Birds of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East – A Photographic Guide by Frédéric Jiguet & Aurélien Audevard | Translated by Tony Williams | Princeton Universtiy Press | Paperback | Feb 2017 | 447 Pages | colour distribution maps | 2,200 Colour Photographs | ISBN: 9780691172439 | £24.95 (but available online for less)
Good book, misleading title! Since the advent of the authoritative and superbly illustrated 'Collins Bird Guide' in 1999, some may question whether there's any need for a new field guide on the birds of Europe (plus North Africa and the Middle East) at all. However, canny publishers have spotted that there is still a niche for guides that can offer something different such as using photographs rather than artwork or focussing on a more limited area. 'Britain's Birds' (Wildguides) combined both approaches by using photos and restricting the geographical range. Now a new photographic guide purporting to cover the same area as the 'Collins Bird Guide' has entered the fray - the. Birds of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East by Frédéric Jiguet & Aurélien Audevard. So how does it shape up?
Honey Buzzard: decent, but not comprehensive, range of plumages Unfortunately, the English title of this guide is misleading since many North African and Middle Eastern species are not included. In North-west Africa alone a dozen species are missing (e.g. Dark Chanting Goshawk, a couple of sandgrouse, Levaillant's Woodpecker, a trio of larks and a brace of wheatars) and there must be two or three times more left out elsewhere. The original French title (and that of other translations) -“Tous les Oiseaux d'Europe” - gives the game away. This book covers all species recorded in Europe and birds from the wider region only scrape in as vagrants to Europe. You need to peruse the species texts to realise that their definition of 'Europe' includes Cyprus, Lesbos and the 'European' Atlantic islands although the eastern border is irritatingly left undefined. Surprisingly, Pharaoh Owl is included as it's claimed that it “could potentially colonise southern Spain” which seems optimistic given that it's never been recorded there. Remarkably, by describing and illustrating all vagrants the final species total is 860 which is substantially more than the Collins Guide (715 fully treated plus c90 vagrants and escapees covered briefly).
Dabbling ducks are well covered The new guide promises the reader a creditable 2,200 photos although by encompassing so many species this means an average of only 2.5 photos per bird. In comparison, the Collins Guide, which is almost exactly the same size and with the same number of pages, has an average of 4 illustrations per species. The Wildguides book, which covers over 260 fewer species has a larger format and over a hundred more pages, manages an average of 5.4 photos per species. So although a generous provision, it is inevitable that this book shows fewer plumages and fewer birds in flight. These omissions sometimes can make a difference between identifying a bird or not; the lack of any flight shots of either merganser is but one example of this. The photos are of a good standard but some of the wildfowl look like capitive birds as they seem to be pinioned ...
Longer wing tips are a good ID feature on Lesser Whitefront but the bird here doesn't have any! Is it a 'clipped' bird in a collection? After a good, albeit somewhat brief introduction, the book gets down to business with over 420 pages of photos and descriptions. Both the illustrations and text share the same page with, where appropriate, a map. The photos are well annotated with useful comments on key ID features. The photographs have been “photo-shopped” so that most background has been “tippexed” out with only a ghosted disc remaining round the bird (or part thereof). The photographs themselves are generally of a good quality although some are a little small making details hard to discern. As a general rule, the images tend to be larger than those in the Collins Guide (but 30%-50% smaller than those in Wildguides' 'Britain's Birds'). However, painted plates of birds in identical poses, without distracting shadows and carefully delineated to highlight key points mean that it can be harder to distinguish detail in photos than paintings of the same (or even smaller) size.
The very red legs of the Great Egret here suggest to me that the bird here belongs to the race 'modesta' of SE Asia or can European birds be this bright? More often than not two species are covered per page but quite a few are squeezed in three and a fewer still four to a page (esp. Nearctic vagrant passerines). Another sixty odd species, often (but not always) those with several distinct subspecies or a complex range of plumages have a page or more to luxuriate in. So it's not a surprise to find species with very variable plumages – buzzards, eagles, some harriers, all larger gulls, and so on have a page or more to themselves. Predictably, Yellow Wagtail comes off best with no less than three pages – generous perhaps but it's good to see those familiar green, grey or black heads attached to a body for once! Rare shrikes in the old Isabelline complex are particularly well treated. Yet such generous full page coverage is also enjoyed by far less variable species like Pheasant, Brown Booby, Starling, Waxwing and Pine Grosbeak. Whatever the criteria used to determine the space allowed for each species, the criteria seem haphazardly applied as Common Redpoll (a variable species with several races) only gets half a page. Some fairly common species too get shorter shrift than one might expect (e.g. one photo of Woodcock compared to two for Pin-tailed Snipe).
The existence of 'Ambigous Reed Warbler' will come as a surprise to many! What distinguishes this guide from any of its rivals is that, as the original title suggests, it really does include all the birds found in Europe. Although rarities are often treated in less detail (in text and photos) in some cases, the level of detail and illustration even exceeds that used for common and widespread European species. It is particularly strong on its coverage of different races some of which have half a page to themselves (on the downside in a number of cases this extra coverage is several pages adrift from the main text and not always well cross referenced). The outstanding example being “Ambiguous Reed Warbler” a very recent (and still controversial) race of European Reed Warbler found in North African and Spain (which may even be a race of African Reed Warbler). Oddly, though, redpolls are less well treated than one might expect. Naturally, some of the larger gulls have all of their various races depicted and described (although not always to the level really needed since that would require a couple of pages at least. On the other hand coverage of stonechats and 'Isabelline/Brown/Red-tailed Shrikes, for example, is better than one might expect. Even so, there are times (e.g. depicting wheatear tails) when it cries out for a couple of comparative, even diagramatic. illustrations rather than photos ('Britain's Birds' is far more pragmatic in this respect).
Even extreme rarities are included. Vagrants include species recorded at least as recently as October 2015 and those with only one or two records. It's a pity that the relative rarity wasn't more clearly expressed or indeed, given most copies will be bought in the UK, it hasn't got a simple key to UK status (as per the old Heinzel guide). Whilst in many ways this inclusiveness is welcome, it does to some degree compromise the coverage of commoner species that birdwatchers are far more likely to see. My personal choice would have been to drop the extreme vagrants with only a handful of European records to improve coverage of birds which observers have a real chance of finding for themselves. In some ways, it is a surprise that this strategy hasn't been used since the authors (and the original publisher) have already produced a very similar guide devoted entirely to European rarities ('Tous les Oiseaux rares d'Europe' which coveres 456 species in 365 pages & 1850 photos) At the very least I would rather have rarities were consigned to an appendix to minimise confusion like to old 'Shell Guide').
Good news for Iberian birders! Another area where this guide excels is with regard to introduced species. We have illustrations and text not only for widespread feral species like Ring-necked Parakeet but also less familiar (and more restricted ones) like Vinous-throated Parrotbill and Erkel's Francolin. Spanish based birders will welcome the inclusion of Black-headed Weaver and Yellow-crowned Bishop even if the text suggests they're restricted to Portugal (the former and to a lesser degree the latter are increasingly found in several sites in western Andalucia). Conversely, the Red Avadavat's range is given only as 'Spain' whereas it's also found widely (if thinly) in Portugal. Strangely, though, the distinctive red male is not illustrated only the duller female (although the sex isn't given on the photo). Inevitably, some species with feral populations are omitted (e.g. several parrot species regularly found in Spain) but the authors deserve great credit for including as many as they have.
The text is rather brief often having fewer than half the number of words than the descriptions found in the Collins Guide. Unlike that book, it also fails to highlight key points in italic or bold (which improves functionality). Even though the text is usefully supplemented by annotations around the photographs, the text is not always sufficiently thorough as some useful identification features have been not been mentioned (e.g. the white underwing of adult male Lesser Kestrel). Vocalisations are also treated somewhat briefly with many species lacking any description of their song. Some descriptions are even misleading such as noting that the Iberian Chiffchaff's call is 'similar' to Willow Warbler whereas its Reed Bunting like down slurred call is diagnostic. That said, although brief, the text in conjunction with the photographs should allow you to identify most of the birds you see although inadequate to identify some very similar species or some female/juveniles birds (some not all being described let alone illustrated).
The status of Pintail in the UK is hopelessly exaggerated on this map The three colour maps show breeding, resident and winter ranges (but not occurrence on passage). They are invariably small (being a little smaller than those in the Collins Guide) and seem a little more generalised than the maps in that guide. Even so, they generally provide a useful 'broad-brush' guide to distribution. In some cases, though, the status of some species is very optimistic! Fortunately, the book follows the same familiar taxonomic order as used in the Collins Guide rather than the new scientifically rigorous but very impractical new order some books have opted for.
Although not showing all plumages, gulls are better covered than in many photograohic guides Taken together the illustrations and text make this book more functional than most photoguides. Although including extraordinarily rare birds it weems more aimed at the beginner/intermediate birder than wannabe expert as crucial details (and photos) are omitted. However, although I have a number of reservations, the whole somehow transcends my caveats to be by far the best photoguide to European birds on the market. It certainly doesn't replace the Collins Guide but complements it particularly if you want photos of all European species in one handy package. In this context, it's well worth buying. Surprisingly, perhaps, it's nearest rival photoguide is WildGuides' 'Britain's Birds' which covers Europe as well as this guide covers North Africa and the Middle East! 'Britain's Birds' is by far the better book as it has many more photos, more comprehensive coverage of plumages and birds in flight, much larger images, a far better thought out text and a flexible design. However, it has the serious drawback of being not only significantly larger and heavier but also only covers the c600 species recorded in Britain. Essentially you can have comprehensive coverage or portability but not both. Until the promised European version of the Wildguides book appears Jiguet & Audevard look set to be the definitive photoguide on European birds (although not of North Africa or the Middle East!). Recommended (with some reservations).
Comparative treatment of Dunlin in (L to R) the Collins Guide, the Wildguides book & in Jiguet & Aurélien Audevard - which is better?
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