This beautifully illustrated field guide enables you to easily identify the tracks and signs left by a wide variety of mammal and bird species found in Britain and Europe, covering behaviors ranging from hunting, foraging, and feeding to courtship, breeding, and nesting. Introductory chapters offer detailed drawings of footprints and tracks of large and small mammals, which are followed by sections on mammal scat, bird droppings, and the feeding signs of animals on food sources such as nuts, cones, and rose hips. Tracks and Signs of the Animals and Birds of Britain and Europe then describes specific mammal species, providing information on size, distribution, behavior, habitat, and similar species, as well as more specific detail on tracks and scat. Distribution maps are also included.
This indispensable field guide covers 175 species of mammals and birds, and features a wealth of stunning color photos and artwork throughout.
Lars-Henrik Olsen is a zoologist, writer, and lecturer. He has worked at the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen and the World Wildlife Fund, and is the producer of a number of Danish radio and television programs. His books include Small Freshwater Creatures.
"[...] it was with great interest that I read this Tracks and Signs [...] my one major bugbear with this book: being so full it’s not easy to navigate [...] it’s a fine book with masses to offer, but we need our next batch of Countryside Columbos scratching their heads out in the field, not indoors puzzling over the pages."
- Dan Powell, britishbirds.co.uk, 24-03-2014
"[...] Brown et al. will doubtless already be known to many as a reliable guide to the tracks and signs of birds. Those wishing to extend their knowledge of the subject to include mammals should certainly examine a copy of Olsen."
- M.G.W., Ibis 156, 2014
"This is an excellent, engaging field guide to the tracks and spoor of the mammals and birds of Northern Europe. The photos and species accounts are outstanding, and I quite like the style of artwork, which is realistic enough to highlight the important characteristics, but stylistic enough to convey the general look of what can be a variable subject."
– Roland W. Kays, coauthor of Mammals of North America
"It was with some interest [...] that I opened my review copy of Lars-Henrik Olsen's new 270-page guide Tracks and Signs of Animals and Birds of Europe. [...]As a young boy a few decades ago the images and artwork along with the many useful insights would have kept me enthralled for many an hour for sure, but I'm left wondering whether today's audience will be as captivated. Many of the best recent guides have combined an interactive online element, recognising that the internet has changed the way we consume material of this nature irrevocably. I can't help feeling that an opportunity has been missed here to add value and afford the reader the chance to do more than scratch the surface."
- Alan Tilmouth, www.birdguides.com, 07-10-2013