Collins Bird Guide: The Most Complete Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe

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calendar wheel shows when species are most likely to be seen. Invaluable images and insightful new maps often called ‘small thrushes’), tits and a few finches and buntings are some of these. More than 50 plates are either new or have been repainted, completely or partly. Apart from this, a few new vignettes have been added. The section with vagrants has been expanded to accommodate more images and longer texts for several species. The entire text and all maps have of course also been revised. The book provides all the information needed to identify any species at any time of the year, covering size, habitat, range, identification and voice. Accompanying every species entry is a distribution map and illustrations showing the species in all the major plumages (male, female, immature, in flight, at rest, feeding: whatever is important). The Collins Bird Guide app is destined to become a real triumph, the ultimate in field guide apps — and deservedly so.’

Browse through the beautiful illustrations by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterström, and read the detailed text by Lars Svensson. Svensson, Lars; Grant, Peter; Mullarney, Killian; Zetterstrom, Dan (1999). Fugle i felten: Feltbestemmelse af fugle i Europa og Middelhavsområdet. L&R Fakta. ISBN 87-614-0107-2.Author(s): Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney, Dan Zetterström Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Edition: Svensson, Lars; Grant, Peter; Mullarney, Killian; Zetterstrom, Dan (1999). Fågelguiden: Europas och Medelhavsområdets Fåglar i Fält. Bonnier. ISBN 978-91-34-51038-8.

a b c Kehoe, Chris (February 2018). "Collins Bid Guide app for Android". British Birds. 111 (2): 114–116. ANWB Vogelgids van Europa, second edition. ANWB. 2010. p.448. ISBN 9789018030803. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012 . Retrieved 7 June 2013. The new illustrations are, as you'd expect given the calibre of the authors, superb. From the perspective of the British birder, updates to some of the terns, swifts, Old World flycatchers and finches are among the most relevant. Among my favourites were the updated harriers and redstarts, while the distinguishing of Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll is also welcome. Alternatively, at the home screen, this feature sits as its own function where the user is able compare any species via up to six criteria including range, season and habitat, as well as phenotypical attributes such as plumage, size, shape and so on. Cleverly, the app uses GPS to determine your position and therefore the relevant region. This will no doubt be an extremely useful feature for birders holidaying in locations where they may not necessarily be familiar with identification possibilities. The cover of the first edition, in all formats, depicts a barn owl. On the second edition, this was replaced by an Arctic tern. Original Swedish version of the third edition features a bluethroat, while the English version shows a barn swallow.The Collins Bird Guide needs little introduction. With more than 1 million copies sold and the book translated into 23 languages, its success as a field guide to the birds of Europe is in no doubt. Quite simply, there is no better guide for identifying birds in the region. But not only is it available as a book, it has also been made into an app by developers at NatureGuides. The illustrations are accurate, useful and aesthetically pleasing, and in my copy somewhat more washed-out than in the original edition, which actually makes them even more realistically coloured. If you have the first edition it IS definitely worth investing in a copy of the new edition, and I suspect this will long continue to be the field guide of choice for most birdwatchers – although, as always with a comprehensive Europe-wide field guide, the sheer number of species can be bewildering and confusing for people new to birdwatching, or those that only watch birds in the UK. British Trust for Ornithology, BTO, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, Tel: +44 (0)1842 750050 Fax: +44 (0)1842 750030 It is hard to think of many examples where genuinely distinctive regional forms of any of the species covered are not now depicted. One that springs to mind is the Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch Fringilla polatzekibut that, including its distinctive voice, is at least now described in the text (with Gran Canaria and Tenerife Blue Chaffinch Fringilla teydea treated as a single species). Collins Bird Guide: The Most Complete Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe". www.nhbs.com . Retrieved 18 December 2022.

Mullarney, Killian; Svensson, Lars; Zetterstrom, Dan; Grant, Peter (1999). Collins Bird Guide. Collins. ISBN 0-00-219728-6.

Most readers probably already own a copy of the best-selling Collins Bird Guide, widely regarded as the finest regional identification guide ever created. Indeed, the vast majority of Western Palearctic birdwatchers under the age of 30 will never have known anything else as their baseline reference and it is the go-to identification guide for virtually everyone else too. For this reason, the arrival of the 3rd edition is something of an event. But the advantages of apps go well beyond savings on weight. In fact, the benefits of apps and eBooks are so strong that I'm now reluctant to buy books unless they are available in digital format. Apps can be searched for particular species or search terms and song/calls can be played – both of which are impossible in physical books. The Collins Bird Guide app offers a 'search by attributes' feature that allows searching for birds, using for example colouration or size, and should appeal to less experienced birders. Furthermore, it has a comparison feature, which allows similar species from various parts of the book to be compared side by side, which is very useful and again impossible in the physical version of the book. The combination of definitive text, up-to-date distribution maps and superb illustrations, all in a single volume, makes this book the ultimate field guide, essential on every bookshelf and birdwatching trip. Such attention to detail extends beyond the remote and exotic to include previously neglected plumages or aspects of several more widespread and familiar species too. Juvenile plumages of many passerines are now shown, additional plumages are included for the likes of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus, Snowy Owl Bubo scandiacus, Osprey Pandion haliaetusand others, while several finches are depicted in flight for the first time. Many of these changes might initially escape notice, even to those intimately familiar with their 2nd edition. This is even more true of many textual changes, which are often subtle and include, for instance, the addition (orremoval) of analogies here and there or small adjustments to modifiers. These are sometimes granular changes, but all contribute to the wider purpose of making the Collins Bird Guidemore precise, more complete and, ultimately, more useful. With its greater pagination and added illustrations, the new version is bigger and better than ever. But what exactly has changed, and has it made sufficient strides during the 12-year wait for an update to be published?