Birds of Northern India (Princeton Field Guides) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Tim Inskipp (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

The avifauna of northern India has a distinctive flavour--a blend of the Oriental, Palearctic, and African regions. Combine that with easy access to some of the world's best-known birding sites, and you get a region that truly deserves its own field guide. This attractive guide amply addresses this need.
(Vivek Tiwari, Coordinator, South Asian Natural History Network )

Product Description

From the wet evergreen forests and alpine peaks of the Himalayas, to the Thar Desert and the vast wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural habitats that stretch to New Delhi and beyond, northern India is a diverse and welcoming paradise for birders and ecotourists. This field guide provides a concise, fully illustrated introduction to the region's known species.

Species that occur regularly are illustrated on 120 color plates by eminent bird illustrators from Europe and India. Just a few of the most spectacular or very big birds include the Himalayan Snowcock, Great Slaty Woodpecker, Great Hornbill, Crested Kingfisher, Blue-Bearded Bee-eater, and Chestnut-winged Cuckoo. The illustrations show distinctive sexual and racial variations whenever possible, as well as immature plumages. Succinct entries on the facing pages highlight plumage, body length and other visible identification traits, voice, altitudinal range and habitats, distribution, and status. Thirty-five of the region's species are threatened with global extinction, in particular the White-rumped Vulture, Siberian Crane, Forest Owlet, Pink-headed Duck, and Himalayan Quail. Introductory sections cover the region's geography and ecology, ten choice birdwatching areas among the many in northern India, plus conservation and general birding advice. Unusually detailed distribution maps are also included, and an appendix describes vagrants and rare species. Anyone contemplating a visit to this accessible, bird-rich region of the subcontinent will want this compact and user-friendly guide.

• Covers all species known in the region
• 120 color plates with concise text on facing pages for quick reference and easy identification
• Concise entries describe appearance, voice, altitudinal range and habitat, distribution, and status
• Introductory sections cover the region's geography and ecology, plus conversation and general birding advice

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (November 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691117381
• ISBN-13: 978-0691117386
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #509,782 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice biik, January 12, 2007

By	Paul Gurn (Waterbury, Connecticut) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a really fine field guide which we plan to use in India, in conjunction with Krys Kazmiercak's filed guide and birdfinding guide.
The plates are terrific. The only drawback is that there are no range maps which are present in the Kaz book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good quality illustrations; text could be upgraded, September 5, 2008

By	Soleglad (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews

Basics: 2003, softcover, 304 pages, 120 color plates, 800+ species, no range maps

This northern guide is a reduced version of the author's previous and much larger work: A Guide to the Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. This lighter version is a true field guide-sized book that focuses on just those birds found in India's north and northwest states. Generally, this area is north of Mumbai (aka, Bombay) and west of Lucknow.

The 800+ birds found in this northern region are illustrated quite well and are usually shown with multiple plumages when significant differences exist between genders, age, or subspecies. These illustrations are good enough to identify most species. Each plate contains 3-11 birds, made up of 9-32 illustrations. Some of the plates, especially the raptors and shorebirds, are notably crammed with 25-30 illustrations of perched and flying birds. This causes many of the plumages to be a bit small. The shrikes are also illustrated rather small.

Like the book's southern counterpart, the text is the weaker part of this book. Each bird receives 3-15 lines describing it. This text may not always be sufficient to differentiate between many of the more similar birds. Sometimes a line or two is offered about the habitat or distribution. The raptors receive the most coverage while the passerines receive the least (i.e., 3-4 lines). There is only the sparsest of information given for vocalizations on some of the birds. There are also no range maps.

To help supplement the relatively thin text on identification, nine tables are included as appendices. These provide a comparison list of the more difficult bird groups such as nightjars, warblers, rosefinches, and the Yellow Wagtail subspecies.

This guide will serve you well in northern India and is probably the second-best option, aside from the author's combined Birds of India. A superior, but more expensive, book is the Birds of South Asia by Rasmussen.

If you're looking at other titles by the author, Grimmett, keep in mind this northern guide is a sister-work of the southern guide, which each come from the combined (but still condensed) Birds of India. These three books share many of the same plates and text. The combined version includes range maps. Basically, if you own Birds of India, you already own everything in this book. And, these three books all come from the aforementioned larger work that has everything along with extensive, in-depth text.

I've listed several related books below...
1) A Guide to the Birds of India... by Grimmett
2) Birds of India... by Grimmett
3) Birds of South Asia: Volumes 1 & 2 by Rasmussen
4) A Field Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Kazmierczak
5) Photographic Guide to Birds of the Himalayas by Grewal/Pfister
6) Birds of Nepal by Grimmett
7) Photographic Guide to Birds of India and Nepal by Grewal