The Australian Bird Guide: Revised Edition

Description

Winner of the 2018 ABIA Small Publisher's Adult Book of the Year Winner of the 2017 Whitley Medal Australia's avifauna is large, diverse and spectacular, reflecting the continent's impressive range of habitats and evolutionary history. With specially commissioned paintings of over 900 species, The Australian Bird Guide is the most comprehensive field guide to Australian birds ever seen. This Revised Edition includes updated maps, artwork and species accounts, reflecting current knowledge of the biology and distribution of Australia's birds. It features around 4700 specially commissioned colour illustrations of over 900 species, with particular emphasis on providing the fine detail required to identify difficult groups and distinctive plumages. Comprehensive species accounts have been written by a dedicated team of ornithologists to ensure identification details, distribution and status are current and accurate. A new easier-to-use index is also included. The Australian Bird Guide sets a new standard in field guides, providing an indispensable reference for all birders and naturalists looking to explore Australia's magnificent and unique birdlife.

Peter Menkhorst became hooked on birding and natural history books when, as a seven year old, he used Caley's What Bird is That? to identify a New Holland Honeyeater in his garden; he is now a zoologist at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Victoria. He is author, with Frank Knight, of A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia (OUP 2001), editor and major contributor to the award-winning Mammals of Victoria (OUP 1995) and edited two editions of Pizzey and Knight's Field Guide to the Birds of Australia (HarperCollins). He was awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion in 1998. Danny Rogers started birding when he was four years old, and regrets those wasted first four years. Any birding is fun, but he has particular interests in the minutiae of plumage, moults and field identification, and in the ecology and conservation of shorebirds. He prepared many of the plumage sections in the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (OUP), did a shorebirds PhD in north-western Australia, has written or co-authored many papers and a couple of coffee-table books on shorebirds and is a waterbird ecologist at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Victoria. Rohan Clarke is an ecologist and ornithologist at Monash University. A birder since childhood, he has field experience with all but a couple of Australian species. He gets a kick out of birding remote island outposts and leading pelagic excursions to watch seabirds, as both present rich opportunities for new insight and discovery. He has previously authored Finding Australian Birds: A Field Guide to Birding Locations (CSIRO Publishing). Jeff Davies is a lifelong birder who completed a Fine Arts Painting Major at Caulfield Institute of Technology. He has contributed artwork for Freshwater and Estuarine Fishes of Wilson's Promontory (Fisheries & Wildlife Div. 1983), Shorebirds of Australia (Nelson 1987), Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (OUP) and The Penguins (OUP 1995). Jeff prefers to work with water-based mediums and commissioned works can be found in private collections in Australia and North America. Peter Marsack trained as a zoologist but has also worked extensively as a natural history artist and illustrator. He was an artist for the multi-volume Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (OUP), and a prize-winner in the inaugural Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize. His collaboration with Canberra naturalist Ian Fraser on A Bush Capital Year (CSIRO Publishing 2011) was awarded a Whitley Certificate for regional natural history. Kim Franklin, BA (Fine Art) has had an interest in birds throughout his life. He has exhibited in Africa and Europe. His illustrations have featured in ornithological books including Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (OUP), Birds of the Western Palearctic (OUP), Parrots (Pica Press), Raptors of the World (Helm), Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (Helm) and Pheasants, Partridges, and Grouse (Helm).

"Like looking through a new pair of binoculars, The Australian Bird Guide makes it seem like you are seeing even familiar birds for the first time." -- Sean Dooley * Australian Birdlife * "This field guide is an invaluable reference for anyone with an interest in this country's birdlife." * Gardening Australia * "Books, such as The Australian Bird Guide, are important for the conservation of Australia's flora and fauna; they bring nature to people and enable everyone to identify and take joy in the birds, other animals, and plants that we share the world with." -- Harry F. Recher * Pacific Conservation Biology 26(1) *