Book Description
The islands of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Bali are ecologically one of the richest, most biologically complex areas in the world, sought out by thousands of knowledgeable nature lovers every year for the spectacular variety of wildlife and beautiful vistas. This book provides the first
complete identification guides to the birds of this teeming tropical paradise. It gives descriptions of 820 regional species, illustrated in 88 specially commissioned color plates accompanied by notes detailing distinctive features and habitats. Entries cover nomenclature, plumage, markings, voice,
global range, distribution and regional status, habits, and diet. The main text gives practical information on where to find many exotic species, citing major birdwatching locations. Introductory chapters discuss habitats, climate, land-use, and conservation concerns. Professional ornithologists
and amateur bird watchers alike will find this the indispensable bird guide for eastern Malaysia and western Indonesia for many years to come. It is also an unrivalled source of information for casual travellers and ecotourists.
Customer Reviews:
A must-have.......2003-04-19
Any serious birder to the listed regions of this book would buy this book.
It is the best guide of the region so far with excellent plates and useful details. What I find especially useful, particularly for the raptors, is that they show illustrations of the birds in flight.
The drawings appear consistent and the bird's information at the back of the book is easy to access.
The birds are categorised according to their family which definately makes for faster checks and identification, which I find important when in the field.
The spine of the book though is a little week and you might want to have it rebound before it falls apart - especially with all the browsing that is to be.
Get it re-bound.......2001-11-29
This was the book that everyone who seemed to be serious used in Borneo, but if you are going to be out in the bush for more than a few days and make frequent use of field guides, consider having it re-bound before you leave -- many people I passed along the way were finding that the plate pages were starting to fall out.
A good and comprehensive guide to the region........2000-10-11
Many newer guides have been published about birds of this region, but this book still deserves its place on the bookshelf of anyone interested in birds of South-east Asia. Illustrations are good, and descriptions are detailed and mostly accurate. A bit bulky to carry in the field, but not a problem if you bring it in a backpack. The situation with forest fires in South-east Asia (especially Indonesia) is growing worse each year, so get out there and see some of these extraordinary birds while you still can!
Book Description
This concise, updated edition of the award-winning A Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia (Princeton, 2000) is the most comprehensive, compact guide to this magnificent bird-rich region. It is a complete field and reference guide to the birds of Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. It also covers a wide range of species found in the Indian subcontinent, China, Taiwan, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo, and the Philippines.
- More than 140 full-color plates
- All 1,270 species covered in detail
- Up-to-date text covers the identification, voice, habitat, behavior, and range of all the region's species and distinctive subspecies
- Complete coverage of some fifteen Southeast Asian countries and regions
Customer Reviews:
Nice.......2007-10-01
Very nice art, and very compact. Concise ID info adjacent to color plates. I only wish that there was a range map with each individual species. Instead, there are abbreviations of the countries that the birds are located in put into the text. Otherwise, it's great.
A Broad Stroke.......2007-08-23
Mr. Robson's guide is just the thing if you're looking for a wide sampling of the birds of Southeast Asia. The illustrations are first rate and the plates are organized well. Mr. Robson's description of each bird's appearance, its song, and its general habits can be very helpful to the hardcore as well as the casual birder.
The book has some bonus features. There is a handy bird family and genus page pictoral index on the inside of the front cover and the book has a waterproof (and dropping proof) cover.
The Perfect Field Guide.......2007-03-17
This edition is the first quality guide to the birds of Southeast Asia that is easily portable. The original hardback version of Robson's book is too bulky and heavy to be handy in the field. I have used the hardback version for six years and found myself making notes in the field then researching the guide only when I returned to my hotel. I look forward to being able to carry the book with me on most walks. Another vast improvement in the new guide is that the bird descriptions are now on the page facing the illustrations. No more need to thumb back and forth between picture and text. This is the book I've been waiting for!
Birds of Southeast Asia (Princeton Field Guides).......2007-03-09
I purchased this guide for a combined trip to Borneo and Peninsula Malaysia. I had a copy of the pocket guide to the Birds of Borneo and was looking for a guide to cover some of the birds that were not pictured in the small Borneo book as well as the Birds of Peninsula Malaysia. For this purpose I was pleased. A few endmic Borneo birds were of course not included but most were included.
As for the stand alone qualities of Birds of Southeast Asia, this is well designed for use in the field. It is compact with a plastic cover and contains an amazing amount of information for its size. The pictures are high quality and when the scale changes on a page, it is noted next to the picture. The inside cover has small pictures of a representative of each family with the starting page # for that family. Species descriptions, including many juveniles & females, voice, range and time of year are included opposite the pictures.
I am writing this prior to my trip so the true test, how many lifers are gleaned from its use, is yet to come.
Customer Reviews:
compact, complete, and accurate.......1999-07-13
This book is an indispensible tool for the birder in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, or Myanmar (Burma). Compact, complete, and accurate, King and Woodcock have done a fine job of presenting over a thousand species in a manageable size.
Dickinson's illustrations are good paintings, with the field marks clearly visible, and similar birds grouped for easy comparisons. It seems to me, though, that the heads are too big, especially on the smaller birds. Once the viewer gets used to this, however, the illustrations are very usable.
Unlike the latest American guides, the pictures do not appear opposite the text, but instead are on plates distributed through the book. Unfortunately, the text description for each bird lists only the plate number, not the page; I went through the book and added the facing page number of each plate to the text, a job which should have been done before the book hit the shelves.
The book does not use range maps, but rather breaks the Southeast Asia area into regions: 3 for Vietnam, 3 for Laos, 6 and a subregion for Thailand, and 6 plus several subregions for Myanmar. (Cambodia is a unit.) Since the areas follow natural boundaries more than political ones, the range descriptions are quite accurate as far as I can tell. (I have birded fairly extensively in Thailand.)
The book is not perfect by any means, as is to be expected in an area with as little professional naturalist exploration as Southeast Asia. In addition, sacrifices must be made to get all the birds of the area into a book which can be carried in the field. Any competent birder will discover facts not mentioned by King and Woodcock, and possibly see things that aren't supposed to be where they are. I saw birds which were clearly a given species, but lacked a field mark mentioned in the book; these may have been regional variations which space prevented the authors from discussing. But the authors have accomplished a Herculean task: to present a dizzying array of birds in a clear concise format which allows a stranger to the area to identify most of what he or she sees.
Book Description
This is the very first comprehensive photographic guide to the birds of mainland Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and Borneo, including the birds of Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Indochina, South China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Covering 668 species, the volume contains a distribution map for each species in addition to more than 700 brilliant color photographs, many appearing here for the first time. The photographs are complemented by a concise text providing all the information needed to accurately identify species in one of the world's richest avifauna regions.
Given the notorious difficulty of photographing rainforest birds, this book represents a major achievement. It is an ideal volume for travelers to the region as well as for all bird lovers.
Morten Strange is a professional bird photographer and writer. He lived in Singapore from 1980 to 1993 and has traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia. He was formerly the International Officer for the Danish Ornithological Society. His photojournalism has appeared in more than 60 books and more than 100 magazine articles.
Customer Reviews:
birds of southeat asia - a photoguide book. .......2007-03-28
This is excellent guide book to have if ever you in southeat asia.
Not the book for the serious birder.......2003-04-19
While it is nice to see the birds in the flesh with real-life pictures of them, it is certainly not pratical for use in the field.
Some of the pictures are poorly taken and it is highly difficult if not impossible to identify certain birds. Some of the images are back-lit, giving a silhouette of the bird!
There is no proper classification and very little info given of the birds - how the juveniles look like, breeding plumage, male/female plumage etc.
I suppose it is a good book for the casual birder who would like to know what's chirping outside his apartment window or chalet in the wilderness. It also comes with some interesting information on where to go birding to catch wetland or passerine birds etc.
I must commend Strange though for all his efforts into going into the field to capture these pictures - all pictures in the book were taken by Strange - good job Strange!
Average customer rating:
|
Insight Pocket Guides Bali Bird Walks (1994)
Insight Guides , and
Ansight Guides
Manufacturer: Apa Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Insight Pocket Guide
| Guidebook Series
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| India
| Asia
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Bali
| Indonesia
| Asia
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Southeast
| Asia
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Travel Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0395690145 |
Customer Reviews:
Bali Bird Walks.......2003-10-23
A knowledgeable naturalist, experienced guide, and birding expert, British expatriate Victor Mason takes you on a congenial, witty, horticultural walkabout off the beaten track on Bali. Starting out at the Beggar's Bush Restaurant above Campuhan Bridge (home of Mason's Bali Bird Club), he hikes with you through the cultivated rice fields to see otters, civets, macaques, egrets, kingfishers, lychee and tamarind trees, white Brahmin cattle in Taro, giant banyan trees, butterflies, and clove and vanilla plantations. Mason gives you a friendly, conversational, step-by-step tour-from ravine to ridge to individual hibiscus blossom-complete with historical and cultural commentary on the terrain, temples, monuments, and countryside that he knows so well and loves so much.
Having spent the last twenty-six years on Bali, Victor Mason meticulously covers every cart and goat track within an eight-kilometer radius of foliage-rich Ubud. He will lead you down rocky steps to spring-fed watering places, secret gardens, Gunung Agung ("soaring to the ether and wreathed in vaporous wisps"), groves of sago palms, swimming in the Ayung River, and into the sacred simian stronghold of the Sangeh monkey forest. He lays out a variety of itineraries, graded according to difficulty, and offers timely tips (travel light, bring a sarong and a sash for entering temples--plus bathers for your swim-and beware the armies of stinging red tree ants!). Bali Bird Walks is designed as a practical, how-to, destination companion: long, thin, and light (8 ½" by 5"), the book is shaped for easy insertion into purse or backpack. Lavishly and colorfully illustrated-and buttressed throughout with detailed maps-you cannot lose your way. Most of the self-guided walking tours are circular and will return you to Campuhan Bridge-happy, inspired, and full of Mason's entertaining, old-school British, anecdotal bird stories.
For those of you lucky enough to find Victor Mason in residence on the island and available to lead you on one of his tours in person, you can book his "Bali Bird Walk" through Sobek Tours at 975009 or 287059 (or directly through the staff at the Beggar's Bush Restaurant). The four-hour tours begin at 8:45 A.M. and cost $47 per person including a fresh coconut break and a delicious lunch: intrepid trail guests/budding ornithologists will also be provided with a bird-spotting list and binoculars. For armchair nature enthusiasts who would prefer not to brave bamboo bridges, rushing white waters, and scrambling monkeys face to face, Bali Bird Walks takes your imagination where your feet are not yet willing to tread. The book is a total delight-it puts you right outside in the warm sunshine and brilliant, lime-green young "sawah" with invaluable Victor Mason right by your side!
Amazon.com
Southeast Asia's stunning diversity of avian life is no surprise to jet-setting birders. More than a thousand species--from hornbills to hoopoes--can be found in Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. What may surprise some, however, is that a single identification guide covers the entire region, with no less than 104 color plates depicting every species. Illustrations are clear, including variations in sex, age, and subspecies. Textual information describes habitat, behavior, breeding, voice, and distribution (range maps are not included). Like most international guides, the text is separated from the plates, which can make for a lot of thumbing back and forth; on the positive side, such a format allows for more detailed descriptions per species. Also, this is not a pocket guide to be carried about by hand while in the field; most birders will prefer to keep it stowed and ready in a backpack when trekking through the jungle in search of an evasive pitta.
Book Description
Famous for its vast diversity of birdlife, Southeast Asia is an increasingly popular destination for birders and ecotourists. Travelers, however, have long been without an up-to-date, comprehensive bird guide to this fascinating region. A Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia fills this need, illustrating and describing all 1,250 species found in Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The book also covers a wide range of species found in the Indian subcontinent, China, Taiwan, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo, and the Philippines.
The introduction presents an overview of the entire region, encompassing information on climate, habitats, and conservation, as well as birdwatching hints and explanations on how to use the book most effectively. One hundred and four color plates, painted by a group of leading artists, depict all species and the majority of distinctive subspecies of the region in every major plumage variation, including variations by age and sex. The text provides unrivaled detail on identification (including comparisons of similar species) and covers voice, habitat, behavior, range, status, and breeding--all vital aids for identification in the field.
A Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia is a milestone in ornithological publishing and an indispensable field and reference tool.
Customer Reviews:
A Birder's Guide.......2007-02-22
For bird watching in any area, a good field guide is as important as a good set of binoculars. Seeing the bird is only the first, allbeit a critical step in identification. A field guide that gives the distinguishing features, the habitat and the most similar birds allows a positive identification. Robson's Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia fills the need for the identification for birds in this important birding area extending from Viet Nam to Borneo.
If there was to be an improvement it would be to make it more into a field tolerant guide with a slightly smaller, perhaps lighter format to fit into the pack. With such a wide area being covered, maps of areas where the birds have been seen would help for those of us who can be geographically challenged in a new area. That aside, his descriptions of the birds is excellent and complete. If you go birding in SE Asia, this guide is a necessary part of your field equipment.
Good for anywhere but Indonesia.......2003-04-19
I bought this book on a last-minute trip notice to Indonesia and boy what a mistake it was. Perhaps I was the only one, but Craig Robson's Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia refers to part of SEA north of Singapore (He does list the countries on the cover). This is just a reminder to those who might, as I thought, assume Indonesia would be included in his guide to SEA birds.
Otherwise, Robson's guide to birds of SEA was useful for identifying birds in Singapore and East and West Malaysia so far. With nicely illustrated Plates for clear and clean identification, except for the tailor birds which had the colours right but were not illustrated too professionally.
Other downsides is that it is a little bulky for long trips into the field and that there are no size guides or range diagrams. Otherwise, if you're planning a trip to the part of SEA (that excludes Indonesia) this is a worthy book to have with you. Though if you're planning trips to specific territories, I'd suggest you buy the relevent country's guide.
Good to read in Taiwan.......2002-02-09
In Taiwan, I compared to those books which guide to migratory birds.
I found Craig Robson's book is more precise than others.
Although hes never been there, Taiwan.
Outstanding.......2000-11-03
For a long time there was only one bird guide for the region, King and Dickinson's Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia. This well written book did not illustrate all the species, and many of the illustrations were in black and white. Also in the version I own at least, the plates are scattered throughout the text, making things a little hard to find at times. In 1991 Lekagul and Round's Birds of Thailand came out, and more recently Jeyarajasingam and Pearson's Birds of West Malaysia and Singapore appeared. These last two cover only Thailand and the Malaysian part of the Malay peninsula, respectively. They are both good books and certainly a traveler to these areas will find them useful. Now we have this new book by Robson. Here is proof that an "international" guide, one that covers over 1200 species, doesn't need to be a doorstop. This volume is slim and weighs less than some guides that cover fewer species. But it doesn't skimp on information. The well written species entries all are numbered sequentially, that same number appears along with a brief description opposite the bird's image on the plate. For me at least, this makes the book easy to use. The text includes voice descriptions, detailed habitat information (generally more than the region's other guides), descriptions of all distinctive plumages, and nesting information, etc. For the more serious student, there is some mention of subspecies and their ranges. There are no range maps, a defect for some people, but the succinct range descriptions are coupled to a map at the front of the book, and are easy to comprehend. Finally the plates. These are generally excellent, and fairly even in quality, in spite of having been produced by 14 artists! They are clumped together near the front of the book and are crowded as one would expect with over 1200 species to cover. That said, these are in general, easily the best illustrations for birds of this region to date. There may be a species here or there that is better represented in one of the other guides, but here the artists more reliably capture the look of the birds. In my copy the printing is sharp, and the images are clear. To close, this book picks up where King and Dickinson's left off. We have an expanded species list and more information generally, than that work. And a set of really nice color plates. If packing light means taking only one guide with you, then this is the one to get.
Disappointing.......2000-05-23
This guide has been raved about in the birding press, but to me a feild guide needs to be easier to use. No range maps, no sizes and pictures away from the text results in a guide that is not as good as Kings. The best book for this area is still Lekagul and Round's Birds of Thailand.
Average customer rating:
|
Tropical Birds of Southeast Asia (Periplus Nature Guides)
Morten Strange
Manufacturer: Tuttle Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Birdwatching
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Tropical
| Ecosystems
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Ornithology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 9625931678 |
Average customer rating:
|
The Collins Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia
Ben King ,
Martin Woodcock , and
E. C. Dickinson
Manufacturer: The Stephen Greene Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Ornithology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Birds
| Field Guides
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Asia
| Regional
| Field Guides
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Birdwatching
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0828906505 |
Average customer rating:
|
Field Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia
Craig Robson
Manufacturer: New Holland Publishers,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Reference
| Subjects
| Books
| Almanacs & Yearbooks
| Atlases & Maps
| Audiobooks
| Books on CD
| Books on Cassette
| Business Skills
| Careers
| Catalogs & Directories
| Consumer Guides
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Education
| Encyclopedias
| Etiquette
| Foreign Languages
| Fun Facts
| Genealogy
| General
| Job Hunting
| Large Print
| Law
| Publishing & Books
| Quotations
| Spanish-Language Reference
| Study Guides
| Test Prep Central
| Words & Language
| Writing
Birdwatching
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
| Excursion Guides
| Field Guides
| General
Ornithology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1853683132 |
Books:
- A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America
- A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America
- A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America
- A Field Guide to the Birds of Texas and Adjacent States (Peterson Field Guide Series)
- A Field Guide to the Birds of Texas and Adjacent States (Peterson Field Guide Series)
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
- Are You My Mother?
- Artificial Intelligence: Structures and Strategies for Complex Problem Solving (5th Edition)
- Audubon's Birds of America: The Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND: 10 Keys for Unlocki
- The Journey of the Stone Man
- The Lions of Tsavo : Exploring the Legacy of Africa's Notorious Man-Eaters
- The Marvel Encyclopedia
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Facilitator's Guide
- The Tale of Pale Male: A True Story
- Isabel of Burgundy: The Duchess Who Played Politics in the Age of Joan of Arc
- Taxation, reimbursement : agreement between the United States of America and the United Nations Ind
- Corporal Brewer: A Bucktail Survivor - Volume 2
Birds of Southeast Asia (Princeton Field Guides)
Wild Borneo: The Wildlife and Scenery of Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan
A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia: Including the Philippines and Borneo (Princeton Field Guides)
A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Indonesia
A Field Guide to the Birds of China
