Birdbooker Report 178

Compiled by an ardent bibliophile, this is a weekly report about all those wonderful nature, science and history books that are hot-off-the-presses in North America and the UK

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.

~ Arnold Lobel [1933-1987] author of many popular children's books.

Compiled by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, the Birdbooker Report is a weekly report listing the wide variety of nature, natural history, ecology, animal behaviour, science and history books that have been newly released or republished in North America and in the UK. The books listed here were received by Ian during the previous week, courtesy of various publishing houses.

Featured Title:

• Garcia del Rey, Eduardo. Field Guide to the Birds of Macaronesia. 2011. Lynx Edicions. Hardbound: 341 pages. Price: $40.00 U.S.
  SUMMARY: This Field Guide describes and illustrates all the species and subspecies of birds in Macaronesia (the Azores, Madeira, the Savage Islands, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde). Special features include detailed distribution maps, species status for each archipelago and the official list of the birds of Macaronesia compiled by the S.O.C. (Canary Islands Ornithological Society).
  • Includes the Atlantic islands of Macaronesia, a region which covers the archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira, the Savage Islands, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde.
  • Describes 573 species and subspecies, covering all resident, nesting, migrating and vagrant birds.
  • More than 230 detailed distribution maps.
  • 150 colour plates.
  • Updated to December 2010.
  There also is a Spanish version.
  
  IAN'S RECOMMENDATION: When compared to Birds of the Atlantic Islands by Tony Clarke (Helm Field Guides) this book is smaller, hardbound, with range maps and has the text and range maps opposite the color plates. This format makes this book more useful in the field than the Helm Field Guide. The book is available from NHBS in the U.K. and from Buteo Books in the U.S.A.
  

New and Recent Titles:

• van Perlo, Ber. Birds of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific. 2011. Princeton University Press. Paperback: 256 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S. [Amazon UK; Amazon US].
  SUMMARY: This is the only comprehensive and handy pocket guide that illustrates and describes the bird species of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific. Featuring more than 750 species illustrated in vivid and stunning detail on 95 color plates, this authoritative guide provides information on key identification features, habitat, songs, and calls. Birds of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific is a must-have for birders of all levels interested in this region of the world.
  • The only guide to illustrate the birds of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific
  • More than 750 species illustrated on 95 color plates
  • Depictions of all plumages for males, females, and juveniles
  • Detailed distribution maps show where each species is commonly found
  • Information on key identification features, habitat, songs, and calls
  • In-depth look at flight signatures, vagrant populations, and much more
  • Concise and highly portable
  
  IAN'S RECOMMENDATION: The range maps are too small and the text is brief. I prefer: A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific by H. Douglas Pratt et al ([Amazon UK; Amazon US] Published in 1987 -- but I understand a second edition is in the works!). For New Zealand, I recommend: Hand Guide to the Birds of New Zealand by Hugh Robertson, Barrie Heather and Derek J. Onley [Amazon UK; Amazon US]. I also find: Hawaii's Birds, Sixth edition (Hawaii Audubon Society) useful (available from Buteo Books and Hawaii Audubon Society).
• Lysinger, Mitch, John V. Moore, and Niels Krabbe. The Birds of Caba�as San Isidro (Ecuador). 2010. John V. Moore Nature Recordings. MP-3 CD and booklet. Price: $14.95 U.S. [Amazon US].
  SUMMARY: This publication consists of a single data CD containing all vocalizations in MP3 format as well as detailed recording data in both WORD and EXCEL files, and is a revised and updated edition of the 2 cassette publication "The Birds of Caba�as San Isidro" originally published in 1997 and updated with minor modifications in 2000.
  They present 594 separate recordings of 207 species including 53 species and 272 vocalizations not included in the cassette publication. Presented are the sounds of most of the bird species that inhabit the Caba�as San Isidro property, as well as the surrounding area comprising the Rio Cosanga Valley up to and including the Cordillera de Guacamayos Ridge to the southeast. Caba�as San Isidro is a charming tourist lodge nestled in the picturesque Quijos valley near the small town of Cosanga, 100 kilometers east of Ecuador's capital city, Quito. The lodge itself is located at an altitude of approximately 6800 feet (2073m). However, the trails leading from the lodge cover elevations from approximately 6000 to almost 7600 feet (1829-2316m). Habitats range from primary montane forest, secondary woodland, riverine edge, and Chusquea (Bamboo) stands, to cleared pasture. The avifauna at San Isidro contains elements of both the Subtropical zone (throughout most of the area) and the lower Temperate zone (on the upper slopes).
  Although this publication contains vocalizations from many of the species already presented in the 6 digital publications featuring Ecuador birds by John V. Moore Nature Recordings, 22 of the species, 29 of the subspecies and several of the vocal types presented in this data CD have not been featured in our previous publications.
  IAN'S RECOMMENDATION: The species names are announced. Birders visiting the region should find these recordings useful.
• Schaffner, Spencer. Binocular Vision: The Politics of Representation in Birdwatching Field Guides. 2011. University of Massachusetts Press. Paperback: 201 pages. Price: $24.95 U.S. [Amazon UK; Amazon US].
  SUMMARY: From meadows to marshlands, seashores to suburbs, field guides help us identify many of the things we find outdoors: plants, insects, mammals, birds. In these texts, nature is typically represented, both in words and images, as ordered, clean, and untouched by human technology and development. This preoccupation with species identification, however, has produced an increasingly narrow view of nature, a "binocular vision," that separates the study of individual elements from a range of larger, interconnected environmental issues. In this book, Spencer Schaffner reconsiders this approach to nature study by focusing on how birds are presented in field guides.
  Starting with popular books from the late nineteenth century and moving ultimately to the electronic guides of the current day, Binocular Vision contextualizes birdwatching field guides historically, culturally, and in terms of a wide range of important environmental issues. Schaffner questions the assumptions found in field guides to tease out their ideological workings. He argues that the sanitized world represented in these guides misleads readers by omitting industrial landscapes and so-called nuisance birds, leaving users of the guides disconnected from environmental degradation and its impact on bird populations.
  By putting field guides into direct conversation with concerns about species conservation, environmental management, the human alteration of the environment, and the problem of toxic pollution, Binocular Vision is a field guide to field guides that takes a novel perspective on how we think about and interact with the world around us.
  IAN'S RECOMMENDATION: In this book the author argues that field guides about birds separate birds from their surrounding landscapes (especially human-made ones) and pressing social debates. It's an interesting point of view that should be read by everyone involved in the publication of bird field guides!
• Kear, Benjamin P. and Robert J. Hamilton-Bruce. Dinosaurs In Australia: Mesozoic Life from the Southern Continent. 2011. CSIRO Publishing. Paperback: 190 pages. Price: $79.95 U.S. [Amazon UK; Amazon US].
  SUMMARY: Over the last few decades our understanding of what Australia was like during the Mesozoic Era has changed radically. A rush of new fossil discoveries, together with cutting-edge analytical techniques, has created a much more detailed picture of ancient life and environments from the great southern continent. Giant dinosaurs, bizarre sea monsters and some of the earliest ancestors of Australia's unique modern animals and plants all occur in rocks of Mesozoic age. Ancient geographical positioning of Australia close to the southern polar circle and mounting geological evidence for near freezing temperatures also make it one of the most unusual and globally significant sources of fossils from the age of dinosaurs.
  This new book provides the first comprehensive overview of current research on Australian Mesozoic faunas and floras, with a balanced coverage of the many technical papers, conference abstracts and unpublished material housed in current collections. It is a primary reference for researchers in the fields of palaeontology, geology and biology, senior undergraduate and postgraduate students, secondary level teachers, as well as fossil collectors and anyone interested in natural history.
  Dinosaurs in Australia is fully illustrated in colour with original artworks and 12 reconstructions of key animals. It has a foreword by Tim Flannery and is the ideal book for anybody seeking to know more about Australia's amazing age of dinosaurs.
  IAN'S RECOMMENDATION: A well illustrated semi-technical overview of Mesozoic life (NOT just dinosaurs!) of Australia.

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Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen is an avid and well-known book collector, especially to the publishing world. Mr Paulsen collects newly-published books about science, nature, history, animals and birds, and he also collects children's books on these topics. Mr Paulsen writes brief synopses about these books on his website, The Birdbooker Report.

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/jul/10/2

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