A Field Guide to the Birds of China
$362.69 $315.38
- Oxford University Press USA
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EAN: 9780198549406
SKU: OXFORDUNIVERSITYPRESS-09585345
Categories: Bird Field Guides, Bird Watching, Birdwatching Travel Guides, General China Travel Guides, Ornithology, Textbooks
China is one of the largest countries in the world, covering 7% of the earth’s land surface, and encompassing a hugely diverse range of habitats. As a result it boasts a rich and diverse avifauna, including some of the most spectacular and fascinating birds to be found anywhere in the world.
John MacKinnon and Karen Phillipps’ important new guide will be the first truly comprehensive, taxonomically modern, and fully illustrated field guide to the birds of China. Over 1300 bird species are illustrated in 128 original colour paintings, by Karen Phillipps and Dave Showler. The species
accounts stress the key points for field recognition and give a full description of the plumage, voice, range, distribution, status, and behavioral characteristics for every bird, with additional descriptions provided for hundreds of subspecies. Colour distribution maps are provided for all
illustrated species. The book also includes a useful introductory section that presents a background to the ecology of China, a brief history of Chinese ornithology, and plenty of practical hints on birdwatching in China. The guide’s portable format means it will fit easily into a backpack or
pocket. John MacKinnon lived in China and Hong Kong for eight years, and has extensive experience of watching and writing about Chinese birds. He has been working in ecology and conservation in Asia for over 30 years, and his work in China included co-authoring the master plan to save the Giant
Panda and its habitat. He has written and co-authored many books on the natural history of Asia, including a number of other bird guides. Karen Phillipps was born in Borneo, lived in Hong Kong for over 20 years, and has illustrated several other books on the birdlife of the region.
John MacKinnon and Karen Phillipps’ important new guide will be the first truly comprehensive, taxonomically modern, and fully illustrated field guide to the birds of China. Over 1300 bird species are illustrated in 128 original colour paintings, by Karen Phillipps and Dave Showler. The species
accounts stress the key points for field recognition and give a full description of the plumage, voice, range, distribution, status, and behavioral characteristics for every bird, with additional descriptions provided for hundreds of subspecies. Colour distribution maps are provided for all
illustrated species. The book also includes a useful introductory section that presents a background to the ecology of China, a brief history of Chinese ornithology, and plenty of practical hints on birdwatching in China. The guide’s portable format means it will fit easily into a backpack or
pocket. John MacKinnon lived in China and Hong Kong for eight years, and has extensive experience of watching and writing about Chinese birds. He has been working in ecology and conservation in Asia for over 30 years, and his work in China included co-authoring the master plan to save the Giant
Panda and its habitat. He has written and co-authored many books on the natural history of Asia, including a number of other bird guides. Karen Phillipps was born in Borneo, lived in Hong Kong for over 20 years, and has illustrated several other books on the birdlife of the region.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“This field guide has been long awaited by the growing number of birders visiting China. By including in one volume all the species–complete with distribution maps–recorded in this vast country, it represents a huge step forward. It is the first complete, taxonomically up-to-date and fully illustrated guide to the birds of China published in English … The initial chapters include an introduction to the region, with a revealing section on birds in the local economy and culture. … Next come the 128 all-important colour plates, which have distribution maps opposite–an arrangement which I like. … The species accounts cover nomenclature, descriptions, voice, range (global), distribution and status (within region) and habits, and occupy 500 pages. Finally, there are appendices which include lists of endangered and protected species, and endemic and limited-distribution species. … This book is a major achievement and an invaluable conservation tool.”–Birdwatch
“This field guide is a great step forward and essential for anyone with an interest in China’s birds. For the first time, in any language, all China’s 1329 species are described and illustrated in one book and despite containing more than 500 pages its A5 size makes it compact enough for easy field use. The layout is well thought out…it is easy to identify which similar species should be present in a particular region of China. It is well worth the price of the book just to have all species illustrated accurately. Overall a good quality field guide that I would not be without.” — RossMacLeod, British Ornithologists’ Union, Vol 143, 2001
About the Author
John MacKinnon is Professor of Biodiversity Information at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. He is currently posted in the Philippines as head of a European Union project to set up an ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity
Conservation. He is Chairman of a Special Biodiversity Working Group that advises the Chinese Government on biodiversity matters, and formerly spent eight years living in China and Hong Kong working on a number of conservation projects in China. Apart from many technical reports on China he has
published two other books on the country – Wild China and A Photoguide to the Birds of China. Among several other books on natural history of Asia, he is also the senior author of A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali which remains the standard bird guide to the Greater Sunda
Islands.
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| Weight | 2.49 lbs |
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