Date: 5/15/25 4:03 am From: Jim Felley <jdfelley...> Subject: Re: [MDBirding] SE Asia field guides
Thank you all for your recommendations. I will look at the Robson guide
and 'The birds of Thailand' and 'The birds of Vietnam' with your criticisms
in mind.
Russ, I definitely spend plenty of time poring over the eBird bar charts
for any new place I visit. They are very useful.
Thanks again for your comments
Jim
On Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at 9:50:12 AM UTC-4 Russ Ruffing wrote:
> I suggest pulling up the eBird bar charts for the locations and month
> you’ll be visiting and peruse those. It greatly narrows down the list of
> birds to familiarize yourself with and the bar charts even give an idea of
> how likely you’d be to see each species. It’s so much easier than trying to
> leaf through field guides and decipher species ranges and seasonal
> distribution.
>
> On Tue, May 13, 2025 at 9:32 AM L Rubey <rubey......> wrote:
>
>> Jim: I took an independent birding trip to SE Asia last year and faced
>> the same issue as to "which field guide to bring." My experience: The
>> Craig Robson Helm SE Asia guide was not user friendly as a field guide. The
>> maps and much of the info are separated from the plates, making it a pain
>> to use in the field. And since it covers so many species, in any given
>> area, there are a lot of similar "out of range" species to sift through.
>> It is a good reference to have, but perhaps to leave back at the hotel.
>> That leaves the country-specific guides. The Robson Helm "Birds of
>> Thailand" is more manageable and has range maps on the same page as the
>> plates. The downside is the text is TINY, almost unusable for me in the
>> field. The Birdlife "Birds of Vietnam" by Richard Craik guide is quite
>> good. Interestingly, in this guide, each description on the facing page to
>> the plate has a QR code that links to eBird and the Handbook of the Birds
>> of the World. Not a feature I used though.
>> In the end, I found myself using Merlin bird packs on my phone almost
>> exclusively. While I too prefer guides with illustrations to those with
>> photos, the ability of Merlin is prioritize by abundance at my
>> specific location was critical. The field guides I brought (too many) were
>> mostly deadweight save for a few times I referred to them in the evening
>> for an ID challenge. Even then, a Google search was often more illuminating
>> than parsing the thumbnail descriptions in the written guides. Good luck!
>>
>> On Monday, May 12, 2025 at 9:25:08 AM UTC-4 Mike Bowen wrote:
>>
>>> Jim: Better check carefully for each guide to see EXACTLY which
>>> countries are included or excluded. "Southeast Asia" -- and especially
>>> "East Asia" -- can mean a different set of countries, depending on the
>>> author and publisher.
>>>
>>> That said, I have heard good things about the Craig Robson book (Helm
>>> Guides) which is in its second edition -- although even that is now a few
>>> years old. It definitely covers the countries you mentioned.
>>>
>>> Mike Bowen
>>> Bethesda
>>>
>>> D. H. Michael Bowen
>>> 8609 Ewing Drive
>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/8609+Ewing+Drive+Bethesda,+Maryland+20817?entry=gmail&source=g> >>> Bethesda, Maryland 20817
>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/8609+Ewing+Drive+Bethesda,+Maryland+20817?entry=gmail&source=g> >>> Phone: (202) 236-0510
>>> Ambassador for American Bird Conservancy, helping ABC help the birds
>>> eBird volunteer Hotspot Reviewer/Editor for Maryland, Delaware, the
>>> District of Columbia, and the Republic of Ghana
>>>
>>>
>>> On Monday, May 12, 2025 at 06:24:55 AM EDT, Jim Felley <
>>> <jdfe......> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> It looks like I'll be going to Southeast Asia next year, visits that
>>> will include Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
>>> What is (are) the best field guide(s) that cover this area? I should
>>> say that I prefer illustrated guides to photographic.
>>> I look forwa4rd to your recommendations, and thanks in advance for your
>>> help.
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>> Jim Felley
>>> Clarksburg, MD
>>>
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