Bird book
 

I don't know why I didn't make a note of this when I first saw it on a post, but (duh) I didn't. There is a bird book for australia that has been recommended a couple of times, and now I can't find it! Can anyone help me out? Thanks,

Sharon

Is it Bird of Australia by Simpson and Day? That is the one we bought for our trip and I think I saw it recommended on this site.

Sara

The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia........ Pizzy & Knight Published by Harper Collins. There are many bird books around and most of them are excellant so it really depends in what depth you want to go, how much you want to spend etc. I would suggest waiting till you are here to get one though and preferably after you have had a good look at what is on offer.

Thanks for the information. I think I will wait until we arrive. Would we need to go to a specialty book store to find them? Or can you give me the name of a chain book store that would have them (we'll be landing in Adelaide). Thanks,

Sharon

I can't think of the bookstore chain's name ( there are two of them ) but if you go into the City Mall in Adelaide I am sure that there is one in there - if not ask the locals to direct you to one of the two excellant second hand book shops which are close by.

Hi,

I dont know about in Adelaide, but I found it very difficult to get my copy of Pizzey and Knight in Melbourne recently, despite going to major chain stores. It must just depend on when the stock arrives.

I use Pizzey and HE uses Simpson and Day and between us we are quite happy that we can sort out the nuances of the images to recognise the birds.

We recently also bought Knight and Menkhorst's A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia. After all those quiet times in the bush looking at birds, we realised how many mammmals we also saw and didn't know the names of.

(But in bookstores, I have to have my credit card taken off me by HIM or else I'd spend too much ; ) )

The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia by Pizzey, Knight and Menkhorst is available online from Angus & Robertson at
http://tinyurl.com/39h6f2 for $47.99.

A&R and Dymocks are the two major chains and each has a branch in Rundle Mall (apparently adjoining, as their street numbers are 138 and 136 respectively). Details including location map: www.whitepages.com.au

A nice compact guide is The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds by Peter, Pat and Raoul Slater (Reed New Holland, my edition 2001). It can also be found on the A&R website at $34.99, but it's noted that it will be ordered from the publisher and usually ships in 10-15 days.

My husband has Birds of Australia, Simpson and Day - illustrations (bought here in the US through Amazon) then bought two photo books when we were in Australia. I can't remember the bookstore, it was in Sydney on one of the main shopping streets, which isn't very helpful I know!

The two photo books are Australian Birds, Donald and Molly Trounson and Photographic Field Guide - Birds of Australia, Jim Flag. The Flag book may have a little more info.

He says he doesn't really have a favorite, they all sort of supplement each other. He doesn't say they are necessarily better than others, those just happen to be the ones he has and they served us well on our last trip.

Graham Pizzey was one of life's gentlemen and also one of Australia's finest observers of nature. His field guide is not the most compact but the descriptions of field marks are excellent and the real strength is in the written descriptions of the bird calls. Quite an extraordinary talent and for this alone it gets my vote.

For phrases like "raucous, shattering screeches" (Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo), this book also gets my vote.