Best field guide? (1 Viewer)

[kittykat23uk]

Hi folks, hopefully going to tasmania in feb and looking for advice on the best field guides for birds and mammals please? Uk based.

Thanks

Jo

 

[YuShan]

For birds, the most complete one is "The Australian Bird Guide" (Menkhorst/ Rogers) which is excellent but very large and heavy. I was backpacking and hiking long distances carrying all my stuff, so I left it at home (only used for my pre-trip homework and after trip reference).

For field guide I used the "Morcombe's Birds of Australia" app on a smartphone. It was OK, though it had some errors when using the range filters. But it worked well enough for identification.

I loved Tasmania. It was easy to find all Tasmanian endemics.
Btw: my trip report (not just birding): Tasmania – Hiking Birdman

 

[kittykat23uk]

Thanks! I'll take a look.

 

[Jim M.]

For mammals, A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia, 3d ed., by Menkhorst & Knight seems to be the standard one. But it has one annoying omission: it has no description of mammal groups – only descriptions of individual species. So, for example, if you want to know what a Dunnart or Bettong is, there is no explanation other than the accounts of the individual species, and those don't provide general information. But I'm not aware of anything better. Here is my full review on Amazon: Thorough identification guide with excellent illustrations; but room for improvement