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Parrots of the World: An Identification Guide
 
 
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Parrots of the World: An Identification Guide [Hardcover]

Joseph M. Forshaw (Author), Frank Knight (Illustrator)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)


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Book Description

February 6, 2006

From the macaws of South America to the cockatoos of Australia, parrots are among the most recognizable, and endangered, birds on earth. But until now, no easy-to-use guide existed for the identification of all species and subspecies of these colorful creatures.

Enter Parrots of the World, the most comprehensive handbook for distinguishing some 350 species of parrots from across the globe. Lavishly illustrated, with more than 120 color plates and additional illustrations, the book covers parrots in homes, zoos, and in the wild, providing detailed descriptions of their key identifying features.

By allowing readers to easily narrow their search to specific geographic areas, the book will prove especially useful to those interested in parrots of a particular locale. Descriptive distribution maps show the geographic location of the different species, and an entire section is devoted to ecological and behavioral information relevant to identification. In addition, the guide differentiates Old World and New World species and points out significant sex or age differences in plumage coloration.

Parrots of the World will provide enormous help to those engaged in gathering important field data and monitoring international trade, two initiatives that are of critical importance to the conservation of parrots worldwide.

Clear, complete, and colorful, this is one guidebook that no museum, research institution, zoo, or bird enthusiast will want to be without.

Key Features:

  • Easy-to-use, geographic guide
  • Treats some 350 species
  • Color distribution maps for all species
  • Lavishly illustrated, with more than 120 color plates and additional illustrations
  • Includes ecological and behavioral information


Editorial Reviews

Review

Once again Joseph Forshaw has raised the bar of avian identification guides. His latest book . . . is a superbly written and illustrated book on all parrot species and subspecies of the world. . . . I cannot recommend this book highly enough and believe it should hold pride of place in any collection of avian volumes.
(Susie Anderson Australian Aviculture )

Joseph Forshaw's name is synonymous with quality parrot books. . . . For the serious parrot enthusiast, this excellent book is a must-have. Without a doubt, Parrots of the World: An Identification Guide, will remain for years to come, the definitive work on the subject of parrot identification.
(Russell Kingston Australian Birdkeeper )

As well as helping identification this terrific book also covers the relationships between parrot families, plus their relationship with humans and subsequent conservation issues affecting the birds today. Any fan of birding in the tropics will want a copy, as will those with an interest from an aviculture perspective.
(The Visitor )

A wonderful addition to any avian library.
(AFA Watchbird )

This is a very valuable reference text.
(Roger Wilkinson Newsletter of the World Parrot Trust )

Altogether it is a fine addition to the literature and one that will please the most discriminate reader.
(Charles E. Keller Indiana Audubon Quarterly )

By far the most comprehensive and illustrative handbook for distinguishing all 350 extant species of psittacines in the world.... An essential tool.
(Auk )

About the Author

Joseph M. Forshaw is one of Australia's foremost ornithologists and is recognized internationally as a leading expert on parrots. He is the author of several books, including "Parrots of the World", with William Cooper; "Australian Parrots"; "The Birds of Paradise and Bower Birds";" Kingfishers and Related Birds"; and "Turacos: A Natural History of the Musophagidae". Frank Knight has been an illustrator for more than twenty-five years, producing illustrations for scientific papers, books, and lectures. His work appears in "A Field Guide to the Birds of Australia"; and in "A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia".

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press (February 6, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0691092516
  • ISBN-13: 978-0691092515
  • Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 8.7 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,189,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars New Forshaw, April 10, 2007
By 
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Parrots of the World: An Identification Guide (Hardcover)
A gorgeous book. More usable than the previous edition: physically smaller (still a coffee-table book, but lighter & smaller - binding should hold up now), much more up to date, no more hunting for pictures. Downsides: text refers to color plates but color plates don't refer back to text, and a short bibliography (<100 cites. It does cite the previous edition and Juniper & Parr, each with over 700 cites, but you'd need those to track references). Compared to Juniper & Parr's Parrots: A Guide to Parrots of the World, it's cheaper, more recent and better for phylogeny; but has less information about each species and doesn't cite references for each species. The larger size allows an elegant layout but makes it a poor field guide.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Parrots of the World: An Identification Guide by Joseph M. Forshaw, January 4, 2007
This review is from: Parrots of the World: An Identification Guide (Hardcover)
The Parrots of the World: An Identification Guide by Joseph M. Forshaw is an excellant book that shows beautiful color pictures of the Parrots, tells where the Parrots are from with a colored map of the area they are originally from in the wild. Also the book tells in detail the color and size of the Parrots. I would highly recommend it for anyone interested in recognizing the different Parrots.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Great but not flawless, March 24, 2011
By 
Duncan Maxwell (here, there, everywhere) - See all my reviews
This is certainly the best parrot guide I've ever seen, the result of a great deal of expertise and talent. The illustrations are clear, and for many species the bird is shown from the top and bottom to aid identification. Where birds vary in appearance by sex this is shown, and in most cases it seems the different subspecies are shown as well. This is particularly pleasing in the case of the Rainbow Lorikeet, the multiple highly variable subspecies of which are treated over six pages (including three plates). Similar looking species are lumped together and the illustration quality makes it clear what to look for to tell them apart. The maps are generallly good with each map using separate colours to mark the separate ranges of the subspecies.

There are, unfortunately, flaws. The common names used follow earlier editions, with a seeming preference for avicultural names over those used by birdwatchers and the various ornithological organisations. While this is the perogative of the writers, it would have been helpful to include commonly used alternatives either in the text or in the index. Additionally the taxonomy used seems somewhat out of date for a book just published. It's been ten years since Boon (2001) showed that the Norfolk and New Caledonian Parakeets were not only distinct from the Red-fronted Parakeet (actually the Red-crowned Parakeet, but never mind) but actually basal to the entire genus, yet they are still lumped in that species in this new edition. Similarly the Chatham Parakeet should be treated as very distinct from the Yellow-crowned Parakeet, but isn't. In some instances these splits are alluded to in the text (as they are for the Chathams Parakeet), but this isn't consistently done (for example in the case of teh Ouvea Parakeet from the Horned Parakeet).

These are essentially niggles. The problem with these kinds of work is that the closer you get to perfection the more glaring these small problems become. This is still an excellent book that I don't regret purchasing.
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