Customer Reviews

Photographic Guide to Birds of Egypt and the Middle East

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While a convenient size for the tourist, this guide just presented too little information for the serious birder. The photographs were uneven in quality and no range maps were included, although there was some written range information. In Egypt we used the Princeton field guide "Birds of Europe" almost exclusively, with excellent results; I would recommend it instead.

Basics: 2001, softcover, 144 pages, color photos of 252 species, no range maps

As a note, this book is remarkably similar to Birds of Israel and the Middle East by the same authors. These two books cover 85% of the same species. Not only are the same species shared, but so are many of the same photographs. Of the 252 birds found in each book, only 37 are unique. Thus, using either one of these books in the adjoining countries of Egypt and Israel will be just as useful, especially since these books cover only 50% of the nearly 500 birds found in either Egypt or Israel. The text is often shared, with some modifications to address the different geographic place names of the bird's distribution.

The photos are of pretty good quality for 95% of the birds, although, the small size necessary to fit into this small book will limit the visibility of some necessary identification points. Just one photo is given for nearly all the birds. For the other 5% of the photos, they are too dark or too distant to allow proper identification. A few photos of raptors in flight are simply not good images.

The text is a brief paragraph that focuses primarily on the description of the bird to aid in identification. Its brevity will be helpful only occasionaly. For some birds, a comparison is made to a similar species. Some additional short notes are offered on behavior and habitat along with notes on its status.

This photo guide, like its many sister photo guides, is best used as a practice tool in conjunction with a complete field guide. There are a couple of excellent field guides, such as "Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East" by Jonsson or the "Field Guide to the Birds of the Middle East" by Porter.

I've listed several related books below...
1) Field Guide to the Birds of the Middle East by Porter et.al.
2) Birds of the Middle East and North Africa: A Companion Guide by Hollom et.al.
3) Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East by Jonsson
4) The Birds of North Africa and the Canary Islands to the Red Sea by Etchecopar/Hue
5) The Birds of Israel by Shirihai
6) The Birds of Egypt by Goodman
7) Common Birds of Egypt by Bruun/el Din

This is a wonderful pocket-sized book; it's perfect for the traveller. The photos and concise descriptions simplified identification.