"Birds of the Mediterranean and Alps" is the fifth and concluding volume of a series of field guides written and illustrated by Lars Jonsson, an accomplished Swedish painter and "amateur" ornithologist. His books are famous for their almost bizarrely brilliant colour illustrations. Somehow, Jonsson's birds look even better than the real thing! The two last volumes of the series are almost works of art in their own right. (I'm referring to this volume plus "Birds of Mountain Regions", which is volume four.)
"Birds of the Mediterranean and Alps" covers the birds of southern Europe, the Black Sea region and the mountain ranges of Central Europe. A few typical Anatolian and North African species are shown, as well. When I was a kid, me and my friends eagerly awaited the appearance of this volume, since we considered foreign birds to be more "cool" than the quintessentially boring ducks, crows and sparrows found in Sweden. We weren't disappointed. I mean, the bee-eater on the cover says it all!
The main problem with Jonsson's books have always been that the birds are split on five volumes in a rather idiosyncratic fashion. As field guides, they are probably overrated. Later, Jonsson finally published the one-volume "Birds of Europe" and entered the 21st century with flying (pun intended) colours.
However, I admit a strong nostalgia for the original, unwieldy concept.
(For the record, the illustration above is *not* from Jonsson´s book.)
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