Adirondacks and Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. So far, have not put my hands on that one!! Persistence wins!! Book is Birding New Yorks Hudson-Mohawk Region, and is put out by the Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club. There is also good info on the web, specifically from Buffalo Audubon and Lake Champlain Birding Trail. Buffalo is working on a birding trail, but have not found details yet. That trail starts along Lake Erie south of Buffalo, continues north along Niagara River, Lake Ontario shoreline and then south into Iroquois Natl. Wildlife Refuge.
Other good area books that I have found include, Birds of the Blue Ridge Mountains by Marcus Simpson, Jr.
I also have Microsoft Streets and Trips with GPS. Using a laptop we can get exact information on where we are and how to get where we want to go. The other very useful software is Thayers Birding Guide. Prior to a trip you can set up a variety of quizzes, by location or by category. Again, using laptop, plan is to have this in truck, and we can replay songs, use the id wizard, and maintain trip or daily bird logs.
Nellie Hintz rnhintz@adelphia.ne

New Zealand
Your question is easy to answer as there really is only one field guide and one bird finding guide.
The field guide is The Field Guide to the Birds of NZ by Barrie Heather and Hugh Robertson. It comes in a text and plates only version. Both are easily found here, but I understand that many foreign birders have a tough time picking it up away from NZ. It can even be found in the airports, but expect to pay airport prices.
The bird finding guide is Birds of New Zealand Locality Guide by Stewart Chambers. It also has merits as a field guide, but is photorgraphs only and tends to concentrate on the more common stuff, avoiding the vagrants. It is fair to good in my opinion and will have options that most visiting birders can use to find what they are after. It is a bit shy on specifics, but will get birders to the right general area. It is much more difficult to find. It is still in print, but I have not seen it in any bookstores. The best place I have found to pick it up is at Miranda Shorebirds Centre south of Auckland, but I am sure that some of the other naturalist bookstores or park gift shops should have it.
Roger McNeill themcneills@xtra.co.nz
There are only two real choices, both by Barrie Heather and Hugh Robertson and published by Penguin Books, Auckland.
Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand contains a section of plates of almost all the birds seen in NZ in approx the last 100 years (missing only a few recent new vagrants such as Stilt Sandpiper, Franklin's Gull and Willie Wagtail - though these are mentioned in the text in an addendum). Maps/status and brief ID/habitat details are provided opposite the plates. In a seperate section of the guide fairly comprehensive details about the biology of the species are provided. A small selection of good birdwatching sites are provided (not necessarily the best sites though) The book in its latest 3rd edition (just appeared) is flexy-card bound (the first 2 eds were hardback). Downsides of the book are its weight and size (about 1 1/4 inch thick) - it would require a mightily big pocket! You would almost certainly know about it if you had to carry it all day.
The other guide I'd recommend is the Hand Guide to the Birds of New Zealand, which is essentially the above guide minus the comprehensive biology section of the book - so it contains the plates, ID tips, status, maps and the 'good birding sites'. For most overseas birders this will be all they require, though some may miss knowing when the bird breeds, how many eggs it lays, behaviour, feeding, population size, etc. The guide is roughly A5 size (like the Field Guide), so needs a big pocket unless folded, but is much more portable than the bigger guide. It is paperback, with a plastic protective cover. The book is now in its 2nd edition - not noticeably different from the first. It is available from many, even small, book stores in NZ if people can't manage to buy it mail order before their trip.
The bird-finding book is more of a problem. I still prefer Ross MacKenzie's book (In Search of Birds in New Zealand - How and Where to Find Them, published by Reed) over Stuart Chamber's (Birds of New Zealand - Locality Guide, published by Arun), even though Ross's has probably been out of print for over 30 years. It can still be picked up quite regularly in second hand book stores. It is not a site guide per se but a narrative of what particular areas of the country have (or in many cases, especially bush birds, had) to offer, with mentions of good sites, but not long lists of species or in many cases specific directions and no site maps.
Stuart's book is an identification guide cum site guide. It uses photos (largely excellent, but not as good for ID purposes as the drawings in the field guide), and paragraphs on status, ID features and some biology. After these are lists and short descriptions of where the species may be found. Many of these are good, however many are not comprehensive leaving big gaps in the range of many widespread birds - e.g. NZ Pigeon, Kingfisher, Bellbird, or downright wrong, e.g Variable Oystercatcher is common coastally in Canterbury and Fiordland, there is no mention of Pied Oystercatcher in most of the South Island, where it is a fairly common farmland and coastal species, or Rock Wren which cannot be seen in the Craigieburn Range, nor within easy walking distance of the Glacier car parks, nor near the start of the Routeburn Track (they are past the Routeburn Falls Hut about 4-5 hours along the track).
The back quarter of Stuart's book is a list of sites with target birds, and a selection of suggested itineraries. Having used the book in Auckland I can recommend it there as being mostly spot on. However for the area I live in Canterbury (and neighbouring regions) directions to sites are often either confusing, or wrong, e.g. Cass's forests (it doesn't have any) when the Hawdon Valley is meant.The bird lists are a little strange at times with vagrants being suggested as target species for many sites, or species that haven't been seen in an area for decades or are seen there so infrequently that it isn't worth mentioning them. For example some of the species on the Oceanwings (Kaikoura) trip list are perhaps seen once a year if that - Yellow-nosed Molly, Chatham Island Molly, Light-mantled Sooty Albatross, Mottled Petrel, etc.
It's a shame to say it, but this book could be so much better, and, at least in Canterbury, without having the knowledge of what to believe, and what to ignore, the book is rather disappointing and liable to lead to wasting of time looking for birds you ain't going to see at a place, if you can manage to find the place. Being perfect bound, the book tends to gain character with use as the pages tend to come loose.
Regarding sound recordings Les McPherson's set of 7 tapes/CDs is the best (New Zealand Birds - A Sound Guide). Order direct from his website http://www.archivebirdsnz.webbase.net.nz. The recordings are mostly fairly long, and include seperate recordings for different races of NZ species. The main downside of the collection is that it is a large number of tapes/CDs, and overseas birders might be more used to more concise collections of tapes/CDs. An alternative is the tape by the former Wildlife Service called Birds of New Zealand (Viking VP445C), though this isn't nearly as comprehensive missing all the introduced species and even some common or fairly regular species such as Silvereye and Tomtit, or confusion species such as Weka (mistaken by some for kiwi). I have been told this latter recording is now available on CD, but I have still to encounter it. Perhaps a truly user-friendly sound guide for overseas birders still has to be produced for NZ.
Nick Allen nick_allen@xtra.co.nz

North Carolina
The 2005 FalconGuide "Birding North Carolina" is the best overall bird-finding guide to North Carolina. For more detailed info on eastern North Carolina, there is Fussell's 1994 "Birder's Guide to Coastal North Carolina". For the western mountains Simpson's 1992 "Birds of the Blue Ridge Mountains" is very good.
Frank Clayton
doctorichabod@yahoo.com
A Birder's Guide to Coastal North Carolina, by John Fussell (Chapel Hill, N. C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1994) -- Indispensable. It's really all you need as a "birding pal". Fussell tells you where to go, how to get there, and what you'll see.
North Carolina Wildlife Viewing Guide, by Charles Roe (Helena and Billings, Montana: Falcon Press, 1992 -- Great quick reference for good locations for birding.
Birding North Carolina: More Than 40 Premier Birding Locations, edited by Marshall Brooks and Mark Johns (Helena, Montana: Falcon, The Globe Pequot Press, 2005) -- Good birder's companion, covers good birding locations.
Birding in North Carolina State Parks, Senior Editor, Karen Bearden, produced by Audubon North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C., 2002)-- Good resource since our State Parks are a great place to do your birding.
Ernie Marshall MARSHALLE@ECU.EDU

Nova Scotia
The only up-to-date and thorough guide for Nova Scotia is "The Birding Sites of Nova Scotia" by Blake Maybank, which is supplemented by a thorough companion web site: http://maybank.tripod.com/BSNS/BSNS.htm
Blake Maybank maybank@ns.sympatico.ca

Oklahoma
For Oklahoma-USA, I guess ANY of the field guides of North American birds (primarily Eastern) will do. My personal preference is Sibley's Guide to Eastern Birds, but that's just me; I could find you any number of other Oklahoma birders who prefer Peterson's or Nat'l Geographic and they all have their own reasons.
The website of the Tulsa Audubon Society (Oklahoma) offers detailed maps and notes about the birds to be found in and around Tulsa: http://www.tulsaaudubon.org/birding.htm Just about everything you'd ever want to know about when to visit Tulsa and what birds can be found here is available at that website. Cyndie Browning, Tulsa Buteoswainsoni@aol.com www.adimview.com

Ontario, Canada
For Ontario birding, here' are my suggestions for books:
For Ontario I recommend as a field guide: National Geographic's Field Guide to the Birds of North America. It is user-friendly and fits in your pocket.
The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley is great, but my problem is the illustrations and text are too small to read without reading glasses, so I tend to use it as a back-up guide.
For Warblers in the spring I use Warblers of the Americas as a back-up to National Geographic
A Bird-finding guide to Ontario by Clive E Goodwin is a must unless you know a local Birdingpal
Knud Rasmussen krkr@sympatico.ca

Oregon
For Oregon, recommend checking the website www.oregonbirds.org for purchase of the CD of Oregon Breeding Birds Atlas,Statewide and local resources including tapes, county site guides, status and distribution, checklists etc.
We use Nat'l Geo and Sibley NA as the 2 field guides most helpful for our area. Sibley for more options with drawings and Geo for the more rare species which may not be listed at all in Sibley.
For those wanting to do extensive reading on Oregon birds before a trip, BOGR - Birds of Oregon: A General Reference, has extensive status and distribution information on all the birds that have occurred in Oregon.
All of the above items are listed and for sale on the Oregon Birds website mentioned above. Some of the publications are also available from ABA Sales. Judy Meredith jmeredit@bendnet.com
For the state of Oregon I recommend The Birders Guide to Oregon by Joseph Evanich (Audubon Society of Portland, 1990). It really is the only comprehensive sight-specific birding guidebook to the entire state. Despite its age it is hands down the best. Take along a field guide and this book and you're on your way to some good birding.
Brian Quinn, Portland ukeiquinn@msn.com
For birders visiting Oregon, the best selection of books, optics, recordings, birdseed, gifts, and advice can be found at the Nature Store at the Audubon Society of Portland, 5151 NW Cornell Rd., Portland, OR 97210 http://www.audubonportland.org/naturestore/index_html (503) 292-9453 email: store@audubonportland.org Hours 10-6 Mon - Sat. 10 - 5 Sun.
I recommend Joe Evanich's The Birder's Guide to Oregon, David Sibleys Guide to the Birds of North America, the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, plus Dennis Paulson's Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest, and for beginners, either Kenn Kaufmann's or Don & Lillian Stokes guides.
Paul T. Sullivan (503) 646-7889 ptsulliv@spiritone.com
In addition to acquiring books and CDs, some like to subscribe to the mailing/discussion list Oregon Birders Online prior to their trip. They can ask for suggestions that are timely for the location they will be visiting (current rarities, etc.) and get a feel for what birds are around.
Subscription information is at: http://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/obol
B Combs
bcombs@dialoregon.net

Panama
To find birds in Panama The Panam? Audubon Society is about to release a book "Where to find birds in Panam?", Is going to be out this year.
Important bird areas in Panama by George Angehr list endangered and endemic birds of Panama and their geografic distribution.
Jose Carlos Garc?a.
joseca_10@hotmail.com
A guide to the Birds of Panama by Robert S. Riglely and John A Gwynne Jr 2nd Edition.
For the Panama City Area birds "Que Vuela Ahi ?" or "What flying there" by Jorge Ventocilla are the best choices
Ivan Rodrigo Ortiz
gamboaecotours@yahoo.com Gamboa Eco Tours & Adventures
www.geocities.com/gamboaecotours/Gamboa_Eco_Tours.html

Pennsylvania
The book, "Birding the Delaware Valley Region" is still the best publication for the Philadelphia area. The authors are John J. Harding and Justin J. Harding and the publisher is Temple University Press which is located in Philadelphia.
Ron French quetzal2@verizon.net
I live near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. However, I am on the border of New Jersey, which is where I do most of my birding. For bird locations, I highly recommend A Guide to Bird Finding in New Jersey by William J. Boyle, Jr.
Unfortunately, the equivalent guide for Pennsylvania is in my opinion the worst state guide I own (I have purchased and used over a dozen). The name is Birders Guide to Pennsylvania by Paula Ford. In my opinion, the directions lack the detail, clarity, and precision Ive found in other guides. The whole book is simply too general.
For my immediate region (encompassing southeastern PA, central and southern New Jersey, and northern and central Delaware) I also recommend Birding the Delaware Valley Region by John and Justin Harding. The book has not been updated since 1980, so some areas are no longer as described in the book (especially around the Philadelphia Airport), but it is still a good guide and is better than the aforementioned state guide.
With regards to field guides, I personally use two: The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, by David Allen Sibley, and the venerable Birds of Eastern and Central North America by Roger Tory Peterson.
With regards to CDs for bird songs and calls, I used Eastern/Central Birding by Ear by Richard K. Walton and Robert W. Lawson for learning. For reference, I also use Eastern/Central Bird Songs produced by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (part of the Peterson Field Guides series).
Steve Dupont birdman52@comcast.net
Pennsylvania Best Guides:
Susquehanna River Birding and Wildlife Tail by PA Audubon ( www.pabirdingtrails.org). Can be gotten from PA Audubon Office, 100 Wildwood Way Harrisburg, PA 17110 phone 717 213 6880 I think the price3 is $7.00.
Birders Guide to Pennsylvania by Paula Ford is only okay.
Terry Neumyer Trnbirder@aol.com

Philippines
GUIDEBOOK:
I highly recommend: A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines By: Robert S. Kennedy, Pedro C. Gonzales, Edward C. Dickinson, Hector Miranda, Timothy H. Fisher
This book however is currently (May 2006) not available in local bookstores in the Philippines.
AUDIO RECORDING:
I have tried the first edition of "Birds of Tropical Asia" by Jelle Scharringa but I think the new version: "Birds of Tropical Asia 3", DVD-ROM for Windows should be a lot better.
TRIP REPORTS:
Please visit the official website of The Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, Inc. - www.birdwatch.ph
Nilo Arribas Jr.
ph_photo_97@yahoo.com

Poland
I use Collins Bird Guide. The most complete field guide to the birds of Britain and Europe. I also use Birds of Europe and the Mediterranean area region by L. Jonsson.
I think those two books are one of the best available in Poland. Another interesting book I would recommend is "Shorebirds an identification guide" by P Hayman, J Marchant, T. Prater.
Now CD's- there is a really good CD with birds voices by Z. Palczyski - the Bird voices of Poland with voices of 150 most popular birds of Poland.
R Swierad swiergol1@o2.pl
The best Field Guides are (like for rest of Europe):
1) "Collins Bird Guide" from Lars Svensson Peter J. Grant
2) "Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East" from Lars Jonsson Polish edition "Ptaki Europy i obszaru śr?dziemnomorskiego" from Lars Jonsson German edition "Die V?gel Europas und des Mittelmeerraumes" from Lars Jonsson
The best book ever about polish birds is:
"Ptaki ziem polskich" Volume I + II from Jan Sokołowski. But is only in Polish.
Book about bird populations in Poland: "Awifauna Polski Rozmieszczenie, liczebność i zmiany" form Ludwik Tomiałojć, Tadeusz Stawarczyk. In Polish with short English summary.
Smyku smykuraf@wp.pl
The choice is very limited. I can recommend "Finding Birds in Poland" by Dave Gosney. It is a smal field guide in English to eastern part of Poland/Bialowieza Forest and Biebrza only. I bought it in Danemark. Published by Gostours UK
Marek Kolodziejczyk, Czestochowa-Poland
lingua@lingua.edu.pl

Quebec
I live in Pabos, on the south shore of Gasp? Peninsula. The local bird club published recently, the Guide to Birding Sites on the Gasp? Peninsula (available in English and also in French under title Guide des sites ornithologiques de la Gasp?sie.
These guides are available on the web site : htttp://www.cogaspesie.org
J'habite Pabos, sur le versant sud de la P?ninsule gasp?sienne, ? 30 minutes de Perc?. Le Club des ornithologues de la Gasp?sie a r?cemment publi? le Guide des sites ornithologiques de la Gasp?sie (aussi disponible en anglais sous le titre de: Guide to Birding Sites on the Gasp? Peninsula)
Ces guides sont disponibles en visitant le site web du Club des ornitholoques de la Gasp?sie http://www.cogaspesie.org. La version anglaise est aussi disponible chez ABA Sales.
Pierre Poulin oiseaux@globetrotter.net

Birders traveling to St. Pierre et Miquelon should choose a guide that provides good information on gulls and seabirds, and might even consider bringing The Seabirds by Peter Harrison. A dedicated gull guide, such as The Gulls by P.J. Grant, might also be of considerable use, particularly in the winter. Of the many excellent general-purpose field guides available, the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, and the Sibley Guide to the Birds of North America (either the large original Sibley or the smaller Eastern North America Sibley) will serve the purpose. Carrying a copy of Birds of Europe by Killian Mullarney, Lars Svensson, Dan Zetterstr?m, and Peter J. Grant is not a bad idea, either especially if you are visiting in the fall or winter.
John Pratt
w_j_pratt@hotmail.com


Russia
The best Field Guide so far as I think is "Birds of the Urals, pre Urals and West Siberia" by V.K. Riabitzev. It is published in 2002 by the University of the Urals (Ekaterinburg city).There are 1800 high quality colored pictures (not photos!) of 410 bird species on 96 plates artistically done by the author. As I know the author was planning to create CDs for the book. There are many other good birding books in Russian such as "Birds in nature" by A.N. Promptov, "Birds of Russia", "Birds of the USSR", "Field guide to the birds of the european part of the USSR", "Guide to the birds of the USSR", "Ornithological excursions" etc. But I am successfully using "The birds of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East" here as well.
Evgeny Karev evgeny_3@bashnet.ru

Senegal
A field Guide to Birds of Gambia and Senegal by Clive Barlow, Tim Wacher and Tony Disley
Pica Press
Amiti?s du Niokolo Koba wassadou@sentoo.sn
Campement Hotel de Wassadou
http://www.niokolo.com

South Africa
Personally I use Newmans "Birds of Southern Africa" by Kenneth Newman as my field guide of choice. This is the one that I use predominently and only refer to other guides as a backup. The new Roberts 7 is very good, but is no longer a field guide as it is too large and heavy and therefore can only be used for referencing.
Second choice for an all round field guide is Sasols "Birds of Southern Africa" by Ian Sinclair.
Malcolm Henderson malcolm.henderson@roche.com
The best Field Guides are the standard southern African ones.
Sinclair, Hockey and Tarboton. Birds of Southern Africa. 3rd Edition - not any of the earlier ones. I think it is published by New Holland Press in the USA - here in southern Africa it is published by Struik and is called the SASOL Guide after the principal sponsor.
Newman, K. Birds of Southern Africa. Sappi Guide. A bit dated but some people like it.
The best sound recordings are by Guy Gibbon. Bird Calls of Southern Africa. Same set of recordings that is widely used in South Africa. All the important species are there.
The best bird finding guides are a little more difficult.
Callan Cohen is bringing out a book in the next couple of months on where to watch birds in Southern Africa but I have no idea what the information is like. Otherwise the guides that are available are a bit dated. The best of which is Chittenden, H. 1992. Top Birding Spots in Southern Africa. Published by Struik??
Christopher Hines pririt@yahoo.com

Spain
Unfortunately, for Madeira Island there is still few information about it. The only book we know is: - A birdwatchers' guide to Portugal and Madeira. Moore C.C., Elias G. & Costa H., 1997. Prion Ltd., Perry.
There is a website where we are compiling information about Madeira's breeding birds, so there is a description of each bird, its habitat and nesting activity which is: http://www.madeirabirds.com
Catarina Fagundes
visitmadeira@gmail.com
For Spain birding, here is my suggestion:
Gu?a de las Aves de Espa?a. Pen?nsula, Baleares y Canarias. Eduardo de Juana & Juan M. Varela. Lynx Edicions.
Most compact and good pictures.
Jesus Laborda
jlaborda@unizar.es

Sri Lanka
For Sri Lanka birding, here' are my suggestions for books:
After my trip to Sri Lanka I recommend as a field guide: A Field Guide to the birds of Sri Lanka by John Harrison and illustrated by Tim Worfolk.
I also used Birds of India by Bikram Grewal, Bill Harwey and Otto Pfister. It uses photographs and it is difficult to identify almost all birds in it.
You may also be interested in Prasanjith Caldera's Sounds of Sinharaja. A days walk through a Rainforest in Sri Lanka
To purchase the Sounds of Sinharaja CD contact Prasanjith Caldera prasanjithcaldera@hotmail.com
Knud Rasmussen krkr@sympatico.ca

Suriname
The best field Guide for Suriname is The Birds of Venezuela by Steve Hilty 2003.
Books may be found at VACO, a bookshop in the Domineestraat, Paramaribo. CD"s cannot be find here and ther are not many books either. Those thing are better purchased before arriving in Suriname. Cornell has many CD's but I do not have more info than this.
Where to find birds, cannot be said in a few words.
Otte Ottema
otteottema@yahoo.com

Taiwan
For Taiwan birding, here' are my suggestions for books:
Taiwan - the title is 'Taiwan Wild Birds' but it is in Chinese only, as is the whole book. Bird names include English and scientific. Lovely illustrations, I think by a Japanese artist. Published by the Wild Bird Society of Taipei, it costs about HK$225. Includes all the Taiwan endemics, of course.
Andy Smith, Hong Kong andysmith99@yahoo.com

Texas
In answer to your query on best field guides for the Big Bend area, I would say the large Sibley Guide first. Not the western or eastern ones because we have many birds here from both regions. Also a good regional aid is Birds of the Trans- Pecos by Jim Peterson and Barry Zimmer. Those two books will be all a Big Bend birder needs.
Carolyn Ohl carolynohl@yahoo.com

Trinidad & Tobago
To find Tobago's unique forest birds one must visit the Gilpin trail within the Forest reserve. The Bon Accord sewerage ponds for wet land birds and the Grafton Bird Sanctuary for generalforest birds. To purchase CD of birds contact Newton George at 660-5

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Tunesia
We use a lot this one :
Name of the book: Oiseaux deurope,dafrique du nord et du moyen orient Auteur: Herman Heinzel Edition:D?lachaux et Niestl? Langue : Fran?ais
Ce livre vient de para?tre en France vers fin juin 05, il nest pas encore disponible en tunisie
Name of the book: Oiseaux de Tunisie, Birds of Tunisia
Auteur: Paul Isenmann, Thierry Gaultier, Ali El Hili, Hichem Azafzaf, Habib Dlensi et Michael Smart
Edition: SEOF
Langue: Fran?ais/Anglais
Un bon guide pour la faune et la flore mais pas sp?cialement tunisienne mais quon utilse beaucoup:
Name of the book: Toute la nature Mediterran?ene
Auteur: Paul Sterry
Edition:D?lachaux et Niestl?
Langue : Fran?ais
Ce m?me livre existe en version anglaise dailleurs cest la version original de ce bouquin
Name of the book: Collins complete Mediterranean wildlife photo guide
Auteur: Paul Sterry
Edition:Harper collins Publishers
Langue : Anglais
A Field Guide to the Raptors of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa
Name of the book: Collins Bird Guide
Auteur: Lars Svensson
Edition: Harper collins Publisher
Langue: Anglais
Nidhal Ben Abdelhamid
aao.capbon@gnet.tn

Turkey
There is a nice book for birders in Turkey. The name is: "T?rkiye'nin ?nemli Ku* Alanlar*", authors : Murat Yarar/Gernant Magnin.
The book illustarates important regions of bird sites all around Turkey.
If you are interested in very local bird places, then I can recommend a few places near my site.(I'm living in Mersin, southern coast of Turkey).
Ibrahim G?rsey
IGURSEY@sisecam.com

The best field Guide is definitely Collins Bird Guide, Svenson et al.
The best bird finding book is: Where to Watch Birds in Turkey, Greece and Cyprus Welch et al.
We use Roche Vol1-4 CD's for bird calls but they are not the best. I don't have the latest CD's. So, no comment!
Kerem Boyala
kerem.boyla@gmail.com

For Turkey I think "A birdwatchers' guide to Turkey" (Green & Moorhouse) is very usefull, and also Gosney's "Where to watch birds in ... Turkey" should be recommended. The latter is somehow a little outdated but has good maps. Supplemented by reports from the internet, you will be very well prepared.
As for all WP-countries the only field guide you need on your trip is Svenssons "Birds of Europe".
Jan Kiel
jaki@selandia-ceu.dk

The essential guide to birding in south central Turkey is Dave Gosney's 'Finding Birds in Turkey: Ankara to Birecik'. This is surely a must and if you do not have one, you can borrow from our small library. Our name is also in that book.(Part one Page 13) Also We worked with also other famous birders such as Ian Green.Our name is also in his book. A Birdwatchers' Guide to Turkey by Ian Green and Nigel Moorhouse.
Ali Safak
http://www.ozsafak.net
ozsafak@hotmail.com

United Kingdom
The best local book is by Dr Malcolm Olgilvie: The Birds of Islay I use this one daily!
Also he has produced a wonderful photograph book also called The Birds of Islay a photographic guide.
If you wish to see details of the two books that Jeremy mentions, you can find them at http://www.lochindaalpress.co.uk/
We also use The Collins Bird Guide, Lars Jonssons Birds of Europe and Mitchell Beazleys Pocket guide to the birds of Europe. It really depends upon the level of the client. They all have equal use though.
Jeremy Hastings
jeremy.hastings@onetel.net

Islay Birding
Birdwatching and Bushcraft
The Old Byre
Port Charlotte
Islay PA48 7TX
01496850010
http://www.islaybirding.co.uk

Could I recommend the following 2 books for anyone visiting the Scottish Highlands.
Best Birdwatching Sites in the Scottish Highlands.
ISBN 0 9533840 98
ISSN 0144-364 X
Price: ?15.95
Gordon Hamlett, 2005
Published (and available from) Buckingham Press, 55 Thorpe Parke Road, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE3 6LJ, United Kingdom
email: buck.press@btinternet.com
I use this all the time and keep a copy in my car for reference when on the road and asked about the best sites by visiting bird watchers. Excellent maps and clear directions of how to get to the less well known sites with comprehensive lists of the birds you can expect to see.
Scottish Birds
ISBN 0-00-719737-3
Price ?9.99
Valerie Thom, 2000
Collins
ww.collins.co.uk
Small pocket guide to 180 Scottish bird species listed by habitat. Used in conjunction with Collins Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe (Peterson) covers all eventualities and leaves little room for doubt.
David Rendell
dacamacsys@btinternet.com

In a quick look I cannot see Uk. Collins Guide to Europe is by far the best book but I recommend to new visitors the very small Larousse Guide to Britain only.
Mike Robinson
mike@nwbirds.co.uk

I recommend the Collins guide to the birds of Europe and for a pocket guide which is excellent the Mitchell beazley guide. For french birding I recommend the site guide by the Ligue Pour la Protection d'Oiseaux guide 'Ou voir les oiseaux en France' admittedly by my friend Dr Philippe Dubois a French authority on birds who meets up with me on the Isle of Ouessant south of the Scilly Isles near Brest in brittany in October most years.
The Collins guide has a CD accompanyment of all bird calls and songs which is good.Also the Fench guide has an English version Where to Watch Birds in France Second edition available from Helm publishers for around $40 post and packing or ?20 in Sterling.
Regards.
Bertram.E.B. Bree, Jersey, near France.
b_bree@hotmail.com

Virginia, USA
For birding in Metropolitan Washington and farther afield, a good book is "Finding Birds in the National Capital Area" by Claudia Wilds. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries publishes separate Birding and Wildlife Trail Guides for the Mountain, Coastal, and Piedmont Areas of Virginia.
Elaine Serlin
serlin@cox.net

Washington, USA
I think most Washington state birders would agree that the best all around "where to find 'em" guide is Hal Opperman's ABA Birdfinding Guide, A BIRDER'S GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. My personal opinion about the best field guide for ID is Sibley's, but I have several friends who prefer the Nat'l Geographic's Birds of North America.
Rolan Nelson
rnbuffle@yahoo.com

Knud - for Washington State, there is a new book, "Birds of Washington State" by Brian H. Bell and Gregory Kennedy (Lone Pine Publishing). This has 1 species per page with the usual text, an illustration, a good range map for where to find the bird within the state, Washington state status information including seasonal data, and a very useful "Best Sites" listing which complements the "Birders Guide to Washington" nicely.
Michael Hobbs, Kirkland, WA
http://www.scn.org/fomp/birding.htm
birdmarymoor@verizon.net

Washington DC, USA
For birding in Metropolitan Washington and farther afield, a good book is "Finding Birds in the National Capital Area" by Claudia Wilds. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries publishes separate Birding and Wildlife Trail Guides for the Mountain, Coastal, and Piedmont Areas of Virginia.
Elaine Serlin
serlin@cox.net

Venezuela
As I recomend most of birdwatchers that come to my country, I recomend Birds of Venezuela, written by Steven Hillty, excelent book, information and plates of birds.
I also recommend Henri Pittier National Park where you can find more than 500 species of birds. On my tours I warranty at least 150 species in a day, and of course if people make the trip around venezuela, they will see at least 800 species. In fact, venezuela have more that 1300 species of birds.
Oscar Padilla
oskarpadilla@hotmail.com


Vermont, USA
The best resource for Vermont is Birdwatching in Vermont, by Ted Murin and Bryan Pfeiffer.
There is also a Vermont listserve at VTBird@list.uvm.edu. A very good and up-to-date website is http://madbirders.org, the website of a group of birders located in the Mad River Valley but it deals with siting throughout Vermont.
Last but certainly not least is VINS, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, which is an educational and research organization with several centers around the state. They also have a raptor rehabilitation center and serve as the clearinghouse for the Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas, the Forest Bird Study, and various Christmas counts.
Another center of interest is the Birds of Vermont Museum which is located just up the road from the Vermont Audubon Society headquarters in Huntington. The museum houses hundreds of carvings of native bird species set in their specific habitat. Carver/sculptor Bob Spear is a uniquely talented artist.
There are trails for birding at all of these locations.
Charlie La Rosa
Gr8vermont@aol.com

Wisconsin, USA
An excellent guide for Wisconsin, USA - "Wisconsin Bird Haunts" edited by Daryl Tessen. Contains numerous detailed descriptions of all the local birding sites written by the local area specialists. Available through through the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology website and also the American Birding Association website.
Delia Unson, Madison
delia_chuck@tds.net

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[birding]

Birders traveling to St. Pierre et Miquelon should choose a guide that provides good information on gulls and seabirds, and might even consider bringing The Seabirds by Peter Harrison. A dedicated gull guide, such as The Gulls by P.J. Grant, might also be of considerable use, particularly in the winter. Of the many excellent general-purpose field guides available, the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, and the Sibley Guide to the Birds of North America (either the large original Sibley or the smaller Eastern North America Sibley) will serve the purpose. Carrying a copy of Birds of Europe by Killian Mullarney, Lars Svensson, Dan Zetterstr?m, and Peter J. Grant is not a bad idea, either especially if you are visiting in the fall or winter.
John Pratt
w_j_pratt@hotmail.com

[birding]

Field Guides: Birds of the West Indies (Princeton Field Guides). Author: Herbert A Raffaele, James Wiley, Orlando H Garrido, Allan R Keith, Janis I Raffaele is the best for West Indies. North American birders may need a guide to European birds for vagrants in Barbados. While Europeans may want a guide to N.American birds for migrants.
Wayne Burke. docinbarbados@yahoo.com

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[birding]

For my trip to Ethiopia March 2007 we used Ian Sinclair and Peter Ryans Birds of Africa, South of the Sahara. A big book but properly the best guide available. Its user-friendly but for many species only one illustration is used making it difficult to identify many birds.
We also used Bird Recordings from Ethiopia by Steve Smith. 72 announced species. Home-made quality. It is available from WildSounds, UK e-mail address isales@wildsounds.com
Knud Rasmussen
knud@birdingpal.org

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[birding]

Birds of Costa Rica by Stiles and Skutch.
This book is a classic, and as is the case with classics it has aged somewhat unevenly. Following the typical format for older field guides, the illustrations are all in the middle of the book, and the user must therefore thumb furiously from one end to the other in search of the written species descriptions. The plates have cursory written descriptions, but these are sometimes at variance with the more detailed text. There are no range maps, and a lot of the range information is quite outdated either because the species in question has changed its range, or because more is now known. Recent lumps and splits are not represented. For example, Paserrinis Tanager and Cherries Tanager are treated as a single species Scarlet-Rumped Tanager.
A new guide to the birds of Costa Rica by Richard Garrigues is due out in the early summer of 2007 and may be worth the wait.
All that said, however, Stiles and Skutch is invaluable, and the small annoyances are greatly outweighed by the depth of information that the book provides. One caution: some people would have you cut the plates out and take them with you while leaving the text behind. That, in my opinion, would be simply dumb. It IS a big book, but the text is essential to proper identification of many species. Besides, it is just wrong to desecrate such a great book. If you want, you can purchase a quick-reference folding card of the common birds of Costa Rica. There is also a small photographic pocket guide of the 250 more common species that could be useful. Both publications, printed in English, are relatively easily obtained in Costa Rica.
John Pratt, Ottawa, Canada
w_j_pratt@hotmail.com

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After my trip to Pantanal I recommend as a field guide: Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica by Martin R de la Pena and Maurice Rumboll.
It is not a very user-friendly guide and some of the illustrations are somewhat confusing but it was the only one I could find.
The new Collins Field Guide "Birds of South America" by Jorge R. Rodriguez Mata, Francisco Erize and Maurice Rumboll is better.
For southern Brazil this guide book Guia de Campo Avis Brasilis by Tomas Sigrist and Eduardo Brettas is available but only in Portugese, but will be available in English early 2008
Details here http://www.avisbrasilis.com.br/descrica ... ecampo.asp
Knud Rasmussen
knud@birdingpal.org

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[birding]

Recommended books for birding Guatemala:
1. Howell, S.N.G. & S. Webb (1995) A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford Univ. Press. 851 pages. ISBN 0198540124
Comprehensive (and bulky) field guide for the region. I prefer this book over all other currently available guide books for its extensive information on ID, habitat, distribution, range maps, and Sophie Webb's outstanding drawings. The book has no illustrations of North American species; it requires a book for North American birds as companion.
2. Eisermann, K. & C. Avenda?o (2007)Lista Comentada de las Aves de Guatemala/Annotated checklist of the birds if Guatemala. 175 pages. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 849655340X
This checklist presents updated information on bird distribution in Guatemala, including range maps for 115 species, and is therefore a good companion to Howell & Webb's guide book. List of 725 bird species, incl. information about status, habitats and endemic species, along with detailed distribution maps, information on species to look for and species of special concern.
3. To identify birds of North America and waterbirds in Guatemala, I recommend Sibley, D.A. (2000) National Audubon Society The Sibley guide to bird. Knopf, New York. 545 pages. ISBN 0679451226., which illustrates different plumages and all species in flight. For long birding hikes is more practical the smaller National Geographic Society Field guide to the birds of North America, currently available as 5th edition (ISBN 0792253140).
Knut Eisermann, Cayaya Birding, Guatemala, knut.eisermann@cayaya-birding.com

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[birding]

Guide books and CDs recommended
1. Birds of Bhutan Carol Inskipp, Tim Inskipp & Richard Grimmett
2. Birds in Bhutan Peter Spierenburg
3. Bhutan (Lonely Planet) Stan Armington
4. Bhutan A trekkers Guide Bart Jordans
5. A Field Guide to the Mammals of Bhutan- Tashi Wangchuk
6. CD of Bhutan Bird Calls not yet released but many calls available with Birdingpal Hishey Tshering
hishey@druknet.bt

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[birding]

Birds of Japan by Mark Brazil is not out-of-print (despite what American booksellers say); it is still available from the UK, new; I recommend buyers go to www.wildsounds.com. I have copies of A Birdwatcher's Guide to Japan, still available should anyone wish to buy one.
Next year my new book: Field Guide to the Birds of East Asia will be published.
Mark Brazil, Author. markbrazil@world.email.ne.jp

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[birding]

Birding Babylon: A Soldier's Journal from Iraq by Jonathan Trouern-Trend
ISBN: 1578051312 Publisher: Sierra Club Books - May 2006 Format: Hardcover, 80pp
Christina Lee Kessler. christina.kessler@us.army.mi
The Birds of Iraq Book, recently published by Nature Iraq, in a joint project with Birdlife International and with support from the Canada-Iraq Marshland Initiative (CIMI), is now available for purchase in Jordan & Iraq. Amman Office of Nature Iraq. The price of the book in Jordan is 14 JD or $20 USD. Shipment from Jordan can be arranged at an additional cost. For ordering from Jordan, write to info@natureiraq.org or call +962 6 5923736.

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[birding]

I am a professional bird guide, writer, speaker and broadcaster. I am the author of the best-selling and award winning, Complete Guide to Ireland's Birds (1993 with a revised edition in 2002), the Pocket Guide to the Common Birds of Ireland and, in 2007, 'The Complete Guide to Finding Birds in Ireland'. The Finding Birds book details over 400 birding sites in the country and has received excellent reviews in Ireland and the UK.
Birdingpal Eric Dempsey
birdsireland@eircom.net

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[birding]

For birding guides, the best one is now the Birds of Northern South America by Robin Restall, Clemencia Rodner, and Miguel Lentino.
Judy Karwacki
judy(AT)smallplanetconsulting.ca

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[birding]

Bird guide in Serbian "Ptice Srbije" by D. Simic & S. Puzovic
I am happy to announce that a long overdue booklet, the first ever bird guide in Serbian, "Ptice Srbije", is about to be published next week. It has 48 pages (21x12 cm), and covers 138 bird species on 30 pages, while the next 16 pages are devoted to Serbia's 35 Important Bird Areas. Circulation: 3000 copies. Authors: D. Simic & S. Puzovic.
I would also like to thank all those individuals who have contributed in any way, directly or indirectly, and helped this booklet to be born (in alphabetical order): Ade Long, Borut Rubinic, Darko Saveljic, Goran Sekulic, Ian Burfield, Jyrki M?kel?, Maciej Szymanski, Nebojsa Covic, Srdjan Belij, Todor Todorov and Werner M?ller.
Institutions and companies that should be acknowledged at this occasion are the BirdLife Switzerland, the Environmental Secretariat of the City of Belgrade, Publikum, Delta Maxy and the Institute for protection of Nature of Serbia.
I also recommend Collins Bird Guide The Most Complete Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe by Mullraney, Svensson, Zetterstrom & Grant, if you bird Serbia.
Dragan Simic
Vice Chair, League for Ornithological Action of Serbia
Mobile +381 (0)63 7669239
E-mail birdingserbia@gmail.com

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Hawaii Wildlife Viewing Guide written by Jeanne L. Clark details viewing locations for wildlife on all the major Hawaiian islands. Introduce your family and friends to responsible viewing of the wonders of birds, whales and dolphins, sea turtles and monk seals on your Hawaii vacation. Available on-line at www.hawaiiwildlife.org.
The Hawaii Audubon Society's Hawaii's Birds isalways excellent.
Annette Kaohelaulii
President
Hawaii Ecotourism Association

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[birding]

The best guide for birding locations in Wisconsin is "Wisconsin's Favorite Bird Haunts? compiled by Daryl Tessen.
Birdingpal Bob Smidt
jrsmidt99@sbcglobal.net

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[birding]

A valuable new publication for visitors to Ireland is FINDING BIRDS IN IRELAND - The Complete Guide: by Eric Dempsey and Michael O'Clery, published by Gill and McMillan.
Dermot McCabe
dermot.mccabe@gmail.com

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[birding]

A Field Guide To The Birds of Borneo, Sumatera, Java and Bali by John Mackinnon and Karen Phillipps
Jason Bugay Reyes horukuru@yahoo.com

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[birding]

Birdingpal Mark Brazil's new Field Guide to the Birds of East Asia http://sites.google.com/site/birdsofeastasia/Home

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[birding]

Azerbaijan
Collins Bird Guide: Birds of Britain and Europe. Svensson et al.
Birdwatching in Azerbaijan - a guide to nature and landscape. Schmidt, Gauger, Agayeva (2008).
Birds of Azerbaijan. Patrikeev (2004).
The Bird Songs of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Schulze, Dingler (2007).
Birdingpal Kai Gauger. kai_gauger(AT)yahoo.de.

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[birding]

Find the latest recommendations by Birdingpals for field guides etc.
http://www.birdingpal.org/guidebooks.htm#r

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[birding]

Birdingpal Deborah Cohen recommendations for field guides to Arkansas
http://www.birdingpal.org/guidebooks.htm#k19

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[birding]

A Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil
Ber van Perlo $39.95 In Stock, Paperback, Sep 2009
ISBN13: 9780195301557
ISBN10: 0195301552
The first comprehensive and portable field guide to the 1800 bird species found in Brazil, featuring 187 gorgeous, original full-color plates
Oxford University Press
http://www.us.oup.com/us/?view=

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Antarctica - First Journey
The Traveller's Recourse Guide
By
Birdingpal Geoffrey Carpentier
If you are interested in his book contact Geoff avocet(AT)rogers.com

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[birding]

Visiting Ecuador check out Birdingpal Pablo Andrade's books

Flora Y Fauna Guia Del Sur Occidente Del Ecuador (Spanish Edition)
By: Chris Jiggins Pablo Andrade Eduardo Cueva
El libro proporciona la informaci?n en 76 especies de p?jaros, de plantas, de mam?feros y de insectos de Ecuador. Cada descripci?n de la especie es acompa?ada por una ilustraci?n as? como la informaci?n sobre la ecolog?a, los nombres locales y las aplicaciones. Los beneficios de la venta de esta gu?a ir?n hacia la conservaci?n del bosque en Ecuador.

Equador Nature Guide: Southwest Forests
By: Chris Jiggins Pablo Andrade Eduardo Cueva

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[birding]

Unfortunately, for Madeira Island there is still few information about it. The only book we know is: - A birdwatchers' guide to Portugal and Madeira. Moore C.C., Elias G. & Costa H., 1997. Prion Ltd., Perry.
There is a website where we are compiling information about Madeira's breeding birds, so there is a description of each bird, its habitat and nesting activity which is: http://www.madeirabirds.com
Catarina Fagundes
visitmadeira(AT)gmail.com

As everywhere in the Western Palearctic, the Collin's Bird Guide (Svensson et al., 2000, but soon available in a revised edition) is enough to identify most birds. A very good alternative is Lars Jonsson (2005) Birds of Europe.
The exception that sets the rule is identification of a few Category C birds (introduced birds with self sustainable populations: Black-headed Weaver Ploceus melanocephalus, Yellow-crowned bishop Euplectes afer, Red Avadavat Amandava amandava, Black-headed Munia Lonchura mallaca, Crested Myna Acridotheres cristatellus). (Other introduced species still not included in the WP list are mentioned in these pages: http://www.triplov.com/matias/index.html
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_de_e ... m_Portugal) These birds are more or less straightforward to identify using field notes against pictures. For now none of the Western Palearctic guides cover all these cat. C birds, except for Matias (2003) (http://biblioteca.avesdeportugal.info/---.html) which was distributed by volunteers in the national atlas and to my knowledge it is not for sale.
A birdwatchers' guide to Portugal and Madeira. Moore C.C., Elias G. & Costa H., 1997. Prion Ltd., Perry. covers main hotspots but is a bit outdated. Gosney (2005) suffers of the same problem.
Knowledge of the Portuguese language can be quite helpfull. A few good books were only published in Portuguese, including the national Atlas (2008; http://biblioteca.avesdeportugal.info/atlasdasaves.html) and a quite detailed book on where to watch birds in Southern Portugal (Costa, 2003).
All relevant titles are indexed here: http://biblioteca.avesdeportugal.info/data.html)
For the Azores and Madeira, Field Guide to the Birds of the Atlantic Islands (Clarke et al.,2006) provides useful information, ideally to be used along with Svensson's Bird Guide or a similar identification book.
I'd also reccomend consulting Petrels night and Day (Robb et al., 2009), since there is much taxonomical debate going on and this book offers some of the best arguments towards splitting some macaronesian seabird specialties.
If surveying Flores and Corvo for Nearctic vagrants, The North American Bird Guide by Sibley (2007) covers all possible vagrants with detail.
Jo?o Tiago Rocha Tavares omnicogni(AT)gmail.com

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[birding]

You may want to check out Birdingpal Aasheesh Pittie's new book
BIRDS IN BOOKS
Three Hundred Years of South Asian Ornithology
A Bibliography
by Aasheesh Pittie
aasheesh.pittie@gmail.com

http://permanent-black.blogspot.com/201 ... orded.html

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