Review – Princeton Field Guides: Birds of Europe, Second Edition

The long awaited second edition to the Birds of Europe: Second Edition (Princeton Field Guides) [Svensson; ill. Mullarney & Zetterström] comes out March 31st, 2010. The update is worth the wait and a great revision from the first edition. The amount of knowledge about birds of Europe has increased greatly and there have been drastic changes in taxonomy as well.

Birds of Europe covers Europe (of course), North Africa north of 30° N, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan plus the Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Sinai Peninsula.

713 species of birds get full coverage with an additional 59 species (that are occasional visitors) get partial coverage. 118 rare visitors are also included.

Birds of Europe uses color illustrations which follow an easy-to-use format. Similar birds face the same direction for comparison and birds in flight are shown when relevant to depict specific field marks.

The opposite-facing text is complex and compact, describing in great detail the habitat and key identifying marks. The species voice is given excellent coverage.

The range maps are small, making it a bit difficult to fully grasp ranges, especially limited ones.

With over 3,500 color illustrations and a vault of information on a vast geographic area, Birds of Europe is a perfect addition to your birding library and a great upgrade from the first edition.

Read the press release from Princeton University Press’s Blog.

Birds of Europe: Second Edition (Princeton Field Guides)
Text and Maps by: Lars Svensson
Illustrations and Captions by: Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterström
Princeton University Press
March 31, 2010
ISBN13: 978-0-691-14392-7

Disclosure: we were given a copy of this wonderful book by the publisher to review. However, we were not persuaded to say or do anything other than give an honest review, which we have.