A forgotten field guide

"A field guide to the rare birds of Britain and Europe" by Ian Lewington, Per Alström and Peter Colston is an excellent field guide to the rare birds of Europe (minus Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine).

In this context, "rare" does not refer to rare birds breeding in Europe, but rare vagrants from North America, Asia, Africa or the South Atlantic. As such, the book is of interest only to European bird-watchers. North American birders will no doubt recognize at least the North American species (such as the American Robin on the front cover). For some reason, a few Arctic species that might as well be considered European are also included, such as the white billed diver and the harlequin duck.

The book is nicely illustrated, and shows several plumages of each bird, and also juveniles. Even more plumages are described in the text, which is more comprehensive than usual for a field guide. The most likely places to encounter the vagrants are also mentioned, but that information is very dated, the book being published in 1991, and never updated since.

Personally, I must admit that I find the chasing of vagrants as a somewhat esoteric activity! I was fascinated by vagrant birds as a kid, but no more. The world, after all, is getting smaller. In the age of globalization, it might be vaguely thrilling to see an American Robin in Stockholm, but hardly earth shaking. (Perhaps an albatross might do the trick?) Still, I'm surprised that this excellent field guide hasn't been updated or reprinted. I found it by chance at a library. True, many regular field guides to European birds include vagrants, usually from North America or Siberia, but usually only the male adult in summer plumage is shown. This book could therefore fill a gap for advanced bird-watchers active on the European side of the Atlantic...

Five stars, but clearly in need of a revision!