This new Helm Field Guide covers the species-rich Melanesia region of the south-west Pacific, from New Caledonia and the Solomons through the Bismarcks to Vanuatu, an increasingly popular destination for tours and travellers and one that has never before had complete field-guide coverage. The cover star is the Kagu, the region's most iconic bird species and a highly sought-after endemic of New Caledonia. Superb colour plates illustrate the 650 species that occur in the region, allied with concise identification text and a series of distribution colour bars. For anyone travelling to this far-flung Pacific region, this book is indispensable.
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About the Author
Guy Dutson is an ornithologist and tour-leader, and is the world's leading authority on the birds of the south-west Pacific, a region in which he has described or rediscovered several species. He has led expeditions to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, in the course of which he rediscovered the Superb Pitta on Manus. Expeditions to Indonesia and the Philippines led to the rediscovery of the Tanahjampea Monarch and the find for which he is perhaps best known, the Cebu Flowerpecker. In 2008 Dutson described a new species, the Vanikoro White-eye.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By K. F. Betton
Format:Paperback
Melanesia is one of those regions that most experienced birders would have some trouble pinpointing on a map. In fact before I picked up this book I did not realise I'd visited the area already! It covers some 108,000 sq km with many islands, although dominated by the Bismarcks and New Caledonia. Most of these arose from submarine volcanoes and are generally steep and bird-rich, although some are coral atolls and are relatively poor in birds.
This book is the first field guide to cover all of Melanesia and it features 501 species, of which 377 are resident. Significantly 204 of these are endemic to the region. Helm did produce a much smaller field guide in 1999, but that just covered the Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia - so this new work covers an additional 139 species.
In pure geographical terms, Melanesia often includes continental New Guinea, but this book just covers the islands which could perhaps be referred to more precisely as Island Melanesia. A series of maps clearly shows those areas that are included: Admiralty, St Matthias and Bismarck islands off New Guinea, the Solomon Islands including Bougainville and Temotu (Santa Cruz), Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
The layout is the typical Helm format of text facing illustrations by Richard Allen, Adam Bowley, John Cox and Tony Disley. These are absolutely superb, and although there are around eight species per page, the book does not feel crowded. Many of the plates are arranged by island group for convenience, although this takes a while to get used to at first. The text here simply describes the main identification features, although ignores voice. Sub-specific differences are also noted here.
I am often disappointed when field guides do not include maps, but here the author uses a series of 14 distribution bars in six different colours to indicate status on each island grouping. This is a great idea and works really well. Only extreme vagrants don't benefit from this. The same information is displayed in the introductory chapters by use of a very useful table that spans 14 pages. There is also a five-page gazetteer.
The back half of this book is devoted to more advanced information on each species, with detailed descriptions, comparisons with similar species, voice, habits, conservation status and range. The author uses the IOC names as his framework, but also gives alternatives, as well as the French name and a local name where the species has a very restricted range.
Additional chapters provide useful information about each of the island groups, together with background on the habitats and climate and conservation. One might imagine that being remote, these islands would face few conservation threats. In fact 13% of the resident bird species are listed as globally threatened - and importantly that relates to 23% of the endemic species. The main problems that need to be addressed are forest loss and the introduction of alien predators.
This is one of the best field guides I have seen in recent years. Given the significant challenge of being comprehensive (for example the Solomon Islands archipelago consists of over 900 islands!) it makes everything really easy to understand. It incorporates all of the features that you need and has been produced at a price that compares very favourably.
This book is the first field guide to cover all of Melanesia and it features 501 species, of which 377 are resident. Significantly 204 of these are endemic to the region. Helm did produce a much smaller field guide in 1999, but that just covered the Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia - so this new work covers an additional 139 species.
In pure geographical terms, Melanesia often includes continental New Guinea, but this book just covers the islands which could perhaps be referred to more precisely as Island Melanesia. A series of maps clearly shows those areas that are included: Admiralty, St Matthias and Bismarck islands off New Guinea, the Solomon Islands including Bougainville and Temotu (Santa Cruz), Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
The layout is the typical Helm format of text facing illustrations by Richard Allen, Adam Bowley, John Cox and Tony Disley. These are absolutely superb, and although there are around eight species per page, the book does not feel crowded. Many of the plates are arranged by island group for convenience, although this takes a while to get used to at first. The text here simply describes the main identification features, although ignores voice. Sub-specific differences are also noted here.
I am often disappointed when field guides do not include maps, but here the author uses a series of 14 distribution bars in six different colours to indicate status on each island grouping. This is a great idea and works really well. Only extreme vagrants don't benefit from this. The same information is displayed in the introductory chapters by use of a very useful table that spans 14 pages. There is also a five-page gazetteer.
The back half of this book is devoted to more advanced information on each species, with detailed descriptions, comparisons with similar species, voice, habits, conservation status and range. The author uses the IOC names as his framework, but also gives alternatives, as well as the French name and a local name where the species has a very restricted range.
Additional chapters provide useful information about each of the island groups, together with background on the habitats and climate and conservation. One might imagine that being remote, these islands would face few conservation threats. In fact 13% of the resident bird species are listed as globally threatened - and importantly that relates to 23% of the endemic species. The main problems that need to be addressed are forest loss and the introduction of alien predators.
This is one of the best field guides I have seen in recent years. Given the significant challenge of being comprehensive (for example the Solomon Islands archipelago consists of over 900 islands!) it makes everything really easy to understand. It incorporates all of the features that you need and has been produced at a price that compares very favourably.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The birds of the Bismark Archipelago, the Solomans, Vanuatu and New Caledonia hold some real avian treasures and few guides have covered these areas with as much thoroughness as Guy Dutson. The artwork is very good and consistent and there is a wealth of information on the region.
The book begins with the contents which is fairly standard till you get to the plates list which are color coded for the region and sub-region. 60 plates illustrate the birds of the whole region then there are 9 plates for the species specific to the Solomans, then those of Makira, Rennell, Temotu and so on totaling 86 plates in all. This makes each of the specific regions very easy to find to compare those specific species one is looking for.
Then comes the introduction with several nice maps of the islands in the region concerned and information about island types, habitat, endemism, migration and bird topography, then a nice section on birding sites. A list of threatened species and where they exist and a couple of pages explaining the color coding in the book which is quite complex but needs to be in a region covered by so many islands.
This is then followed by a complete list of the species of Melanesia. Each island has a column with the birds status color coded from the information on the preceding page about if it is endemic, a migrant, a resident etc...
Following this come the plates. Each species is shown with a couple of depictions for moult, flight, juvenile or different plumages where relevant. Most of the plates are not crowded though a few with flight shots area little but I prefer this to going to plates depicting flight shots then going back to the plate with a roosted bird for comparison. All the images are bright, clean and show good detail. The information on the left has some description notes with a chart for each of the islands it inhabits with color codes for its status there. There is a also a page reference for the second part of the book which is the species accounts. These begin after the 86 color plates. The species accounts elaborate more on each of the species concerned within the plates with notes on description, similar species, voice, habits, conservation status and range. The book finishes with a gazetteer and index.
Overall this is a fantastic guide with beautiful plates and good information about the species concerned. You'll need to learn the color codes but these are vital to the book and your ease of use in the field. It is not a slim, compact guide by any means but when you have the need for such complex information and so many species it's not easy to slim it down without losing too much information. This guide is still portable and will fit in any bumbag for ease of transport throughout the day. This is also the most current and up to date guide to the region and great for any lucky birder in the field or dreaming birder in the armchair.
Mayr and Diamond's book The Birds of Northern Melanesia cover some of the same species though this is not a guide but about research and endemism across the islands of the Bismark Archipelago and the Solomans. Pratt's guide to The birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific cover the rest of the Pacific and duPont's book on South Pacific Birds also covers some of the region.
The Birds of Northern Melanesia: Speciation, Ecology, and Biogeography
A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific
South Pacific birds (Monograph series / Delaware Museum of Natural History)
The book begins with the contents which is fairly standard till you get to the plates list which are color coded for the region and sub-region. 60 plates illustrate the birds of the whole region then there are 9 plates for the species specific to the Solomans, then those of Makira, Rennell, Temotu and so on totaling 86 plates in all. This makes each of the specific regions very easy to find to compare those specific species one is looking for.
Then comes the introduction with several nice maps of the islands in the region concerned and information about island types, habitat, endemism, migration and bird topography, then a nice section on birding sites. A list of threatened species and where they exist and a couple of pages explaining the color coding in the book which is quite complex but needs to be in a region covered by so many islands.
This is then followed by a complete list of the species of Melanesia. Each island has a column with the birds status color coded from the information on the preceding page about if it is endemic, a migrant, a resident etc...
Following this come the plates. Each species is shown with a couple of depictions for moult, flight, juvenile or different plumages where relevant. Most of the plates are not crowded though a few with flight shots area little but I prefer this to going to plates depicting flight shots then going back to the plate with a roosted bird for comparison. All the images are bright, clean and show good detail. The information on the left has some description notes with a chart for each of the islands it inhabits with color codes for its status there. There is a also a page reference for the second part of the book which is the species accounts. These begin after the 86 color plates. The species accounts elaborate more on each of the species concerned within the plates with notes on description, similar species, voice, habits, conservation status and range. The book finishes with a gazetteer and index.
Overall this is a fantastic guide with beautiful plates and good information about the species concerned. You'll need to learn the color codes but these are vital to the book and your ease of use in the field. It is not a slim, compact guide by any means but when you have the need for such complex information and so many species it's not easy to slim it down without losing too much information. This guide is still portable and will fit in any bumbag for ease of transport throughout the day. This is also the most current and up to date guide to the region and great for any lucky birder in the field or dreaming birder in the armchair.
Mayr and Diamond's book The Birds of Northern Melanesia cover some of the same species though this is not a guide but about research and endemism across the islands of the Bismark Archipelago and the Solomans. Pratt's guide to The birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific cover the rest of the Pacific and duPont's book on South Pacific Birds also covers some of the region.
The Birds of Northern Melanesia: Speciation, Ecology, and Biogeography
A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific
South Pacific birds (Monograph series / Delaware Museum of Natural History)
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.7 out of 5 stars
3 reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Field Guide to Exotic Locales
7 Mar 2012
By A. E. Wright
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
It's a pleasure to leaf through this guide, which will serve very well indeed the author's and artists' intention to "stimulate the study and conservation" of the beautiful birds of a remote and alluring part of the globe. The guide comprises two sections, one containing 86 beautiful plates with their facing-page captions and distribution charts, the other the species accounts. The texts are headed with the species' English, French, and scientific names, often with notes indicating different taxonomic approaches, and include a description, an often extensive treatment of similar species, voice descriptions, accounts of habit and habitat often including flight style, a statement of each bird's conservation status, and a detailed (often island-by-island) summary of geographic distribution. To minimize page flipping, the guide's passerine plates are broken into seven color-coded sections, one for each of the major island groups included. Thus, the birder visiting New Caledonia and confronted with an unfamiliar songbird has to consult only five plates, the visitor to the Bismarcks 11, and so on; the non-passerines, many of which, especially the water birds, are widely distributed among the islands, occupy the first 49 plates. There is necessarily some repetition in the case of species occurring across several island groups, but the artists and the designer have taken this as an opportunity to display regional variation in several species; have a look, for example, at the various Island Thrushes or the Cardinal Myzomelas, some of which differ strikingly from their counterparts on other islands.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Comprehensive Guide to a rarely covered area of the Birding Globe
8 Oct 2012
By Mike "Madbirder" Nelson
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The birds of the Bismark Archipelago, the Solomans, Vanuatu and New Caledonia hold some real avian treasures and few guides have covered these areas with as much thoroughness as Guy Dutson. The artwork is very good and consistent and there is a wealth of information on the region.
The book begins with the contents which is fairly standard till you get to the plates list which are color coded for the region and sub-region. 60 plates illustrate the birds of the whole region then there are 9 plates for the species specific to the Solomans, then those of Makira, Rennell, Temotu and so on totaling 86 plates in all. This makes each of the specific regions very easy to find to compare those specific species one is looking for.
Then comes the introduction with several nice maps of the islands in the region concerned and information about island types, habitat, endemism, migration and bird topography, then a nice section on birding sites. A list of threatened species and where they exist and a couple of pages explaining the color coding in the book which is quite complex but needs to be in a region covered by so many islands.
This is then followed by a complete list of the species of Melanesia. Each island has a column with the birds status color coded from the information on the preceding page about if it is endemic, a migrant, a resident etc...
Following this come the plates. Each species is shown with a couple of depictions for moult, flight, juvenile or different plumages where relevant. Most of the plates are not crowded though a few with flight shots area little but I prefer this to going to plates depicting flight shots then going back to the plate with a roosted bird for comparison. All the images are bright, clean and show good detail. The information on the left has some description notes with a chart for each of the islands it inhabits with color codes for its status there. There is a also a page reference for the second part of the book which is the species accounts. These begin after the 86 color plates. The species accounts elaborate more on each of the species concerned within the plates with notes on description, similar species, voice, habits, conservation status and range. The book finishes with a gazetteer and index.
Overall this is a fantastic guide with beautiful plates and good information about the species concerned. You'll need to learn the color codes but these are vital to the book and your ease of use in the field. It is not a slim, compact guide by any means but when you have the need for such complex information and so many species it's not easy to slim it down without losing too much information. This guide is still portable and will fit in any bumbag for ease of transport throughout the day. This is also the most current and up to date guide to the region and great for any lucky birder in the field or dreaming birder in the armchair.
Mayr and Diamond's book The Birds of Northern Melanesia cover some of the same species though this is not a guide but about research and endemism across the islands of the Bismark Archipelago and the Solomans. Pratt's guide to The birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific cover the rest of the Pacific and duPont's book on South Pacific Birds also covers some of the region.
The Birds of Northern Melanesia: Speciation, Ecology, and Biogeography
A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific
South Pacific Birds, 2nd Revised and Updated Edition
The book begins with the contents which is fairly standard till you get to the plates list which are color coded for the region and sub-region. 60 plates illustrate the birds of the whole region then there are 9 plates for the species specific to the Solomans, then those of Makira, Rennell, Temotu and so on totaling 86 plates in all. This makes each of the specific regions very easy to find to compare those specific species one is looking for.
Then comes the introduction with several nice maps of the islands in the region concerned and information about island types, habitat, endemism, migration and bird topography, then a nice section on birding sites. A list of threatened species and where they exist and a couple of pages explaining the color coding in the book which is quite complex but needs to be in a region covered by so many islands.
This is then followed by a complete list of the species of Melanesia. Each island has a column with the birds status color coded from the information on the preceding page about if it is endemic, a migrant, a resident etc...
Following this come the plates. Each species is shown with a couple of depictions for moult, flight, juvenile or different plumages where relevant. Most of the plates are not crowded though a few with flight shots area little but I prefer this to going to plates depicting flight shots then going back to the plate with a roosted bird for comparison. All the images are bright, clean and show good detail. The information on the left has some description notes with a chart for each of the islands it inhabits with color codes for its status there. There is a also a page reference for the second part of the book which is the species accounts. These begin after the 86 color plates. The species accounts elaborate more on each of the species concerned within the plates with notes on description, similar species, voice, habits, conservation status and range. The book finishes with a gazetteer and index.
Overall this is a fantastic guide with beautiful plates and good information about the species concerned. You'll need to learn the color codes but these are vital to the book and your ease of use in the field. It is not a slim, compact guide by any means but when you have the need for such complex information and so many species it's not easy to slim it down without losing too much information. This guide is still portable and will fit in any bumbag for ease of transport throughout the day. This is also the most current and up to date guide to the region and great for any lucky birder in the field or dreaming birder in the armchair.
Mayr and Diamond's book The Birds of Northern Melanesia cover some of the same species though this is not a guide but about research and endemism across the islands of the Bismark Archipelago and the Solomans. Pratt's guide to The birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific cover the rest of the Pacific and duPont's book on South Pacific Birds also covers some of the region.
The Birds of Northern Melanesia: Speciation, Ecology, and Biogeography
A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific
South Pacific Birds, 2nd Revised and Updated Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars
Passed first test
24 Nov 2012
By Elizabeth Zimmerman
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I just had the opportunity to try this reference in New Caledonia and Vanuatu, and found it very helpful. Because I was on a cruise, I didn't have the chance to try the book on a real birding trip, but I hope to have the chance someday.
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4.7 out of 5 stars
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