New Field Guide: Birds of Melanesia (Princeton)
I love hearing the “thump” of a new package landing on the front porch. After hearing it yesterday, I opened my rickety screen door and found a most unusual field guide:
The Princeton Guide to the Birds of Melanesia:
Bismarcks, Solomons, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia
written by: Guy Dutson
Illustrated by: Richard Allen, Adam Bowley, John Cox & Tony Disley
Paper | 2012 | $49.95 / £34.95 | ISBN: 9780691153506
448 pp. | 6 x 9 | 86 color plates.
Now, I have to admit I hadn’t yet thought of birding in Melanesia, which is a region of islands in the south-west Pacific (near Papua New Guinea) but that’s exactly why a book like this has to be written. There are plenty of areas on the globe where the birds are poorly known and surprisingly few bird watchers and scientists have visited the region; areas where few local ornithologists reside. And yet, some of these areas, such as Melanesia, hold a startling diversity of birds just waiting for a brilliant ornithologist to come along and devote him or herself to the study and documentation of the birdlife, so that bird watchers like me may begin to appreciate it.
In this case, Guy Dutson was the right man for the job. Guy is an ornithologist, tour leader, and the world’s leading authority on the birds of the south-west Pacific, where he has described or rediscovered several species.
At least 501 different species have been recorded in Melanesia, and 204 of those are ENDEMIC.
Birds of Melanesia is the first comprehensive field guide to all 501 species found in the Bismarck Archipelago, Bougainville, the Solomons, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia (but not New Guinea).
This illustrated guide features 86 color plates that depict almost every species–including many endemic subspecies–and many of the plates are arranged by island group for easy reference. Detailed species accounts describe key identification features and distribution, as well as key features for all subspecies.
- Covers all 501 species recorded in Melanesia, 204 of which are endemic
- Features 86 color plates that illustrate almost every species
- Provides detailed species accounts
- Includes distribution bars for all species except extreme vagrants
For more information or to order a copy, visit the Princeton Field Guides website.
Thanks to Dutson and Princeton University Press, I’m one step closer to including Melanesia in my future birding plans.
