Customer Reviews

Field Guide to New Zealand Seabirds

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Basics: 2000, 1st edition, hardcover, 136 pages, 115 color photos of 107 species, range maps

This is a small, handy photo guide to all the expected seabirds of New Zealand and its surrounding islands. For this book, seabirds encompass the penguins, albatrosses, shearwaters, and storm-petrels along with boobies, cormorants, gulls, and terns.

Each bird is shown with one quality color photograph. About a dozen of the birds have an additional small, inset photograph, most of which merely zoom in or out on the photograph already provided. The author has done a good job at selecting quality photographs to showcase the birds. These should be helpful for identifying many, but not all, of the pelagic birds. The single-photo format obviously omits the many, many other plumages that are possible, which may preclude confident identification on a field trip.

The text for each bird consists of one paragraph, which is dedicated primarily to identification and comparison to similar species. A few brief notes are provided on status and behavior. This text is good, but it won't provide much help for the other plumages not depicted in the book.

A range map of the area around New Zealand gives a general image of the bird's range in the region.

This is a good, basic guide to the pelagic birds that will help many of the beginners. The more experienced ocean-birder will want one of the more in-depth guides for its many plumages and more thorough text.

I've listed several related books below...
1) Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World (Princeton Field Guides) by Onley/Scofield
2) The Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife by Shirihai
3) Seabirds: An Identification Guide by Harrison
4) Seabirds of Australia by Lindsey
5) Identification of Seabirds of the Southern Ocean by Onley/Bartle
6) A Field Guide to the Seabirds of Australia and the World by Tuck/Heinzel
7) Southern Albatrosses and Petrels: An ID Guide by Harper/Kinsky
8) Hand Guide to the Birds of New Zealand by Heather/Robertson
9) Collins guide to the Birds of New Zealand and Outlying Islands by Falla/Sibson/Talbot
10) The Reed Field Guide to New Zealand Birds by Moon