Birds Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Eur Collins
Reviews
Views
Date of last review
1
1069
Mon 19, June, 2006
Recommended By
Average Purchase Price
100% of reviewers
£23.00
Quality
Value
Performance
7.00
7.00
7.00
Description:
• The only field guide to cover the nests, eggs and nestlings of European birds
• Fully illustrated with artwork, photographs and drawings
• Covers when and where birds breed
• Colin Harrison is Europe's leading expert on breeding birds
• A book for bird-lovers, not for egg-collectors
Author:
Colin Harrison and Peter Castell
RRP:
£25.00
Published Date:
07.05.02
ISBN:
0-00-713039-2
Format
Paperback Hardback
Author
Gill Catton Knight Commander of the Wild Empire
Registered: March 2006 Location: Little village called Chedworth Posts: 5028
Review Date: Mon 19, June, 2006
Would you recommend it? Yes |
Total Spent: £23.00| Rating: 7
Strengths:
useful for detailed nest construction details that help you ID a nest in the absence of the bird.
Weaknesses:
Seems to conflict with some of the information found in the Birds of the Western Palearctic.
This book is very useful. I have used it for example; to work out what shape a dippers nest should be or, I've seen a bird disappear into a hedge and I want to know if it's likely to be breeding in there, or I've found a crow-stolen egg on the ground while out walking and I want to know where it came from.
The level of detail is very good, even enabling you to identify tiny chicks from the colour of their gape - should you ever need to do so! It illustrates the eggs of all species, the tiny naked chicks of passerines to the up and running chicks of waders in coloured plates. There is further detail for each species as to where they nest, what the nest is like, when they usually start breeding and how long each stage takes. My only critisism is that sometimes these dates and breeding phases conflict with what is written in other definative works such as the Birds of the Western Paleartic so forcing a rather broad guess as to the accuracy.
However, it is the best book of it's kind that I have found.
