Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Heavy but excellent, 27 Feb 2004
I bought this book mostly for reasons of bird art, as I have no immediate plans to visit Australia. The book's layout is of the now conventional and conventient type, with illustrations and text plus range maps on facing pages. As there are usually only three or four species on a page, there is relatively much space for text. The range maps function on a "all or nothing" basis, i.e. more detailed info on a bird's status has to be gleaned from the text. The book tries to follow the most recent systematic order, it seems. This has some rather inconvenient consequences, however. For example, the very similarly looking quails and button-quails appear on pages 23 and 161 respectively!
The book is actually not a true field guide as it is too large to take to the field (unless you carry it in a rucksack). Just OK to have in the car or at home. That is a shame. The book is in the same size league as the original Sibley guide for North America. For this reason, I only give it four stars.
As I bought the book for its illustrations, I'd like to comment a bit more about these: I can't say much about their accuracy, but I am rather disappointed about their variable quality. One would certainly not think that all the plates were done by the same artist. Just compare pages 115 and 117, for example. Overall, on some plates the birds seem to come alive, whereas on others they are very two-dimensional. I.e. they appear very flat. Some birds like the lesser noddy appear overly slim. And, while some bird pictures are rather smallish, there are some that are rather too large. The storm-petrels on page 93 are a case in point, giving the plate a crowded appearance. But those drawings are otherwise of superb quality.
I emphasise these differences of the plates because there is usually considerable criticism when a new field guide comes out that has its plates done by several artists. Here, we find similar differences within the work done by the same artist. It is clear that doing all the artwork for such a book is a monumental task. And even a good artist is not always equally disposed, I would assume. And then, there is probably the pressure of a publishing schedule. However, what counts in the end are the pictures we all have to look at and work with for years. Thus, spreading the task does not seem to be such a bad way to do it, after all. That is, as long as you have several good artists with the available time. But it also means that it is a sensible solution to use the same good illustrations for several books, as has recently been done in the field guide to the Birds of Africa South of the Sahara.
One thing that keeps puzzling me - not only with respect to this field guide - is the fact that there is contents included that does not help in the field at all. Thus, we find here a lengthy chapter called "family introductions", the kind of info one would expect in an "encyclopaedia" type book. Also, what good is a long literature list in a field guide?
EDIT 18 March 2009: I would like to add a comment after more than five years. I have since had a chance to visit Australia extensively. And this book not only was my main source for preparing the birding part of the trip (I did have others available). But it was also an excellent companion in the field, contrary to my reservations stated above. There is a new edition now with some splits and updates that has come out after my trip.
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