Birds of Afghanistan

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on a good birding guide for Afghanistan/Central Asia? I'm currently on deployment in Kandahar, and am seeing tons of birds. The problem is that I can't find a reliable source with good pictures/identification guides.

Any ideas?

The classic Birds of the Middle East doesn't extend as far as Afghanistan, but it's probably as close as you will get. Friends of mine have regularly birded Kazakhstan with this guide. The illustrations are excellent and the text ver handy too. You might supplement it with Birds of Europe and Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. Happy birding!

Birds of Russia and Adjacent territories covers all of the former USSR including Central Asia so there she be lots of overlap with Afghanstan.

There is only one book I know of that intentionally covers all the birds of Afghanistan. That book is "Birds of South Asia - Volume 1: Field Guide" by Rassmussen and Anderton, 2005, (ISBN 8487334652). This is an excellent book with outstanding illustrations of all species between Afghanistan east through India, Nepal, and over to eastern Myanmar (aka, Burma). Volume 1 contains exclusively the 180 color plates and Volume 2 holds all the text and species accounts. This set of two books is a bit pricey, starting at US$100. The cheapest purchase site I've found is at http://www.hbw.com/lynx/en/lynx-edicions/portada-lynx/GUI0011-birds-south-asia-r... --

I can recommend two other cheaper books:
1) The Birds of Kazakhstan by Wassink and Oreel, 2007 (ISBN 9789081146210). This country borders Afghanistan on the north.

2) Field Guide to the Birds of the Middle East by Porter, Christensen, and Schiermacker-Hansen, 1996 (ISBN 0856610763). This book does not specifically cover Afghanistan, but it does cover all of Iran, which sits on the western border.

These three additional books include all the birds in Pakistan, which borders you on the east:
1) Field Guide to Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Kazmierczak, 2000 (ISBN 0300079214)

2) Birds of India by Grimmet & Inskipp, 1999 (ISBN 0691049106)

3) A new book coming out in November 2008 is Birds of Pakistan by Grimmet and Inskipp (ISBN 0713688009)

Lastly, here is a very good website for photos of birds in Kazakhstan. A large percentage will be in common with Afghanistan. -- http://www.birds.kz/photosonlye.html --

Just as a little factoid, there is only one bird endemic to Afghanistan, the Afghan Snowfinch (Montifringilla theresae).

Best of luck to you.

Wow Soleglad! I didn't know there were so many new field guides to that region. It's hard to keep up with the pace of publication these days. Many thanks for that information!

I too was assigned to Afghanistan and was amazed at the number of wonderful birds who call that part of the world home (most notably parakeets and hanging parrots in Kabul and woodpeckers out of the city) I recommend 'A Field Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent' by "Krys Kazmierczak."