United States
£ GBP
Language: English
This is the American version of Christopher Helm's Shorebirds of the Northern Hemisphere, which is no longer in print.
Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia is a quick-reference field guide to the sandpipers, plovers, stints, and other shorebirds found on these continents. The exhaustive and superbly detailed colour plates show the birds at rest and in flight, and in every plumage variant likely to be encountered. Species are treated plumage by plumage alongside images of similar species they are otherwise likely to be confused with. Succinct text on pages facing the plates summarizes the key identification features of appearance, voice, and behaviour. There is a colour distribution map for each of the described species. This guide provides fast, easy, and reliable field identification of this challenging group of birds.
- 80 colour plates show the full range of plumage types of all species covered
- Concise facing text treats appearance, voice, and behaviour
- Clear colour distribution map for each species
- Definitive pictorial guide to the shorebirds of these continents
Stephen Message is a professional bird artist whose work has appeared in several books, including Bill Oddie's Birds of Britain and Ireland. Don Taylor is a well-known birder in the United Kingdom. His books include Where to Watch Birds in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, and he has published extensively in U.K. birding magazines. He has traveled widely and has seen all but a handful of the world's 216 shorebird species.
"How well does the book perform as a photographic guide? I used it this summer to solve a couple of questions I had [...] and it worked perfectly. How well does it perform as a book of bird photography? Even better [...] [Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia] is excellent and deserves a place on the waterbird enthusiast's bookshelf."
– James A. Kushlan, Birding
"Its best feature is its division into two major sections, the first showing illustrations of shorebirds in standing poses and the second showing them in flight. Few shorebird identification guides give adequate space to shorebirds in flight. It's a great addition because extended wings may show patterns hidden by folded wings at rest."
– Gary Clark, Houston Chronicle
"This is a handsome group of birds and the book's fine illustrations allow you to get to know these beauties better. In addition, the illustrations (by Stephen Message) are much larger than those in your average guide book. That makes it easy to see plumage detail, which can be very important when identifying shorebirds."
– Jim Williams, Minneapolis Star Tribune
