Field guide to seabirds of the South Atlantic / Antarctic

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Field guide to seabirds of the South Atlantic / Antarctic

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1chrisharpe
Jul 18, 2008, 5:07 pm

On another tack, which is the best guide for identifying pelagic birds in the South Atlantic and Antarctica? I have the relevant mainland guides, but have an idea that there is a newish guide to pelagic birds of the Southern Oceans, although I cannot find anything on Amazon. Any suggestions?

2lorax
Jul 18, 2008, 7:17 pm

I have an idea that you're right -- I seem to remember seeing a review of such a book in a recent issue of Birding, but abasales.org doesn't turn up anything obvious.

The best-looking candidates I see there, not having seen any of them in person, are

The Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife
http://www.abasales.com/index.php?main_page=pubs_product_book_info&cPath=19_...

and

Birds and Mammals of the Antarctic, Subantarctic, and Falklands
http://www.abasales.com/index.php?main_page=pubs_product_book_info&products_...

The only seabird-specific guide I could find was neither new nor specific to the Southern Ocean:

Seabirds: an identification guide

Planning a trip?

3chrisharpe
Jul 18, 2008, 10:32 pm

Hi Lorax. Many thanks for that. I'll check out the bird and mammal guide. I have "Birds and Mammals of the Falkland Islands" by Robin and Anne Woods, which looks very handy. I do have an earlier version of Shirihai's Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife which I assume is not so different from the Princeton edition, and I've had Harrison's Seabirds since it first appeared. I still have the feeling that there's a relatively recent guide to southern seabirds that I can't quite call to mind. Yes, I'm hoping to get to Antarctica at the end of next year - fingers crossed! I like to start reading up in earnest well in advance.

4Soleglad
Editado: Jul 19, 2008, 1:56 pm

For pelagic birds anywhere, I recommend the recent Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World by Onley/Scofield (2007). It does a good job on the various subspecies and is current on the taxonomic changes still ongoing with the albatrosses and petrels. The book has a decent size for use in the field -- er, ocean. I used this with pelagics off Chile and California to great satisfaction.

The Complete Guide to the Antarctic Wildlife by Shirihai (2nd ed.) is phenomenal, but might be too cumbersome if you're doing just a one-day pelagic. But, for a 1-2 week-long trip to Antarctica, it would be an essential companion on board the ship. I own the 2nd edition but have not seen the 1st to offer a comparison between them.

Harrison's Seabirds: An Identification Guide (not the photo guide) is still very useful, although a little behind on taxonomy. I recommend using it and the Onley/Scofield together on any pelagic trip. An advantage with Harrison's book over Onley's in Antarctica is it contains penguins, cormorants, sheathbills, terns, and gulls. Of course, Shirihai's has it all plus mammals.

Just as a note, if you come across the book Southern Albatrosses and Petrels by Harper/Kinsky, don't bother with it. It's too generalized and outdated (1978). I can say the same about Birds of the Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic by Watson. It was a nifty book for its time (1975) but is inferior to Shirihai's and to Onley's.

I have two tags on my library that might be useful: birds(south polar) and birds(pelagic).

5lorax
Jul 19, 2008, 3:38 pm

3>

The Onley/Scofield book mentioned by Soleglad is the one reviewed in Birding that I was thinking of. The review is positive but points out that the guide is focused, so it won't cover penguins or skuas, for instance.

I checked your library for the Harrison before mentioning it but didn't see it there. ;)

6chrisharpe
Jul 19, 2008, 5:17 pm

Hello Lorax & Soleglad. I appreciate your further input. Harrison did a tremendous job with his original Seabirds book. These days so many of those "XXXXX of the World" books are rushed off just to make a quick profit and they simply don't stand the test of time.

I'm afraid none of my field guides or the books I use professionally - ecology and conservation books - are on LT since I don't need to keep track of them. It's the fiction I tend to forget and I enjoy the way LT produces suggestions for further reading, something I don't really need for my field guides (especially when I can ask for help!).

7chrisharpe
Jul 29, 2008, 9:54 am

I just emailed Guy Kirwan, editor of Shirihai's The Complete Guide to the Antarctic Wildlife (1st edition: Alula, 2002) and The Complete Guide to the Antarctic Wildlife: Birds and Marine Mammals of the Antarctic Continent and the Southern Ocean (2nd edition: Princeton / A & C Black, 2008) about the differences between the new edition and the old. A couple of friends have commented that the new edition is greatly improved. There is a short discussion of this book at http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=80107 .

8chrisharpe
Jul 29, 2008, 2:23 pm

For those who are interested, the following back from Guy Kirwan...

Now to your question. I suppose I am biased, but I'm not receiving royalties! I'd get the new edition and I would get the marine mammals book that was mentioned in one of the postings to the forum that you directed me to (the same bias without royalties applies). The main difference, as the various correspondents pointed out, are the several hundred new photographs, many with detailed captions pointing out specific ID features. The difference, in groups such as the gadfly petrels, is actually pretty significant. In the first edition scarcely a single Pterodroma was well covered by photos; now nearly every species is (compared to guides like Harrison's or Enticott & Tipling's, for all species covered herein, the differences in photo quality are now, put simply, enormous: in fact there's no comparison). Textual updates to the great albatrosses, prions and certain other petrels were subject to meaningful revision, but most other avian groups were not dealt with this time (although some of the Tristan endemics were substantially improved, thanks to Pete Ryan). New accounts were added where necessary, e.g. New Zealand Storm Petrel. Three new plates were painted by John Cox, but also note that most of the images of cetaceans were replaced with relevant (and much better) images from the more recently published marine mammals guide. Furthermore, some of the text for marine mammals (e.g. Orcinus orca) was also revised, the checklists were updated and some new significant literature incorporated, although there sadly wasn't time for an exhaustive bibliographic update. Ultimately, we'd like to replace some of the other plates and text too, given more time and, hopefully, a third edition. There are also plans for a pocket guide covering the Antarctic Peninsula (text quite well advanced), but that won't appear for some while yet. Someone not planning to go to Antarctica might not really need the updated version, but anyone planning to do so should definitely get the new edition. If you can afford to go there (and I can't), then it would be crazy not to have the best book.