A field guide to partner collins ,suggestions please

[Shrike]

Ive recently bought 2nd edition collins and am finding myself frequently disappointed by its lack of illustrations on full winter plumaged adult birds and adult female plumages etc especially on waders and wildfowl.
Could anybody suggest a second guide (preferably illustrated) which would partner the otherwise very good collins guide please.

[earthdragon64]

Not a book, but I've got the CD Rom of Birds of the Western Palearctic. This has quite comprehensive pictures of winter, juvenile and female plumages. It also has short videos of most species in flight, or showing typical behaviour on the ground, as well as sound recordings of songs and calls.

I find it really useful, but obviously not much good in the field.

Regards, Audrey.

ETA it has comprehensive written descriptions of habitat, distribution, population, movements and loads more.

[aeshna5]

I don't think there is a better field guide than the Collins- all the ducks are shown in full (winter) plumage, female + eclipse plumages too so I'm not sure what's missing?.

As regards waders for most species plumage differences are often minimal between the sexes + where different such as Dotterel + phalaropes these are illustrated + the book has breeding, winter + juvenile plumages for regular species.

Again I'm perplexed as to what you expect?

[Shrike]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

I don't think there is a better field guide than the Collins- all the ducks are shown in full (winter) plumage, female + eclipse plumages too so I'm not sure what's missing?.

As regards waders for most species plumage differences are often minimal between the sexes + where different such as Dotterel + phalaropes these are illustrated + the book has breeding, winter + juvenile plumages for regular species.

Again I'm perplexed as to what you expect?

No winter plumages on wood/green sandpiper, female winter ruff and also looking for intermediates and less common waders.MANY adult winter Gulls are only shown in flight.I didn't actually ask for better but a companion, probably better to have collins in field and if i could afford it BWP at home , but thought i might get ideas of another companion guide for the time being.However Thankyou for your comments.

[htcdude]

Originally Posted by Shrike

No winter plumages on wood/green sandpiper, female winter ruff and also looking for intermediates and less common waders.MANY adult winter Gulls are only shown in flight.I didn't actually ask for better but a companion, probably better to have collins in field and if i could afford it BWP at home , but thought i might get ideas of another companion guide for the time being.However Thankyou for your comments.

I don't think there is another book as detailed as Collins for the British species. If you want a more detailed look at other waders for example maybe have a look at extending your field guide collection to various parts of Europe or USA depending on what birds your want mor detail on.

Nige

[Shrike]

Originally Posted by htcdude

I don't think there is another book as detailed as Collins for the British species. If you want a more detailed look at other waders for example maybe have a look at extending your field guide collection to various parts of Europe or USA depending on what birds your want mor detail on.

Nige

ok cheers Nige , i do remember one by mitchell beazley that was good but not seen it in a while.You prob right though mate might be better specialising.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Shrike

No winter plumages on wood/green sandpiper, female winter ruff and also looking for intermediates and less common waders.MANY adult winter Gulls are only shown in flight.I didn't actually ask for better but a companion, probably better to have collins in field and if i could afford it BWP at home , but thought i might get ideas of another companion guide for the time being.However Thankyou for your comments.

Winter plumage for the 2 sandpipers is very much as in summer + female winter Ruff is like winter male but smaller so probably why they're not illustrated.

Perhaps you might want to get specialist books for particular groups, eg the Helm guide to Gulls of Europe, Asia + North America.

For waders a couple of good books are the Helm Shorebirds of the Northern Hemisphere by Richard Chandler which is a photoguide or if you prefer illustrations there's the Helm Waders of Europe, Asia + North America by Stephen Message + Don Taylor.

[Shrike]

Originally Posted by earthdragon64

Not a book, but I've got the CD Rom of Birds of the Western Palearctic. This has quite comprehensive pictures of winter, juvenile and female plumages. It also has short videos of most species in flight, or showing typical behaviour on the ground, as well as sound recordings of songs and calls.

I find it really useful, but obviously not much good in the field.

Regards, Audrey.

ETA it has comprehensive written descriptions of habitat, distribution, population, movements and loads more.

Thank you Audrey , yes Birds Western Palearctic or even better the CD rom version you suggest is high up on my "got to get" list. Maybe santas reading this and he gives me a nice win on the horses/football

[RoyW]

I agree with Aeshna that any plumages that aren't illustrated in the new Collins are generally so similar to other plumages, which are shown, that they shouldn't cause any confusion over identification. The guide set out to be the most complete one available, illustrating the majority of plumages for most species, and this has been achieved.
Change between adult summer and winter plumaged in gulls only really affects the head, and although the illustrations showing the differences are small (flight illustrations, or just a head) they are shown.

Perhaps the MacMillan field guide to bird identification would suit you, if you can find a secondhand copy. This doesn't illustrate all species, or plumages, but it does give a detailed account of the differences between 'difficult' groups/pairs of species.

[Shrike]

I guess seeing a winter plumage spotted Redshank yesterday which collins illustrates and states twice in the text that legs are red with no mention of variation , and finding out that this can be variable as in this individuals dark legs , has got me picking holes in it. As i stated originally still an excellent guide and well regarded as the best Field Guide for uk birds , but imo nothing wrong with cross referencing for a wider view , so i'm gonna go for Advanced bird guide: I.D guide of every plumage of every western palearctic bird by nils van duivendijk currently one on sale at amazon £8.84 or £15 new.Then start specialising when i see stuff or try and buy BWP volume by volume.
Thanks for your opinions though Roy.