HBW Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World

Chlidonias

Chlidonias

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for those of us who cannot afford the monumental ongoing Handbook of the Birds of the World by Lynx Edicions, volume one of the Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World has recently been released. Volume one is for all the non-passerines; volume two will be all the passerines (expected release date 2016).

The link here HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World | Lynx Edicions has all the information, as well as sample pages. It is a complete "checklist" with a distribution map and painting of every species, including 50 extinct species.

Some stats for volume one (non-passerines): 904 pages with 357 plates; 4372 extant species and 50 extinct species (plus another 49 extinct not illustrated); 8290 bird illustrations, of which 242 are brand new (i.e. not in the HBW series) and 783 being improved versions.

I will definitely be getting this at some point. Current special price is 145 Euros. Regular price will be 185 Euros.
 
I just got some mail brought over from NZ and saw a brochure for this book in there. It looks pretty great (obviously expensive but cheaper than the full HBW set). Has it got an actual list to tick off?
 
Chlidonias said:
I don't think so. I am guessing their definition of "checklist" is on par with their overly-generous definition of "handbook" :D
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Haha, good point! It seems books with such lists are few and far between - I know my mammals of Australia guide has one, and there is a Checklist of NZ birds that is sort of tick-able, but only just.
 
Chlidonias said:
there is a small book which is just a list of NZ birds with a square for ticking them off. I've seen it in Whitcoull's in the past. I can't remember the title though.

EDIT: I think it is this one A Checklist to New Zealand Birds, Frogs, Reptiles, Mammals and Butterflies - Catalogue - Canterbury University Press - University of Canterbury - New Zealand
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Ah OK, I think the one I have was published by the NZ ornithological society. It was fairly cheap from the Auckland Museum.

Kerry-Jayne Wilson, who wrote that book you linked also wrote the excellent Flight of the Huia, which is a great read and covers many aspects of NZ's ecology.
 
the OSNZ checklist is the official list for New Zealand. I just went to find a link for anyone overseas who might be interested in it and found it costs NZ$100!! I'm sure I never paid anything like that for my copy!

Then I remembered that if you go to Home page | New Zealand Birds Online the entire book is on there in pdf form.

I've got Flight Of The Huia as well of course (I have a lot of NZ natural history books!)
 
I just received my copy of this book today. And the only first impression possible is: wow!

The book is very very impressive (and massive :p) and the widely used Tobias criteria are a really nice addition imo in taxonomy. Overall I was a bit surprised that there are still quite a lot of lumps and not only splits if you compare them to local field guides. Examples are the lump of all hoopoo (except Madagascar hoopoo) and all cuckoo rollers (which are placed in a seperate order) and for example all casuaris species are considered monotypic in the volume. And there are even some extinct species in the main text, so not in the appendix, like pinkheaded duck, ivory billed woodpecker & imperial woodpecker.

This book is a real eye-catcher and I could browse in it for days with great pleasure!
 
Has anyone got the HBW Alive? It looks to be a much cheaper way of accessing the HBW. (For those who are unaware of it, it is an electronic version of HBW.
Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | HBW Alive

it seems to be good value and I am considering getting this. The full 17 books even with the 20% off is waaay out of possibility for me and even the checklist would be difficult for me to get my hands on. I was wondering if its worth it.
 
I got an email today from Lynx Edicions about a book that seems similar to the illustrated checklist but is even more concise with family-by-family accounts and an illustration for every genus.

Bird Families of the World | Lynx Edicions

Anyone thinking about pre-ordering it? I'm definitely considering it, as it is just about within what I can afford.

(Ps. in regards to my question above about HBW Alive, I ended up subscribing to it and would definitely recommend it.)
 
I will definately order it and it is even affordable :p, it will be very interesting to see how they threat all the higher taxonomy (families and orders), as that is something they promised to give a lot of attention to in this book.
 
LaughingDove said:
I got an email today from Lynx Edicions about a book that seems similar to the illustrated checklist but is even more concise with family-by-family accounts and an illustration for every genus.

Bird Families of the World | Lynx Edicions

Anyone thinking about pre-ordering it? I'm definitely considering it, as it is just about within what I can afford.

(Ps. in regards to my question above about HBW Alive, I ended up subscribing to it and would definitely recommend it.)
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I ordered this with the pre-publication offer and it arrived today. It is really fantastic and is probably now my favourite book that I own.
Homework has had to wait today! :p
 
Mine is also on it's way, will be a nice welcome hopefully when I arrive back to Switzerland in a few days :)
 
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