Birds of Australia: A Photographic Guide Paperback – Illustrated, November 9, 2014

I'll start by saying that I really like this book. My husband and I ordered it when we thought that we might be taking our first trip to Australia next June. The first thing that I noticed is that it is visually exciting and is filled with eye candy. Second is the very informative habitat descriptions in the front of the text. In hind sight I really wish that I would have had a clear introduction to habitats when I first started birding in the U.S. Third is the succinct glossary that is sure to have a few new terms for visiting birders but also and perhaps more importantly for Australians that like nature and want to learn more about their natural environment. This very directly relates to my second comment about habitat descriptions. Fourth is the layout. Species descriptions are on the left page and their images are directly across on the right page and in the same order visually. In my opinion this is the only way to make a field guide truly functional. Fifth is the size. The size is actually something that you can take into the field and for the size the book has an impressive amount of information. Sixth is the font. The selected typeface is clear and easy to read. For me this is crucial for a field guide that I am trying to reference quickly. This is a well thought out guide that is actually fun to spend time with.

This is a very good book with extensive high quality photos. It gives a good overview of Australian birds. It also has a good index.

This is a pretty good book and I used it recently to find a 100 new species of birds in Australia. The only problem I have with it is its size....it is too big to stick in a back pocket, alas.

Awesome photos and descriptions

On shelves full of field guides this one stands out as one of my favorites. The photos are excellent and show a variety of possible ID challenges. The descriptions are thorough and very understandable. I feel ready to identify birds in Australia.

I am a serious US birder who studied for a 4-week, self-guided birding trip to Australia. For the US, I am a fan of “The Sibley Guide to Birds.” In the field, I typically use the Sibley app.For me, the strength of this book was the 30 pages in the beginning on habitat (including photos!). Australia is so different from the US, so this part filled a gap in my education.The birds in Australia were overwhelmingly different from those in the US. This book was not a good one for me to start learning about the different families and field marks of the birds I was studying. I found Pizzey and Knight helpful there, but I later found “The Australian Bird Guide” to be my favorite.My biggest complaint about this book: The photos do not have the species name on them, but instead are coded by a number. I had to look at the number on the photo and then find the corresponding number on the left-hand page to determine the species. On some photo pages, there are 3 species, each with photos on a separate row, with 2 photos for each species. On others, there are 5 species, so the first row might have 2 photos, each of a different species, the next row might have 2 photos of a single species, and the 3rd row might also have 2 photos of 2 different species. I found this cumbersome. Learning Australian birds was hard enough! I also preferred Pizzey and Knight because it was more like Sibley, giving multiple plumages for each species, and I didn’t have to work so hard to figure out what was what: the illustrations had the name written in English rather than coded by number. On the other hand, the photos are lovely (“eye candy” as one reviewer wrote), and the coding more easily allows them to be used as a quiz if you want to test your ability to ID the birds. I do like looking at photos of birds that I’m studying. They’re in more natural positions, and it’s a different way of looking at the birds.Range maps are small (postage stamp sized), but it is a smaller book so that is not unreasonable. For species that are highly localized, it can be difficult to see the locations where it occurs.The font is a bit small for me, not readable without my reading glasses. (“The Sibley Guide to Birds” is just barely readable without my reading glasses.)One strength for US birders not so comfortable with the metric system is that the size of birds is given in both inches and centimeters.I think it could be a good book for beginning birders or for those who prefer photographic guides. When I was starting out, that was my preference. For birders who like Sibley and want to study Australian birds, I would recommend “The Australian Bird Guide,” which I think sets a new standard for excellence. It a large book, not a guide to be carried into the field.

Great photographs and easy to reference

The ONLY Australian bird guide that is decent on Amazon. Good photographs, detailed description, organized like traditional field guides. I used it a great deal while in Australia.

Die Foto in diesem Buch sind wirklich herrlich anzusehen. Aber da dieses Buch nur in englischer Sprache geschrieben wurde, ist es für englisch sprachige Mensche, die ausserdem die Natur und die Ornitologie lieben,perfekt.

This guide was bought so that I could familiarise myself in advance with some of the commoner birds I expect to find In OZ. I usually dont bother with Photographic guides and prefer the traditional type field-guides but I'm really glad I bought this. Not only are the photos really clear and varied but the text is also very succinct helpful and big on the diagnostics that will help me suss new birds in a new Continent. Even all of the the seabirds are thoroughly covered. Highly recommended work of much apparent effort. Can't fault it.

BEST Book ever on Australian Birds . The fact that you have Real Photos of Birds is extremely helpful on the Field when watching Birds where ever you go Australia wide . Being a Beginner in Bird Photography it helps me heaps to recognise which Bird I'm taking Pics of . OUTSTANDING WORK Ian Campbell, Sam Woods and Nick Leseberg ... You guys Nailed it . Thank you for producing this Book.

写真のクオリティが高く、図鑑としてももちろん、鑑賞に堪える内容です。

Livre pour anglophones comme la plupart des livres traitant de l'ornithologie avec sérieux.De bonne qualité pour déterminer les espèces recherchées.