Rare Birds of the Canary Islands / Aves Raras de las Islas Canarias

"[...] The enormous amount of effort that went into researching the records and obtaining photographs makes the book fun and fascinating to dip into, but this is marred by the content of the species accounts. Overly concise and abbreviated data on taxonomy, breeding and wintering distributions at times induce error, and numerous small mistakes in the English have left a scattering of spelling mistakes and a trail of repeated linguistic quirks throughout. Furthermore, if the scientific aim of the book was to establish a critical preliminary list of Canarian rarities, the inclusion of two species (Lanner Falcon Falco biarmicus and Eurasian Crag Martin Ptyonoprogne rupestris) based purely on the personal criteria of the authors is surely questionable. There are undoubtedly other records of equal value in Appendix 2, yet these are in the category ‘unofficial’.

While perhaps also aimed at the rarity hunter or casual birdwatching visitor to the islands, I think that the book has missed an opportunity to improve recording, especially by visiting birders. The 16 pages of ‘unofficial’ records include numerous good sightings which have fallen through the cracks."

– John Muddeman, Ibis (2014), 156, 478–489