- Unknown Binding: 318 pages
- Publisher: Collins; 3rd revised ed.reprinted edition (1959)
- Language English
- ASIN: B001OPDR78
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
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First Sentence
Large swimming, ground-nesting birds of taiga and tundra waters, spending most of year in coastal seas. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Large swimming, ground-nesting birds of taiga and tundra waters, spending most of year in coastal seas. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I use both this and the newer Collins guide by Lars Svensson, but when I can only take one field guide with me, I take the Peterson. His immensely skillful paintings, which I appreciate more each time I use them, still seem to be the best available at showing the significant differentiating details that actually help me to identify new birds. Peterson also didn't allow his painted birds to strike eccentric poses that can make comparison between species difficult. (The paintings by Killian Mullarney that make up half of the Svensson book give Peterson a run for his money in clarity and beauty, but the other half, by Dan Zetterstrom, do not.)
The textual descriptions in Svensson's book are longer and more helpful on behavior than those in Peterson's, so it's nice to check my observations against Svensson when I get home. But I find the Svensson guide large, heavy, and tiring to carry around compared to the more compact Peterson. Compared to Peterson, Svensson has too few birds illustrated per page (and many of them are from regions of Europe far, far away), so that flipping through the pages to find the bird you've just seen is always faster and less frustrating in Peterson. Strangely, in this regard I suppose the dated format of Peterson's guide--with all the plates bound together on glossy paper at the center of the book--is really an advantage: you can visually home in on the right bird with minimal turning of pages. Perhaps the best of all worlds would be a format more like Peterson's American field guides--which find a happy medium between the closely-packed visual conciseness of this guide and the thick sprawl of Svensson--but in the meantime I much prefer this.
Both books are pan-European in coverage, but Svensson does have some added value for birders in Scandinavia, with more prominent illustrations of the local races of birds that are especially characteristic of this region--just as Peterson has added value for birders in the British Isles, who are likelier to encounter the British races of many species to which Peterson gives pride of place in his plates.
In sum, I would say that you really cannot go wrong with Peterson as your primary or indeed only European bird book--and certainly not if you live in Britain. This guide has won its place in my heart and my field bag.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am spurned to rate this book due to the only other review being a bit harsh in my opinion. I have been using this book (from the institute's library where I have been a student placement) for a year and found it good. The lay-out is quite normal for Collins guides, effectively arranging text and images, and maps in this case, into sections for the sake of expediency. Pictures can be browsed, without the distracting text, to find a 'match' in the field (as one does); text can then be referred to as can the maps. It also serves to keep the book to a nearly manageable size - something that I find is a problem with good ornithology field guides.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have just started learning more about birds and was recommended Rory Tory Peterson's US Field Guides. This book brings the same detail to European birds. It gives easy to read information for the learner on identification, habitats, calls, range, etc. The colour plates show the natural position of the birds and identification indicators. Much more useful than some of the fanciful positions of birds in other guides I looked at. Having the range maps at the back allowed me to quickly build up a list of birds I could experience in my location. All fuel for my new enthusiasm. A good reference, a great read.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Too technical for the average nature-loverr?
If you've previously used the 1983 Collins guide, you'll find this an improvement. However, for the casual nature enthusiast, it shares the same basic problem. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Peasant
It's still the best - despite strong competition,
Whilst the 'Black Cover' Collins Bird Guide, now twelve years old, is rightly hailed as an excellent, beautiful book, I truly believe this book, a nineteen year old edition, still... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Wyndham
A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe (Collins Field Guide)
Giving the name of species in other languages makes this book particularly useful if you live outside Britain.
Published on 25 Dec 2009 by Mark Yates
Not Bad
A bit disappoiting, difficult to navigate. The descriptions, maps and prints are in separate places
Published on 3 Jun 2009 by Mr. P. Bowman
No longer a top field guide.
This book was originally published in 1954, and although it has been revised several times since then, in my opinion it is now time move on. Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2007 by Horse-stinger
Peterson a classic!
This was my first birdbook, and I got it almost 35 years ago. " Peterson " as it is called among birdwatches has served me well during scientific fieldwork in Lofoten islands and... Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2007 by Lars Rustan Andersson
Listmania!
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