Author: Robin Restall; Clemencia Rodner; Miguel Lentino
By Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd

Author: Dick Forsman
By Poyser

Author: Ian Sinclair
By Struik Publishers

Author: F.Gary Stiles, Alexander F. Skutch
By Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd

An absolute MUST!, 2004-04-27
This is a lavishly illustrated book with all of Costa Rica's 830 birdspecies depicted in color on 52 plates. This is also a valuable book ifyou visit any of Costa Rica's neighbouring countries. The book is not onlya field guide, but it is also a guide to birding in Costa Rica. Thespecies accounts are highly informative and set out in a simple format.Although the plates are a bit cramped and the illustrations are small,they are clear and well drawn.This book is a must for any birder visitingCentral America.

Author: Boria Sax
By Reaktion Books

A Masterpeice!, 2003-11-25
Fans of Boria Sax will enjoy his latest effort "Crow." As Dr. Sax has matured his writing style has become more lyrical and his references richer and more diverse. He has a way to connecting animal studies with mythology and historical lore in ways that are both educational and entertaining. In this volume, Dr. Sax illuminates the relation between humans and crows and seeks references for this mystical and misunderstood creature in the lore of many nations. It is beautiful illustrated and a joy to read. I can't recommend this book enough.

Author: Carl Safina
By Owl Books,U.S.

Fabulous soarings, fishing sensibly and . . . frozen skivvies??, 2007-07-26
How would you feel at the sight of a weary seabird coughing up a plastic toothbrush while trying to feed its chick? Carl Safina observed this while studying the Laysan Albatross. After cruising the North Pacific for days, soaring over thousands of kilometres seeking forage for that hatchling, one of bathroom utensils was the proferred dessert. To Safina, it means "No place, no creature remains apart from you or me."

In this exquisitely written account of how the mysterious albatross lives, we learn of those fabulous flights, how the bird manages its energy budget, and of the many perils it endures throughout a life nearly as long as that of humans. Centred on Tern Island, a tiny atoll halfway along the Hawaiian chain, research teams are studying the Laysan Albatross, turtles and sharks. Safina recounts the work and the conditions. Among other tasks, ten Laysans are tagged at nesting time, allowing satellites to track their wanderings. Safina dubs one female "Amelia", describing her flights into the North Pacific. Nesting birds must accumulate resources because offspring are demanding. The parents will lose up to 20% of their body weight in supplying the chicks. Once hers has hatched, she and her mate, who have shared incubation duties, now take turns fetching breakfast for the little squawker. Safina, who has watched these birds, remains in awe of Amelia's abilities to navigate. The maps he provides display ever greater distances travelled and Amelia's obvious skills in locating fodder. He notes than in a lifetime of half a century, a Laysan may cover nearly six million kilometres of oversea flight.

Within his sojourn on Tern Island, Safina makes a couple of jaunts of his own. One is much further west to Laysan Island itself. There, invasive species events have led to unusal security. The introduction of a destructive weed not long before has forced the stipulation that not only must ALL clothing be brand new, it must all be frozen to kill any organisms. Safina describes the donning of frozen underwear as an "interesting" experience. Yet, the importance of the need is revealed when the research team on Laysan describe their clean-up efforts.

The cold underwear should have helped condition him for his next trip - on a fishing boat in the Aleutian Islands. Mark Lundsten is an innovative captain of the "Masonic". His "novel" idea is how to fish in ways allowing a sustainable take. Lundsten is a campaigner among his colleagues for adopting methods to protect birds and turtles from becoming "by-catch". Safina uses the visit to discuss the perils of long-liner fishing, what safeguards are being introduced and how well they're being accepted by fishers around the world. As the episode of the toothbrush demonstrates, it's not only fishermen who threaten the wildlife around us.

The book, while seemingly targeting an audience interested in long-distance commuting seabirds, is a volume we must all take up and learn from. The real point of it is that we must spend more in time and money in developing an understanding of what goes on in the world around us. Among other issues, shark "attacks" on tourists in Hawaii bring immediate and vigorous response by Fisheries and the Coast Guard. One of the teams Safina visits demonstrate that shark movement precludes any likelihood that the slaughtered sharks are the "guilty" party. That shark has almost certainly moved on to a new location. Imparted in sterling prose, with reasoned judgements and a careful balance examining needs, wants and available resources, Safina has produced a superb account. Take up this book to see how research is done and what it can achieve. It may help you in making decisions that will affect your life and that of your children. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Author: Peter Evans
By Macmillan Caribbean

Good information but let down by the photos, 2004-10-09
I was disappointed by this book because the photos were poor. The information is good but it is not a serious tool for identifying birds in the field

By Scottish Ornithologists' Club

The Birds of Scotland, 2008-01-16
The Birds of Scotland is a superb two volume set of books. The first volume deals with the avifauna, geography, habitats, fossil record and changes in the avifauna, followed by weather, bird migration, bird movement, recording, survey and research, bird conservation in Scotland, plus the history of Scottish ornithology, early bird photography and finally an introduction to the species, all that takes the first 125 pages!
Then follows the species accounts, with great photographs mainly taken in Scotland, outstanding narrative, plus bird distribution maps(Scotland), population histograms etc. Each of the main birds is allocated 2 to 3 pages (the two volumes total 1634 12" by 8" pages), volume 2 continues the species accounts and features a series of appendices at the end to cover the Scottish Category D and E lists, supplementary data for years 2005 and 2006, breeding and winter estimates of birds, scientific and even the Gaelic names of the birds.
The quality of the book needs to be seen to be believed. I received my copy of The Birds of Scotland on Thursday 10th January 2008 and am reading through it. I do a lot of my holiday birding in the Spey Valley even though I live in Hertforshire. This book will help the wet windy days of winter drift by as I look forward to my next holiday in Scotland in May and it will with the knowledge gained from this superb publication be a more rewarding experience.
This book should be in every birdwatcher's home who watches birds in Scotland, or even dreams of watching there. Buy it and you will not be disappointed. Reviewed 16 January 2008.

Author: Ian Newton
By Academic Press

The right balance., 2003-10-27
Ian Newton's book has achieved that most difficult of tasks, making an academic book accessible to the public, as well as entertaining. This is not a book full of beautiful photographs nor was it meant to be. This is a book that stays faithful to it's title and covers every single aspect of speciation and biodiversity. There are plenty of examples and the references are numerous. Excellent work.

Author: Peter Holden, Tim Cleeves
By Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd

An excellent bird guide, 2006-02-04
This is the book that I reach for before I go to sleep to review some of the birds that I have seen throughout the day - an amazing wealth of information is crammed into a page, and each page is dedicated to a bird. The drawings and artwork are OK, not up to Collins standards, and it would not be my first choice for a field guide, but for some interesting factual information about species that I have encountered. This is the one, and worth having just for that. I love it, and think that the RSPB have a very good and effective range of books out at them moment.