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Originally Posted by Nicos We had thought of buying a French ID book- but they must have all the birds we do in the south of England???
Can you recommend a book SBP? - I suppose I could photo copy and enlarge the picture ( not that I would want to breach any copyright!!)  |
I know what you mean, its like a dictionary, if you can't spell where do you start?!
Maybe have both, with your photos of the common ones and a book that gives info about the bird and other birds it might be confused with?
Amazon.co.uk: RSPB Handbook of British Birds (Ornithology): Peter Holden,Tim Cleeves: Books
This is a good beginners book - its not intimidating in the way it presents its info, the pictures aren't bad either and it mentions birds that you might get confused with or can relate one to another.
Amazon.co.uk: Collins Bird Guide: The Most Complete Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe: Lars Svensson,Peter J. Grant,Killian Mullarney,Dan Zetterstrom,David Christie: Books
This tends to be the 'bible' of bird guides.
I find when trying to identify a bird we look at more than one of our bird guides, the drawings are slightly different, some give better indications of 'shape' (say you see a bird of prey - often its from below, just a shape), others give info on habitat and where the bird breeds and lives/migrates to and from, etc
Just had a search on Amazon, this looks an interesting little book - concentrates on garden birds
Amazon.co.uk: Garden Birds Handbook: Duncan Brewer,Alan Harris: Books
and another with photos
Amazon.co.uk: Garden Birds (Collins Wild Guide): Stephen Moss: Books
Edit - this one is photographic too
Amazon.co.uk: RSPB Birds of Britain and Europe (Rspb): Rob Hume: Books
I think most bird guides for this country will be okay, if it something not in the book, it probably wouldn't be ID'd by a 'casual' observer and if it was a birder they'd probably have their own guide!