Birding Guides of British Isles

Following the notion of sharing bird field guides from other parts of the world, let me begin with the British Isles. There are many many birders in Great Britain, Ireland and Scotland and some books focus exclusively upon specific areas of these beautiful landscapes. Other guidebooks include birds of Europe.

I enjoyed browsing several bird guides and saw splendid photographs of birds I have never seen. That is one of the fun parts of preparing to write for this blog and looking for books at Amazon. There are so many that allow you to “Look Inside”.

An exceptional and authoritative guide for birds is the Collins Field Guide.

Collins Bird Guide

This is considered to be the ultimate reference for birders in the UK and Europe. The publisher description says the Collins Bird Guide “provides all the information needed to identify any species at any time of the year, covering size, habitat, range, identification and voice.”  Maps and identification guides and answers to commonly asked birdwatching questions make this an exceptional bird guide. This is the second edition.

It seems to cost more than your average field guide but it has a lot more to offer in terms of content too. I checked into the publisher site  and noticed the pre-publication price is a LOT more reasonable. $17.50- 25.00 and free shipping in the UK.  It is sold only by Amazon.co.uk where you can make a pre-publication order today.  Note if you go to Amazon.com you will find a used first edition copy being promoted for an outlandish price.

The Collins Bird Guide is due to be released in September, 2009.

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Birding Guide for Birds’ Feet

FOOD Form and Function are the focus for Feet and for Bills of birds.

Honest.             

Chambers’s Encyclopedia (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1875)

The previous lesson gave attention to the FEET of Perching Birds.

In this next lesson we look at  the Form and Function of  Feet of other Birds. We will compare talons, webbed feet, tiny feet and more.

The lesson that follows that will focus on Feeding  Form and Function and how the bills of birds are so well suited to the food they eat.

Or is it the other way around. Do they choose their food because that is what their bills can get to the best?

Come and see what we have going on at the KISS Method of Better Birding E Course.