Customer Reviews

Birds of Southeast Asia (Princeton Field Guides)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased Birds of SE Asia for some birding days I would have in Singapore in November of 2007. Everyone I asked said it was the best you could find...and my search results indicate they are correct, you can not find a better bird guide for this part of the world than Robson's. BUT, and I mean this only for those of you who will seriously digest this book and use it as a field guide as intensely as I did for my two days in the field, it is not perfect. Sure it covers 1270 species, but I only wanted to know about 400 of them in Singapore. Yes, I am sure that Robson used the most up to date information he had at the time of publication, but for the Singapore birds he just didn't have it all right, including some basic scarcity ratings, and in one case the bird plate just wasn't that accurate a plate.

Still, all things being equal, for example NO GUIDE, Robson's guide is a heroic effort to cover a great deal of territory and almost 1300 birds in a FIELD GUIDE sized book. Here he succeeded wonderfully, and I was able to make most of the needed IDs of the 70 or so species I found in 2 days with his guide book.

Until there is something more country specific, I don't think you can find a better guide book for this area of the world...assuming that specific guides for countries don't become available soon, I hope that the author will update his work and include the appropriate corrections soon.

If you are heading to SE Asia and hope to do some birding, don't leave home without it.

This edition is the first quality guide to the birds of Southeast Asia that is easily portable. The original hardback version of Robson's book is too bulky and heavy to be handy in the field. I have used the hardback version for six years and found myself making notes in the field then researching the guide only when I returned to my hotel. I look forward to being able to carry the book with me on most walks. Another vast improvement in the new guide is that the bird descriptions are now on the page facing the illustrations. No more need to thumb back and forth between picture and text. This is the book I've been waiting for!

I purchased this guide for a combined trip to Borneo and Peninsula Malaysia. I had a copy of the pocket guide to the Birds of Borneo and was looking for a guide to cover some of the birds that were not pictured in the small Borneo book as well as the Birds of Peninsula Malaysia. For this purpose I was pleased. A few endmic Borneo birds were of course not included but most were included.

As for the stand alone qualities of Birds of Southeast Asia, this is well designed for use in the field. It is compact with a plastic cover and contains an amazing amount of information for its size. The pictures are high quality and when the scale changes on a page, it is noted next to the picture. The inside cover has small pictures of a representative of each family with the starting page # for that family. Species descriptions, including many juveniles & females, voice, range and time of year are included opposite the pictures.
I am writing this prior to my trip so the true test, how many lifers are gleaned from its use, is yet to come.

A really great work! I wish I had this book last year when I made a stopover at the Bangkok Airport going to and from Germany. Even though I was unable to step outside, I did some birdwatching from the large window overlooking the beautiful spacious garden outside. At that time I used a hardback edition of Craig Robson's "Birds of Thailand," that I purchased at the bookstore within the airport.

But this paperback edition of "Birds of Southeast Asia" is actually a bit smaller, and less cumbersome, than the field guide dealing specifically with Thailand. Although no range maps are given (a real strength of the Thailand field guide), the general range is clearly stated in the text. And the status is given as well. This field guide covers Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Peninsular Malaysia, and Singapore.

Another major strength of this field guide (also true of "Birds of Thailand") is that the text faces the plates, which are all in color. All 1,270 species covered in the text are illustrated.

The only two very minor weaknesses is that only the Southeast Asia range is described in the text. The other is that there are no lines or arrows pointing to major field marks. But these are very minor, and do little if anything, to detract from the excellent points of this book.

This is THE book to carry with you if you are traveling to, or through, Southeast Asia.

Mr. Robson's guide is just the thing if you're looking for a wide sampling of the birds of Southeast Asia. The illustrations are first rate and the plates are organized well. Mr. Robson's description of each bird's appearance, its song, and its general habits can be very helpful to the hardcore as well as the casual birder.

The book has some bonus features. There is a handy bird family and genus page pictoral index on the inside of the front cover and the book has a waterproof (and dropping proof) cover.

I have used this guide to bird most of SE Asia over a span of 6 years ( Haven't been to Myanmar ) This is the best Field guide for birding SE Asia, although if you are only visiting Thailand I would use Robson's Thailand specific guide. before reviewing this guide the sheer scope of what is contained in the guide should be considered, 1,270 species (all of the species in the area) all illustrated over 142 plates, and detailed species descriptions of each. Aside from Thailand birding tourism is very new to the region, and continues to grow.
The illustrations for the most part are very well done with a few exceptions the two plates of jays, magpies, treepies and crows are very rough and specifically the white winged magpie doesn't resemble the actual bird in the field, but those plates are not typical of this guide. Each species is generally illustrated 3 or more times ( adult, Juv. male, female) and while I've seen more detailed illustrations, they are accurate and very well organized, making it helpful in narrowing down species for identification.
There are no range maps, I think because of sparse population data for many parts of the region, not as an oversight. The range of each species is described and it can be difficult to determine if the region you are in lies with in the species range. The species descriptions are very detailed and helpful and are located opposite the species illustrations.
If you are birding SE Asia this book is a MUST have, I have gone through 2 copies (it rains A LOT in the wet season....A LOT) it's not the perfect guide , but it's a very good one.

Be careful not to assume to much. There are no range maps and despite the fact that the island of Java appears on the front cover, this book does not cover Indonesia.

This is a great book to have when you visit southeast Asia. The number of illustrations is dizzying. The only disappointment for me is that the book does not include the birds of Indonesia. This is an excellent field guide, not too big to carry with you. The information provided about each species is brief, but thorough, and includes written range description (no maps). The illustrations are very thorough. The book was very useful when I was in Thailand, and I'm glad to have it. I would recommend it.

Very nice art, and very compact. Concise ID info adjacent to color plates. I only wish that there was a range map with each individual species. Instead, there are abbreviations of the countries that the birds are located in put into the text. Otherwise, it's great.

Bought this book since I already had the same author's "Birds of Thailand", which was quite adequate and wanted the wider area coverage. Now wish I hadn't bought it. There are NO RANGE MAPS for each species, which is virtually inexcusable for a modern field guide, and particularly in this case where unfamiliar range names (such as Tenasserim and Tonkin) are used without any definition. The fact that it is a small guide covering a large area is no excuse - the excellent "Birds of East Asia" by Brazil covers a similar area in a compact format and includes range maps. I won't be taking the Robson book on birding trips to Southeast Asia as the lack of maps outweighs any advantages it may have.