Newsgroups: rec.birds
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!sci.ccny.cuny.edu!christ
From: christ@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (Chris Thompson)
Subject: Re: bird book - Australia
Message-ID: <1991Jun14.130217.21254@sci.ccny.cuny.edu>
Organization: City College of New York - Science Computing Facility
References: <1991Jun12.135522.202@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu> <79788@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 1991 13:02:17 GMT

In article <79788@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> dmark@acsu.buffalo.edu (David Mark) writes:
>In article <1991Jun12.135522.202@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu> rtp@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu writes:
>>Expecting a trip to Queensland, Australia this winter.  What is the best bird
>>book for Australia?  Many thanks, Richard Poole, Apopka, Florida
>
>I prefer:
>
>Slater, Slater, and Slater (Peter, Pat, and Raoul), 1986, "The Slater Field 
>   Guide to Australian Birds."  Willoughby, NSW, Australia: Lansdowne-Rigby
>   Publishers.    ISBN 0 7270 2085 4
>
>343 pages.  Maps and text on left page, facing color plates on the right.
>Nice shape (taller yet less wide that typical North American guides, fits a
>pocket better).  All 756 Australian species described, and (almost?) all
>are illustrated.  Eggs of all species known to have bred in Australia also
>are illustrated, at the bottoms of the pages.  Birds presented in taxonomic 
>David Mark
>
Funny this comes up now...I was just looking through field notes from my
trip to Australia.  When I went (last December) I looked all over for
Slaterx3.  It came highly recommended from an ornithologist friend (well,
I'm one also, but she works on Australian birds).  Anyway, I looked in
Sydney, Brisbane & Cairns, and couldn't find a copy.  I wound up with
Simpson & Day, _Field Guide to the Birds of Australia_.  (I think Jim Rising
mentions this in a later message).  It is larger than Slater x 3, but has 
fewer pages.  Publishing date on mine is 1986, which I think is more recent
than the Slater book.  I really liked Simpson & Day: the maps are also on the
facing page, and the pictures, while comparable to Slaters' in quality, are
much larger, due to the larger size of the pages.  Simpson & Day list an
incredible number of well-regarded ornithologists at the end, along with the
sections of text which they contributed.  I don't think either book has
arrows to field id marks, as the Peterson guide does.  I think the
determining factor will be the size: if your field guide MUST fit in your
pocket, get the Slaters' book.  If, like me, you were always carrying so
much stuff you need a backpack anyway, I'd get Simpson & Day.  Have fun!
It is beautiful there.  Email me if you want any other info, I'd be glad to
write about it...

Chris Thompson

-- 
"Never count a human dead until you've seen the body.  And even
then you can make a mistake".
			-Lady Fenring