A new book arrived in the mail yesterday: Finding Australian Birds: A field guide to birding locations by Tim Dolby and Rohan Clarke. Having perused it for the last couple of days, in my opinion it is the most comprehensive book of it's kind on the market today (although smaller regional guides might be a bit more detailed). As well as covering all the States and Territories of Australia it also has fairly good coverage of Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands, the Torres Strait Islands, Christmas and Cocos Keeling Islands, Ashmore Reef, Heard and Macquarie Islands. There is also an annotated checklist at the back listing all the parks/reserves/locations mentioned in the text for each species (apart from the common and widespread species which are listed as such). The authors are both well-known in the Australian ornithological world, both associated with Birdlife Australia. Dolby was principal editor of the popular Where to See Birds in Victoria and a former Convenor for Birdlife Australia, and Clarke is on Birdlife's Rarities Committee (as well as being an ecologist at Monash University). RRP is $50, but Birdlife Australia members can get a 20% discount. Published this month by CSIRO Press it has only just been mailed out to people who pre-ordered it, so you might not find it on bookshelves just yet. If you're in Melbourne you could try Andrew Isles bookshop in Prahran, or maybe the Birdlife Australia Head Office in Carlton (and they're holding the book launch there on June 12th). Or you can order it online from CSIRO. Any birder visiting Australia for the first time (or including Australia as a last stop after Asia on their way home) would be better informed and better prepared with this book in their luggage. And any Aussie looking to do some birding while travelling - or travelling to do some birding - will be much more productive with this book. Hix
After borrowing the book from my library I decided I needed to buy it as it was a guide that I would want to reference on a regular basis as I visited different places.
