Customer Reviews

A Photographic Guide to the Birds of India: And the Indian Subcontinent, Including Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives (Princeton Field Guides)

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This book is a very noble effort at a photographic field guide to Indian birds. Not surprisingly, the quality of the photos varies from excellent to marginal-at-best; a few species could not possibly be intentified from the photos provided. Having said that, this book does contain several valuable features lacking from the other Indian bird guides. The range maps are displayed along with each species, with symbols and notes on the relative rarity of each species. Another very nice feature is the inclusion of the older, common (English) names which is great for those who have birded in India for awhile. I also like the smaller size and portablility of this book. The bottom line: if you are going to take one bird field guide to India, I wouldn't take this one- the Grimmett/Inskipps or Kazmeirczak "non-photo" guides are better bets. However, if you are a serious birder and don't mind packing two bird books, I'd highly recommned taking this one along to supplement the information in the other field guides.

wORTH aVOIDING - BAD PICTURES ( A FEW GOOD) NO MATCH FOR THE INSKIPP - NOT A GUIDE BUT A PICTURE BOOK

Basics: 2002, softcover, 512 pages, 750+ color photos, 668 species, range maps

Princeton has put out a few books that follow this same photo guide format. It should be noted this book is not a complete guide. It shows only 668 (45%) of the region's nearly 1,500 species. However, this book does illustrate more species than any other single photo-book available for the subcontinent. Most of the birds are shown with a single color photo. About 10% of the birds have two photos.

The selection of photos is good for 85-90% of the birds. They show the bird in good light and in the open for a clear view. Some of these birds are displayed a bit small but generally well enough to be identified. The remaining 10-15% of the photos are of low quality. These are often too small, too dark, too grainy, too obscured, or too indistinct to allow proper identification. Some photos appear to be included merely because a photo of any sort was available. Since most of the birds have only one photo, this book won't be helpful for immature birds, various races, or many of the females.

The paragraphs of text are brief and cover description, voice, and habits. The description, composed of 8-12 short lines, takes up about half of the text. These descriptions offer some details but are not in-depth enough to offer help for identifying many of the similar species. This section on habits covers habitat preference and some behavioral notes. The voice is generally described in 2-4 short lines.

Each bird receives the same map of the Indian subcontinent, containing two colors: Red for resident or breeding summer visitor and blue for non-breeding winter visitor. The map shows Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The ranges shown for the birds artificially stop at the political boundaries of these countries.

Will this book be useful for a trip to India or the adjacent countries? Yes, but keep in mind the limitations that (a) less than half the species are shown and (b) only one of the plumages is shown. For a birding trip to India, you'll want to use one of the complete field guides, a couple of which are very good. Use this photo guide to help prepare for your trip but rely on an illustrated guide for your field excursions. The books by Rasmussen or by Grimmett are superior to this.

I've listed several related books below...
1) Birds of South Asia:Vol 1 & 2 by Rasmussen
2) Birds of India... by Grimmett
3) A Guide to the Birds of India... by Grimmett
4) Birds of Nepal by Grimmett
5) Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Grewal
6) Birds of Western Ghats, Kokan & Malabar by Pande
7) A Field Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Kazmierczak
8) A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Bali by MacKinnon
9) Photographic Guide to Birds of India and Nepal by Grewal
10) Photographic Guide to Birds of the Himalayas by Grewal

The book helped me to identify one bird I saw in Pakistan which I tried in other books.