Ken Simpson (1)

This is the completely revised eighth edition of Australia's best-selling field guide, with close to 600,000 copies sold. In 132 color plates of remarkable beauty and precision, Nicolas Day captures the details of all 780 of Australia's birds. Succinct text by Ken Simpson and other experts gives key points of identification for every species, as well as information about the birds' abundance and patterns of movement. Detailed color distribution maps accompany the species text. This updated edition includes three replacement plates, eleven additional rare species, taxonomic revisions, and additional color as well as black-and-white illustrations. The Vagrant Bird Bulletin contains illustrations and a map for all rare species. A useful breeding summary for every species gives immediate information regarding their annual breeding cycles. All readers, whether beginning or experienced birdwatchers, ornithologists, students, or travelers, will find Birds of Australia… (más)

THE BASICS:
flexcover, 7th edition; contains 132 color plates of excellent quality artistry; illustrates all 760+ species in the country plus an illustrated appendix for rare vagrants; multiple illustrations per bird show male, female, breeding, non-breeding and immature plumages as well as those of various subspecies; small range maps delineate subspecies and common/uncommon status

THE REVIEW:
Succinctly, this is an excellent field guide and is the best selection (personal opinion) from the several other Australian guides available. I say this for three reasons. One, the plates have the best quality of artwork. Two, the various plumages and races are shown and presented better. And, three, this book is smaller than the other two (Pizzey’s and Morcombe’s), making it more manageable in the field.

Starting with the book’s first edition, the plates are great and have only improved over the past 20 years to this 7th edition. The colors, patterns, and detail are more striking and – to me – more realistic and accurate. The birds are also shown in a greater number of positions, reflecting their natural behavior. I like this technique versus showing each bird in the same, standardized pose. Another nice touch is including 900 black-and-white illustrations alongside the text. These quality drawings help to point out important identification details in the tail, beak, or wing patterns; the facial markings; or, the postures and behaviors.

The text for each bird is found across from the respective plate. The amount of information is varies from a short to a long paragraph. About 1/2 to 2/3 of the text focuses on describing the bird with concise identification notes. The subspecies are also described. Sometimes, this information is a little too brief and I found myself wanting a few extra pieces of information when using this book in the field. Additional, but very brief, notes are given for the bird’s size, voice, and habitat. The descriptions of the voice are okay, but thin. In comparison, much better descriptions of the voice are given in Morcombe’s book. The identification material is probably a bit better in Morcombe's book, too.

A 21-page section at the back includes information on the breeding periods of hundreds of birds along with information on their nesting and eggs.

The range maps have been designed to be very informative. They include the various subspecies and use a variety of symbols to convey more information. These maps offer more detail than the other books by zooming in when the bird has a restricted range. The movements of migrating birds are depicted very well, too. One possible weakness of these maps is their greater complexity. They are certainly busier than what's found in the range maps of most other field guides. This could be either a positive or negative feature for the different readers. I found them to be very helpful. A definite weakness is the small size of these maps, with Australia at 1.5 x 2 cm. The size of the font used within the maps is also very small and might be a challenge for some people to read.

Serious birding in Australia should be done with either this book or, with one of the others by Morcombe or Pizzey (7th ed.). This Simpson/Day book has the superior artwork, Morcombe’s the better text material, and Pizzey’s has the cleaner plates. You cannot go wrong with any of these books. -- (written by Jack at Avian Review with sample pages, October 2008)… (más)