United States
£ GBP
Language: English, with bilingual descriptions in English and Marahti, and English, Marahti and scientific nomenclature
This book is specially designed such that it will generate interest in the minds of amateur birdwatchers, teachers, and ornithologists and also induct lay persons to the amazing world of birds. It is intended to serve as a quick reference guide. The birds recorded on the Deccan Plateau, the Western Ghats Mountains, the narrow belt of Kokan with its coasts and also from the adjacent sea board are illustrated.
All confirmed bird records for the state of Maharashtra are included in this book. All available published literature is referred and the records are supplemented by the personal observations of authors’ during their more than two decades of continued field research. Doubtful records are excluded and very rare or single records are listed separately. Photographs of each species are included in the majority of cases but, where high quality photographs were not available we have given specialiy commissioned drawings. Every species is thus realistically illustrated in colour to help field identification. Care is taken to reveal the key identification feature of each species. When necessary, additional photos are given showing aspects like flight, dimorphism, unique habit, habitat, food or some morphological feature of the bird. Stamps and drawings supplement some photographs to make the book visually appealing and informative.
The common and scientific names of each bird species are given in English and the state language Marathi.The scientific names take into consideration the recent taxonomic revisions as per Rasmussen and Anderton (2005).The common English names are as per Mankadan and Pittie (2001). Though several alternate vernacular Marathi names can be recorded by the readers for several bird species, those used in this book are those widely accepted in the state. Some Marathi names are from Pakshikosh by M. Chitampalli. For each species, the size is given in cm and the family to which it belongs is given in a box. One family name will be in the same coloured box and this will enable the reader to understand which species fall in the same family.
ln order to make this guide user friendly, written material is kept to a minimum. The reader will find six symbols on the inner side of the photograph of each species. The two components of the top symbol incorporate standard gender symbols, which are of the same colour when the sexes are not dimorphic and of different colours when they are. The second symbol below it is for the habit of the bird (aerial, arboreal, aquatic or terrestrial). The symbol underneath it is for the most representative habitat preferred by that species, however the species may be found in other habitats as well. The symbol below this is for the most common nest type of the bird.The last two symbols are for the most preferred food taken by the species, but readers can notice during their field observations, that birds consume other food items also. All the symbols are specially designed for the book and are self explanatory, but we assume that readers will have to get used to them for some time before they get familiar. To further assist our readers in quick field identification, a one line description of key identification feature is given for each species in English and Marathi languages. This bilingual treatment will spare valuable time in the field and the book will become more user friendly.
