A review of "Waders of Europe, Asia and North America" by Stephen Message
If you are an advanced bird-watcher tired of looking
at the “crane dance” together with hundreds of crazy tourists, suffer from a
bad bout of wadermania, or just happens to live where the tide meets the sea,
this might be just the field guide you've been looking for all these years.
When I was younger, shorebirds (known as waders outside MAGA) were considered a difficult group to master for the average bird-watcher. One of many reasons was that field guides, true to form, usually depicted adult specimens, while most shorebirds actually seen at the shores were juveniles, the plumage of which is often different. Another reason was that shorebirds from North America or Siberia show themselves in Europe on a semi-regular basis, creating obvious problems for authors of European field guides (not to mention their editors and publishers).
At least to shorebird-watchers, this guide is therefore long overdue. Apart from showing as many plumages as possible, and placing confusion species on the same plates, it contains a long section depicting shorebirds in flight. I'm not a shorebird aficionado, but had I taken up the trade, this would definitely be my first port of call. I'm “shore” of it!
When I was younger, shorebirds (known as waders outside MAGA) were considered a difficult group to master for the average bird-watcher. One of many reasons was that field guides, true to form, usually depicted adult specimens, while most shorebirds actually seen at the shores were juveniles, the plumage of which is often different. Another reason was that shorebirds from North America or Siberia show themselves in Europe on a semi-regular basis, creating obvious problems for authors of European field guides (not to mention their editors and publishers).
At least to shorebird-watchers, this guide is therefore long overdue. Apart from showing as many plumages as possible, and placing confusion species on the same plates, it contains a long section depicting shorebirds in flight. I'm not a shorebird aficionado, but had I taken up the trade, this would definitely be my first port of call. I'm “shore” of it!
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