By: Jeff Davies, Peter Menkhorst, Danny Rogers, Rohan Clarke, Peter Marsack, Kim Franklin

Paperback | August 2022 | $ 34.99
ISBN: 9781486312245 | 264 pages | 198 x 120 mm
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Colour Paintings, Maps

The development of Bird Guide apps for phones has seen many birders (me included) leave their hard copy guides on the bookshelf while they go out on their walks through nature. The apps have many advantages such as:

• Allowing the user to set the location such that only birds commonly found in that area come up as options if, for example, the user is trying to decide which Thornbill they have just sighted.
• Providing the call or calls of the birds, very useful in deciding on an identification (though sometimes used unethically to get the bird to come closer).

However, I found that this guide is indeed compact enough to pack into a day backpack along with the binoculars (though not quite small enough to fit into a pocket, even those of cargo pants). The illustrations are very good, and still a decent enough size to aid in identification in the field, and it is up to date with all the recent name changes (which the apps have been very slow to address, even those of Birdlife Australia itself). Where a guide like this comes into its own is in having all similar birds, e.g., the Thornbills I mentioned earlier, on the same page and in the main, grouped in terms of their location rather than just alphabetically. This really helps when attempting to narrow down an identification when there are a few options available—this is where the apps get a bit clumsy.

The verdict: this is a very good bird guide; its size makes it a useful field aid for birders of all skill levels. It certainly deserves a place in the WA Naturalists’ Club library.

Colin Prickett