Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Volumes 1 & 2 [Hardcover]

Pamela C. Rasmussen (Author), John C. Anderton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2005 | ISBN-10: 8487334679 | ISBN-13: 978-8487334672

Includes data on identification, distributions, vocalizations and taxonomy, along with critical re-appraisal of historic information.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The most complete and up-to-date guide to the birds of the region. Includes much previously unpublished data on identification, distributions, vocalizations and taxonomy, along with critical re-appraisal of historic information. Species lists follow familiar Peters order except where changes are well-corroborated by recent research. Includes all accepted races and two species new to science, over 25 recent species-splits. Establishes region's first hypothetical list and vocalizations described in detail for nearly all species. Sonagrams presented for almost 900 species.

About the Author

Pamela C. Rasmussen (Assistant Curator of Mammalogy & Ornithology, MSU Museum and Assistant Professor, MSU Department of Zoology,Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution) & John C. Anderton

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Lynx Edicions (June 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8487334679
• ISBN-13: 978-8487334672
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,739,382 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable, must-have books, July 16, 2008

By 

Soleglad (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Volumes 1 & 2 (Hardcover)

Basics: 2005, hardcover, 378 & 683 pages, 180 color plates, 1,440+ species, range maps, sonagrams

Together, these two books provide an exceptional field guide and reference for the 1,440+ species found in the southern portion of Asia, often referred to as the Indian subcontinent. The books cover all birds found in the following countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. The Chagos Islands, which extend south from the Maldives, are also included.

Volume 1 is the visual field guide and contains 180 superbly painted color plates. These display 3,400 different illustrations of the 1,440+ species. Nearly every bird is illustrated with multiple plumages for gender, age, or subspecies. This book does an excellent job at noting the various subspecies, even taking a few liberties with presumed species-splits, such as the Eurasian Blackbird, Turdus merula. An average of 10 species are found on each plate, plus their multiple plumages. This sometimes creates a slightly busy page (e.g., gulls, terns, wheatears, stonechats) that may require you to take a second look to see where one species starts and the other begins. Fortunately, the illustrator did a pretty good job at trying to group them together.

The range maps (2.5cm square) use five colors in an effective manner. The boundaries for each country are included to help provide geographic orientation. Here is the one weakness of this volume 1 field guide: The text is very brief. Since volume 2 contains the species accounts, only the barest of identification points are offered in the field guide. The text ranges from 2-10 short lines. If you need or want further identification or vocal help, you must use the page number next to the description, which refers to the page number for the bird in volume 2. Doing this means you'll be flipping back and forth between two relatively heavy books.

Volume 2 holds the impressive accounts for each bird. A massive amount of information is offered by the authors. Most of the text is dedicated to the identification and the voice of the bird. This information is remarkably thorough and detailed. The remainder of the account addresses the bird's occurrence and distribution, as well as its habits. One other great feature is the inclusion of nearly 1,000 sonagrams for the bird's vocalizations. These may not be immediately useful to many birders, but they offer valuable information for those birders with a special interest in sounds. Now, here is the one weakness of this volume 2: The font size of the text is small, about size 8. This might encourage - or require - some people to pull out their reading glasses. However, it is worth it since these very packed pages contain an abundance of knowledge.

Despite the price of these two books, they are a must-have item if you intend on doing any repeated birding within this region.

I've listed several related books below...
1) A Guide to the Birds of India... by Grimmett/Inskipp
2) Birds of India... by Grimmett/Inskipp
3) Birds of Nepal by Grimmett/Inskipp
4) Birds of Nepal, with Reference to Kashmir and Sikkim by Fleming
5) The Birds of Pakistan: Vol 1-2 by Roberts
6) Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan: 10 Volume Set by Ali/Ripley
7) A Field Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Kazmierczak/Van Perlo
8) A Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka by Harrison
9) A Photographic Guide to the Birds of India... by Grewal/Harvey/Pfister
10) Birds of Bhutan by Inskipp/Grimmett

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ripley Guide, March 8, 2007

By 

CW (Honolulu, HI, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Volumes 1 & 2 (Hardcover)

A truly wonderful book. An outstanding work. The book is divided into two volumes: a field guide, which is easy to carry in the field, and a second volume giving you detailed descriptions of all species. The field guide illustrates all known species from the region (about 1300) in great detail, including color variations. And the illustrations are superb. The second volume gives you details about each species, and includes, for the first time for this region, a sonogram for most of the species. I found this book invaluable for this region. Highly recommend for anyone who is interested in birds of southern Asia.