Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia: A Guide to Field Identification (Princeton Field Guides) [Paperback]

Don Taylor (Author), Stephen Message (Author)

Book Description

Series: Princeton Field Guides | Publication Date: March 6, 2006

Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia is a quick-reference field guide to the sandpipers, plovers, stints, and other shorebirds found on these continents. The exhaustive and superbly detailed color plates show the birds at rest and in flight, and in every plumage variant likely to be encountered. Species are treated plumage by plumage alongside images of similar species they are otherwise likely to be confused with. Succinct text on pages facing the plates summarizes the key identification features of appearance, voice, and behavior. There is a color distribution map for each of the described species. This guide provides fast, easy, and reliable field identification of this challenging group of birds.

• 80 color plates show full range of plumage types of all species covered
• Concise facing text treats appearance, voice, and behavior
• Clear color distribution map for each species
• Definitive pictorial guide to the shorebirds of these continents

Editorial Reviews

Review

How well does the book perform as a photographic guide? I used it this summer to solve a couple of questions I had . . . and it worked perfectly. How well does it perform as a book of bird photography? Even better. . . . [Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia] is excellent and deserves a place on the waterbird enthusiast's bookshelf. -- James A. Kushlan, Birding



Its best feature is its division into two major sections, the first showing illustrations of shorebirds in standing poses and the second showing them in flight. Few shorebird identification guides give adequate space to shorebirds in flight. It's a great addition because extended wings may show patterns hidden by folded wings at rest. -- Gary Clark, Houston Chronicle



This is a handsome group of birds and the book's fine illustrations allow you to get to know these beauties better. In addition, the illustrations (by Stephen Message) are much larger than those in your average guide book. That makes it easy to see plumage detail, which can be very important when identifying shorebirds. -- Jim Williams, Minneapolis Star Tribune

About the Author

Stephen Message is a professional bird artist whose work has appeared in several books, including Bill Oddie's "Birds of Britain and Ireland". Don Taylor is a well-known birder in the United Kingdom. His books include "Where to Watch Birds in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex", and he has published extensively in U.K. birding magazines. He has traveled widely and has seen all but a handful of the world's 216 shorebird species.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (March 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691126720
• ISBN-13: 978-0691126722
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #932,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Slightly disappointing compared to available guides, September 25, 2007

By 

Christopher J. Sharpe "Chris Sharpe" (Caracas, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia: A Guide to Field Identification (Princeton Field Guides) (Paperback)

Being a shorebird enthusiast, I have had this title in my sights for a while and planned to purchase it as soon as I could find a copy to look through. I have owned the old Helm guide since it came out but, for portability, in the field I tend to use Sibley or the Collins Bird Guide as a shorebird identification supplement to whatever national guide I am using (that is here in the Western Hemisphere). I felt it was about time I got my library up-to-date with this new volume which promised to supersede all my guides. However, when I finally managed to look over a copy I have to say I found it a little disappointing. For me at least, the illustrations do not match those of Killian Mullarney, Peter Hayman or David Sibley and the text does not seem to add much to the older Helm guide - indeed, I prefer that pioneering guide. It just shows how much care went into the preparation of those older guides - Shorebirds is 21 years old now and still hard to beat! This may be a personal view - and admittedly based on a short perusal - but I could not justify adding the book to my library.

Chris Sharpe, 25 September 2007. ISBN: 0691126720

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shorebirds are intercontinental, July 29, 2007

By 

johnbirding (Holland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia: A Guide to Field Identification (Princeton Field Guides) (Paperback)

Many shorebird species can occasionally be seen in other continents than where they normally occur, more so than any other bird group. Thus, for birders who like to see rarities (which is nearly all of them), these birds are very special. But they can also be difficult to identify to the species level. Hence, it's a good idea to bring out this field guide specifically for shorebirds for the whole northern hemisphere.
The drawings are very good, and larger than in most other field guides, thus showing more details of the plumage. Also, there are several plumages per species.
Cleverly, the species are grouped according to resemblance in plumage rather than in a strict systematical order. Very handy also is that all flight drawings are grouped separately. The distribution maps are large, thus showing exact occurrences (inasfar known).
This is a book to have at hand when visiting coastal areas in the migration season, or when making birding trips to one of the other continents.

3.0 out of 5 stars A good shorebird guide for specific regions, August 7, 2011

By 

Madbirder - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia: A Guide to Field Identification (Princeton Field Guides) (Paperback)

This guide is split into two sections. The first covers waders at rest, 45 plates of shorebirds with the facing page covering key Id features, behavior, habitat, plumage both breeding, non-breeding and juvenile, and confusion species. The plates are quite good but most of the shorebirds seem a bit plump for my liking. Plates 46-77 covers the same species but in flight with range maps and text covering key ID features, behavior, flight action, voice, distribution and confusion species. There are three appendices in the back cover upperpart flight patterns, underpart flight patters and a systematic list. This book misses out on shorebird species found in South America, Africa and the Pacific and it's all well and good if you have your shorebird on the ground to be able to study it but if it takes flight then you have to flip to the corresponding plate in the flight section or vice versa. Would have been nice to incorporate flight and ground images together which would also have all the text about flight and ground descriptions in one place. That said both text and plates are good but I'll stick to Haymans Shorebirds.