United States
£ GBP
Vietnam, home to rare secretive pheasants, jewel-like pittas, spectacular laughingthrushes and enigmatic babblers, is Asia’s most exciting new birding destination. A global biodiversity hotspot, Vietnam boasts 16 endemic species and subspecies groups, and a further 42 near-endemic species and subspecies, the largest number of any country in mainland South-East Asia. This book, the first comprehensive modern field guide dedicated to Vietnam’s rich and diverse avifauna, describes all 928 species in text, illustrations and distribution maps.
- Fully updated second edition with new additions to the Vietnam country list and the latest global conservation status for each species following the IUCN Red List.
- Taxonomy follows the HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World.
- Detailed texts covering status, habitat and behaviour, age, sex and geographical variation, voice, and confusion species.
- Over 1900 illustrations covering all species and distinctive subspecies, birds in flight, males and females, juveniles and non-breeding plumages, where appropriate.
- QR code for every species, linked to complementary audiovisual material.
- More than 870 full-colour range maps for all regularly occurring species.
- Well-marked subspecies groups receive full accounts, and the distributions of subspecies breeding in the region are clearly mapped.
- Local species names included.
Founder of Vietnam Birding, Richard C. Craik has worked in tourism development in Vietnam since the early 1990s and has travelled and watched birds extensively throughout Vietnam and the region during this time. He has been contributing to travel guides, journals and other media on ecotourism, conservation and birds in Vietnam for over 25 years.
A well-known figure in the conservation community in Vietnam and one of the most experienced birding guides in the region, Lê Quý Minh has been head guide at Vietnam Birding since 2007. He previously worked at Bach Ma National Park in Central Vietnam for 12 years, heading up the ecotourism and environmental education departments.
"[...] This superb field guide to the country identifies 18 birding hotspots, each with notes on possible species and ideas for travel and local accommodation. One is the infamous Mekong Delta where the really lucky visitor might spot a Spoon‐billed Sandpiper. The illustrations are among the best I have seen, each species having breeding, non‐breeding and sub‐species plumages and excellent maps. At 400 pages and measuring 24 × 16 cms this is a chunky book, but is both essential to get the best out of a trip and as fine a memento of the visit as will be found. Thoroughly recommended."
– Ian Richards, Ibis 162(1), January 2020
"[...] Overall, this is a wonderful field guide to the birds of Vietnam. A great layout, largely excellent illustrations and adequate text make it a must for any visiting (or even resident!) birder to Vietnam. Lynx and the authors should be congratulated for producing such a guide so quickly."
– James Eaton, BirdGuides.com
"[...] Overall, this is an impressive and very welcome field guide, and the authors and those who helped “prepare” the text (Alex Berryman, Chris Bradshaw, Guy Kirwan, Tim Marlow, and Chris Sharpe) should be congratulated on getting this book out in record time. I am certainly looking forward to testing this guide out on my next visit to Vietnam. Whilst it does not have such detailed text as that in Robson’s guide, it does have the advantage of good maps, and if you are only going to Vietnam, you will not be confused by all the other species that are crowded onto the plates in Robson’s book."
– Frank Lambert (05-05-2019), read the full review at The Birder's Library
"For me, a good foreign bird guide is one that doesn’t just inform you of the many species you might see on your travels, but also takes the time to introduce you to the area and habitats you will be visiting when in a new country. The Birds of Vietnam by Craik and Minh is one of these, with clear and distinguishable illustrations prefaced by a good introduction to the country and help on how to plan your trip. [...] Each species is nicely detailed, mapped and illustrated across well-spaced pages with neatly highlighted sections. I enjoyed the high-quality artwork and thought that the identifying features were clear but not over-emphasised with easy comparisons between ages, morphs and related species. [...] As someone who’s keen on making a trip out to that region of the world, I feel that this is a book I would choose to take with me and make space for in my bag. On the outside the plasticised cover is sturdy and, being a little wider than the pages, gives me confidence that I can take this outside without feeling it’s going to end up to crumpled or water damaged. I’d be happy to take it round with me and their suggestions of places and tours to take I have found very useful when considering which areas to prioritise visits to. In all I’d recommend getting this book to help both your identification and planning of a birding trip to Vietnam."
– Katharine Bowgen, BTO book reviews
