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Authors | Peter Menkhorst, Danny Rogers, Rohan Clarke |
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Illustrators | Jeff Davies, Peter Marsack, Kim Franklin |
Language | English |
Subject | Australian Birds |
Genre | Nature Guide |
Published | 2017 |
Publisher | CSIRO Publishing |
Publication place | Australia |
Pages | 576 |
ISBN | 978-0-643-09754-4 |
The Australian Bird Guide [1] (The Guide) was published by CSIRO Publishing in 2017. Written by Peter Menkhorst along with Danny Rogers and Rohan Clarke and illustrations by Jeff Davies, Peter Marsack and Kim Franklin, the book took almost eight years to produce. [2] It includes 936 birds including 160 vagrants and information on the evolution and classification of birds. Upon its release, the book was praised for its comprehensiveness, images, and text detail, however, the index and measurements were criticised. A compact version of the guide was also released in 2022.
The foreword to The Australian Bird Guide was written by Paul Sullivan, Chief Executive of Birdlife Australia, Australia's peak ornithological body. This foreword states that the authors and artists of this book are considered leaders in their field and that the details of species and sub-species is a first for Australian birds. It also describes how the maps are derived from data collected by thousands of people over many decades to give some of the best distribution maps seen in Australian Guides. [3]
The Guide starts with a two-page visual reference guide giving the page where each bird can be found and is then followed by an alphabetical quick reference guide. Both are useful in assisting in locating the required page for bird identification. In addition, there is an extensive index at the back of the book.
This is then followed by details on how the guide was constructed by the lead author Peter Menkhorst, co-authors Danny Rogers and Rohan Clarke and illustrators Jeff Davis, Peter Marsack and Kim Franklin, outlining their sources of information and specifically what area and species were covered. This is followed by sections on identifying birds and on birding in Australia.
Before the detailed description of species commences, there is a guide for birders to the evolution and classification of birds. While this may not be expected in such a work, this section “will get birders thinking”. [3] This section was written by Dr Leo Joseph of the Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation).
The Guide covers a total of 936 species that comprise 747 breeding residents or regular migrants, 29 introduced species and 160 vagrants. The book uses the IOC version 5.4 for species level taxonomy. [4] These birds are grouped as marine and coastal birds, freshwater birds and terrestrial birds and then taxonomically. It also provides detailed maps indicating where a species or sub-species are likely to occur and shading to help identify where the birds are most likely to occur. Several of the reviewers highlighted this feature as a major positive of the guide [5] and the 10,000 Bird review considered the two field guides with this feature the best available. [3] [6]
In 2019 the revised edition was published. This edition has updated maps, artwork and species accounts. [7]
Reviewing for The Sydney Morning Herald , Sean Dooley praised the book's comprehensiveness, detail, visuals, "aesthetically pleasing yet extremely accurate" images, and writing. [8] This sentiment was shared by reviewers from Australian Field Ornithology, which also complimented the book's "life-like" illustrations, detailed text, and "scientifically accurate" maps. [9] Alan Pearson from the British Bird Guides also was positive towards the "clear" text and maps. [3]
However, elements of the book were met with criticism. Dooley criticised the occasional jargon, the index, and the small size of the distribution maps which was "to the point of illegibility", however, he concluded that the book, despite the "minor quibbles", was an "outstanding achievement". [8] Australian Filed Ornithology also criticised the measurements of wing lengths and bill lengths as "unconventional", the illustrative and typographical errors, and the index as a "disservice". [9] Pearson was additionally critical that the full length (size range) of the birds was not provided rather it provides wing size, bill length and weight. [3]
Donna Lynn Schulman reviewed this Guide for 10,000 Birds and compared this guide to the most popular existing Australian bird guides, including Field Guide To The Birds Of Australia, 7th edition by Nicholas Day and Ken Simpson,The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds, Field Guide To Australian Birds by Michael Morcombe, and The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia, 9th edition by Graham Pizzey and Frank Knight. [10] [11] [12] [13] Schulman stated that The Australian Bird Guide edged out The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia due to the “currency of information, denseness of text, and quality and quantity of illustrations". [10] However, Schulman described the index as inferior. [6]
The compact version was also reviewed by Australian Field Ornithology. The reviewers praised the book's "convenient" size, "life-like" illustrations, and decent paper quality, despite criticising the card cover as "thin" and easily damaged. Criticism was directed towards incorrect abbreviations, factual errors, and illustrative inconsistencies. Nevertheless, the review "highly recommended" the book as "a valuable, proper and convenient" guide. [14]
The Compact Australian Bird Guide was published in 2022 under the lead of Jeff Davies. [17] This guide is a distillation of the information provided in the Australian Bird Guide. The aim was to provide a “concise and portable book" for field use. The compact guide is using the IOC version 11.1 for species level taxonomy. [18] The compact guide is 252 pages verses the Australian Bird Guide at 566 pages. Its dimensions of 125mm x203mm x15mm is significantly smaller than the ABG at 175mm x 250mmx 33mmIn and its weight is only 400g. The review by Firth and valentine concluded "Quibbles and opinions aside, this book succeeds splendidly as a compact aid to bird identification". [14]
Australia and its offshore islands and territories have 898 recorded bird species as of 2014. Of the recorded birds, 165 are considered vagrant or accidental visitors, of the remainder over 45% are classified as Australian endemics: found nowhere else on earth. It has been suggested that up to 10% of Australian bird species may go extinct by the year 2100 as a result of climate change.
The common sandpiper is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the spotted sandpiper, make up the genus Actitis. They are parapatric and replace each other geographically; stray birds of either species may settle down with breeders of the other and hybridize. Hybridization has also been reported between the common sandpiper and the green sandpiper, a basal species of the closely related genus Tringa.
The Cape Barren goose, sometimes also known as the pig goose, is a species of goose endemic to southern Australia. It is a distinctive large, grey bird that is mostly terrestrial and is not closely related to other extant members of the subfamily Anserinae.
The diamond firetail is a species of estrildid finch that is endemic to Australia. It has a patchy distribution and generally occupies drier forests and grassy woodlands west of the Great Dividing Range from South East Queensland to the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. While it is a small stocky bird it is one of the largest finches in Australia. The birds are very distinctive with a black breast-band on a white breast. The flanks are black with white spots and it has a scarlet rump and a black tail.
The star finch is a seed-eating bird species found in northern Australia. It has a distinctive red face and bill, and broad white spots down its flanks. One of its three subspecies may be extinct.
The little grassbird is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is found in Australia and in West Papua, Indonesia. These sexually monomorphic birds are found in reed beds, rushes, lignum swamps and salt marshes of Southeastern Australia.
The tawny grassbird is a large songbird that is part of the grass- and bush-warbler family (Locustellidae) commonly found in grassland and reedbed habitats. It is streaked above and has a distinctive rich brown cap. Its underside is paler and it has a long graduated tail. They call often with "loud, grumpy churring calls and a longer call that starts tick-tick-tick-tick and ends with an explosive descending trill".
The purple-crowned lorikeet, is a lorikeet found in scrub and mallee of southern Australia. It is a small lorikeet distinguished by a purple crown, an orange forehead and ear-coverts, and a light blue chin and chest.
The pallid cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Australia, with some migration to the islands of Timor and Papua New Guinea. It is between 28 and 33 cm in size, with distinctive markings such as a dark bill, a dark eye with a gold eye-ring and olive grey feet which differentiate it from other cuckoos. The pallid cuckoo is similar in appearance to the oriental cuckoo, with barred immature pallid cuckoos being often mistaken for oriental cuckoos.
The varied lorikeet, is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae that is endemic to the northern coastal regions of Australia. It is the only species in the genus Psitteuteles.
The white-quilled rock pigeon is a dark brown rock pigeon with a white patch on its wing. It has distinctive pale lines across its face curving above and below its eye. It is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is a rock dweller found roosting on sandstone cliffs and towers in the Kimberley, WA and east of the Victoria River, NT. It is endemic to Australia.
The chestnut-quilled rock pigeon is a dark sooty brown pigeon with a distinctive bright chestnut patch on its wing visible in flight. It has distinctive pale lines across its face curving above and below its eye. A species of bird in the family Columbidae, it is very similar in behaviour and habitat to the white-quilled rock pigeon but it is only found on rocky escarpments in western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.
The pale-vented bush-hen is a medium sized waterbird, mainly blue-grey with a buff vent and undertail. It is found in Australia, the Moluccan Islands, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
The rufous fieldwren also known as the desert wren or sandplain wren is a species of insectivorous bird in the family Acanthizidae, endemic to Australia.
The banded honeyeater is a species of honeyeater in the family Meliphagidae with a characteristic narrow black band across its white underparts. It is endemic to tropical northern Australia.
The western gerygone is a small, brownish-grey species of passerine bird, which is found in inland and south-west Australia. It is an arboreal, insectivore of open forest, woodland and dry shrubland. It is not currently threatened with extinction.
The pictorella mannikin, pictorella munia, or pictorella finch is small brown and grey finch with a grey bill and distinctive scaly white breast plate which is endemic to northern Australia. It is a seed-eater found in pairs and small flocks in dry savannah and subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland.
The bridled honeyeater is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae with distinctive rein-like markings on its face that is endemic to northeastern Queensland. It is found in subtropical or tropical moist upland forests and subtropical or tropical rainforests, usually above 300 meters. In winter, it descends to lower forests including mangroves, and can sometimes be seen in more open habitats.
The yellow-breasted boatbill is a species of bird found in New Guinea and Far North Queensland, Australia. The yellow-breasted boatbill is a species of bird belonging to the Machaerirhynchidae family, of the genus Machaerirhynchus. The yellow-breasted boatbill is a common avian animal, and it is well known within communities of ornithologists. Its natural habitat is primarily that of subtropical or tropical regions, particularly moist forests; the yellow-breasted boatbill has no preference for altitude within its environment and can be found abundantly in its natural habitat.
The canary white-eye or yellow white-eye is a species of white-eye endemic to northern Australia in subtropical or tropical mangrove forests. Its common name reflects the circle of white feathers around its eye.
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