Birds of East Asia: China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Russia (Princeton Field Guides)

Bascis: 2009, softcover, 236 color plates of 1,000+ species with multiple illustrations of each, one concise paragraph concentrates on distribution, identification, and voice; range map for each birdThis is both a quality and a much needed field guide for eastern Asia. Making it additionally important is being the only book in English (or any language) to describe and illustrate all the birds of this large geographic region. In all, 1,004 species are described and illustrated in 236 plates.The illustrations are done with very good quality. The artistry may look familiar since they are done by artists who've produced other top-notch guides (e.g., Per Alstrom, Derek Onley). Due to the 13 different illustrators, the variation of artistry is noticeable between the families of birds; however, all are very good and do not present any distractions. Nearly every bird is illustrated with 2-9 plumages or angles. These represent differences between gender, seasons, and notable subspecies or races. A fair amount of attention has been given to noting the subspecies. Only a few birds (some tits, warblers, accentors, and vagrants) are shown with only a single image. Views of distinguishing field marks are shown in the tails and wings by illustrating birds in flight. If I had to pick on something in the plates, I'd only note that the bright whites of the Phylloscopus warblers appear to be too stark.The text for each bird is a paragraph ranging from 14-40 lines. At least 50-60% is dedicated to concise, effective descriptions of the bird and its various plumages. These descriptions offer some very useful, detailed information; however, very little is offered in comparing the birds to similar species. A nice touch is the inclusion of a line or two dedicated to just "BP", or Bare Parts (i.e., bill, eyes, and legs).The remainder of the text gives a good account of the bird's distribution over the range. It also provides a brief summary of the habitat. The descriptions of the voices often do a valiant job at capturing the texture or pattern of the bird's song or calls, which will helpful when considering a look-alike species.Considering the large range covered, the maps do a good job at illustrating the birds' ranges. These ranges are a bit generalized in these 2x2cm maps, but are effective. Some of the more range-restricted birds, such as the Pryer's Woodpecker, require an arrow to draw your attention to the tiny island on which it lives. No map shows an area of less than 1,200 miles wide. This makes the maps for Taiwan endemics to be a little weak. The five different colors in the maps represent resident, summer, winter, migration, and scarce.What area is considered "East Asia" in this book? Both of the Koreas and all of Japan and its islands are covered. The eastern 1/3 of Russia and 1/5 of China are covered, ranging no further south than Hong Kong.This book is a must-have book for going to any of these areas. Its quality and completeness will serve you better than any other book I've used or examined. The next best options for a more restricted range include the books[...] by Viney, MacKinnon, Wu, Lee, or Shimba.[...]

I just received this book in time for an upcoming trip to NE China. The plates are opposite the range maps and field notes for easy reference. The artwork is excellent and also includes some juvenile forms and seasonal variations. The field notes are concise and helpful and include notes on subspecies. The binding is rugged and durable.The only other comparable book is Birds of China by MacKinnon and Phillipps, which I also own. MacKinnon's book is bulkier and has an awkward layout with maps and plates in front and field notes in the back. One very important caveat is that MacKinnon covers all of China while Brazil includes only coastal China (up to about 110 degrees east). Travelers to Western China are advised to buy MacKinnon's book instead.Overall, Birds of East Asia is a portable and useful field guide. Highly recommended.

As others have noted from their respective corners of eastern Asia, range maps might be a little off, and I can add eastern Russia to that list. I restrict this review to that geographical area. I suspect that the Kamchatka range maps are good, and many of the songbirds appear to be properly represented throughout the Russian Far East, but for the southern Russian Far East some of the maps of key low-density raptors (Saker falcon, Mountain hawk eagle, Monk vulture) are way off.Although the author clearly relied on the knowledge of regional experts who did not always give him the best or most current information regarding species distribution, the bottom line, I think, is that this is the best guide (at least in both English and Russian) for the Russian Far East. Just don't rely too much on the range maps.

Information and bird drawings are very good.

We used this guide on a two week trip to Korea and Japan in April 2015. The trip was with non-birder friends and we spent a day at Suncheon Bay Eco Park as well as looking at birds in parks around shrines etc in Seoul, Geongju, and Tokyo. Since we did not have experience with Asian birds we had a learning curve about endemic genera of that region. The index of the plates inside the back cover was extremely useful in navigating to the plates that would be most helpful in identification. The listing of frequency table were helpful also. The drawings were more than adequate for identification. Some of the nomenclature for common names seemed more UK than US. The book fit easily into a pajaro.

I'd been looking for a bird book for my grandson living on Okinawa since visiting the family a couple of years ago. I couldn't find anything in the English language that would cover every likely bird identification contingency until this one turned up. It's magnificent.

This book has been favorably reviewed online and in many publications. I see no point in repeating everything. Suffice to say, the text is extensive and the artwork is of a very high quality. Given the geographic coverage, a huge number of species is dealt with. Many vagrants from North America and other parts of the world are illustrated. Quite a few names have changed during the years since the book was published, but annotating a text can be a very useful learning exercise. I look forward to using this book the field.

sharp illustrations . compact. A!

As I am planning to visit Costa Rica for birding next spring, I do expect this book could help me a lot.

As a good a bird guide as I could find for a trip to China. It was useful for most common species, although as China has over 1,300 species there are gaps in coverage. The illustrations aren't up do the standard of European guides, many seem quite dark and very muddy to me, however the detail in the descriptions compensate somewhat for this. I've since read advice that states the best option for birders visiting China is to buy this book as a companion to Collin's European Birds Guide, which gives better ID indications for many East Palearctic birds it treats as vagrants.

This is the best birds guide for the area!

モンゴルのバードウォッチングに持参しましたがほとんどの鳥が出ていました。フィールドで持ち歩くのは重いですね。図はもう少し、特徴が見て取れると良いように思います。