Birds of New Zealand, Hawaii, Central and West Pacific (Collins Field Guide) [Hardcover]

Given that this book has to cover 780 species in twenty political entities, you might imagine that it is substantial. However it is incredibly small - in fact too small. Measuring just 20 cm by 13 cm (the same as Collins's recent volumes on the Palearctic by Norman Arlott), up to ten species are featured in each double page spread, with text and maps on the left-facing colour illustrations.

The area covered is so enormous it is hard to contemplate. The distance from Palau at the western extreme across to the Pitcairn Islands in the east is 11,500 kilometres, which is even further than the distance from Palau to the UK! Needless to say there are plenty of endemics on offer across the range with New Zealand and Hawaii hosting 65 and 33 respectively. A further 87 endemics are to be found in the other areas covered by the book. In declining order of endemism these are Fiji (28), French Polynesia (24), Micronesia (15), Palau (10), Samoa (8), Cook Islands (6), Pitcairn Islands (5), Tonga and North Marianas (2 each), Kiribati and Guam (1 each), while American Samoa, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue, Wallis and Futuna have none.

Once again Ber Van Perlo's has painted pictures of all the species. Certainly his illustrations are better than in some of his earlier books but for me they still lack detail and they are crammed in too tightly onto the small pages. The main plumages for each species are illustrated, with both sexes usually shown when they are different. Juveniles are also shown for a selection of species, but these are far too few. Similarly only some are shown in flight. The text gives very brief information on identification features, habitat, and vocalisations. For some species these really don't help much. For example Killdeer is described as follows: "Unmistakable. Note rufous rump and long tail." The maps are miniscule - 18mm x 12mm (smaller than the smallest UK stamp). As many of the species have quite restricted ranges these have been designed only to show the area where they occur. However this sensible move is completely undermined by the small size. Use of codes allows for the distribution of each species to be conveyed accurately without wasting space. A good decision was to repeat illustrations for all of the endemics together for each country or group of islands in the introductory pages.

New Zealand is already well covered by field guides which offer more detail than this, so I can't see this book being used for a trip there. Similarly visitors to Hawaii are still well served by The Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific (published in 1987 by Princeton University Press and still available). That book covers the other species seen across the various island groups, but it does not offer distribution maps so it could be argued that this new book is more user-friendly by marrying up the text and illustrations. However most people will want the more extensive information in the Princeton book.

My disappointment is that this book could have been so much better. The inclusion of New Zealand has used up valuable space and the whole production could have been spread over more pages and perhaps a bigger page size. Sadly because of these limitations, and because there is an adequate book available already, it is hard to see this book attracting a lot of interest.

It must be said that we need to thank Ber van Perlo for boldly going with field guides where nobody has gone before. Opening up new areas and covering more territory than many other field guides. However, Ber van Perlo is not the best illustrator in the world, so do not expect the plates to be artistic masterpieces one may expect from Norman Arlott or Guy Tudor. For plate quality, rather go for H. Douglas Pratt's "The Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific." This older guide also illustrates extinct species in this hard-hit region and covers all of Polynesia and Micronesia from Hawaii to Fiji to Palau, except New Zealand (and its offshore islands) and Melanesia.

I was greatly disappointed to find the title a little misleading. The title's "West Pacific" does not include any part of Melanesia. Do not let the initial scope of works mislead you. The pre-publication brief stated all Pacific birds would be covered as far west as Papua New Guinea. If you need a guide to the birds of the Bismarck Archipelago, Vanuatu, Solomons or New Caledonia, I would advise to wait till September 2011 for the publication of Birds of Melanesia.

Unfortunately, I would advise getting the old H. Douglas Pratt guide for Pacific Island birds, another guide for New Zealand, of which there are a couple and to wait for the Birds of Melanesia. This will probably give you the best coverage for the entire Pacific, make identification easier and give you better artwork in your Avian book collection.

It's good to get a book covering such a wide but cohesive area , but there is a downside. The size of the book , although good for a pocket , means the illustration size and info are less than ideal . The author , creditably , accepts this , unfortunately some of the illustrations look far too light and lack a sense of weight . The larger the bird , the less likely the picture is up to standard . I don't know if the Nicobar Pigeon in the Pacific is different those on the continent , but the picture certainly differs from the ones i've seen . The lack of a conservation status other than "rare" is unfortunate ,it may be an attempt to keep the book current , but isn't helpfull . There are no illustrations of extinct speceis ,which would have been welcome in this hardhit area , especially as every birdwatcher secretly wants to rediscover a lost bird. So , two cheers and keep hold of your old guides for now.