Field guides and reference books

Australian Parrots Second Edition by Joseph M Forshaw, illustrated by William T Cooper, published 1981 by Lansdowne Editions Melbourne.
ISBN 0 7018 1035 1.

Although this is an old publication it is an extremely comprehensive 312-page guide to Australian parrots with detailed identification, distribution, habitat, breeding, habits and aviary notes. Male and female of each species are superbly illustrated.

Simpson & Day - Field Guide to the Birds of Australia: a book of identification.

ISBN 0 670 90072 9. 352 pp.

It’s not exactly a pocket guide. I tend to leave it at home, store up the IDs and match them to the text later. The illustrations are generally very good. Some discrepancies. The scientific names are a little outdated (I believe). I’d like to overhaul the entire index (but that’s just me).

Review of 7th edition

The Dynamic Partnership - Birds and Plants In Southern Australia / Edited by H.A.Ford and D.C.Paton / Handbook of the Flora and Fauna of South Australia.

What Bird Is That? - Cayley’s classic guide to the birds of Australia / author - Neville W. Cayley.

Slater and Slater - The Slater field Guide To Australian Birds*

ISBN 0 947116 99 0.

This classic pocket-sized guide to the identification of all the birds so far recorded in Australia (more than 750 species are described) is designed for use in the field. The beautiful colour illustrations enable easy comparison between similar species and include variations in the plumages of males and females, and adults and juveniles. By Peter, Pat and Raoul Slater 157 colour illustrations, 13 b/w illustrations, over 750 b/w distribution maps.

Collins Bird Guide: The Most Complete Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe - Lars Svensson, Peter J. Grant, Killian Mullarney, and Dan Zetterstrom

Available as a paperback field guide as well as a larger format hardback for the bookshelf.

more titles to come