We sent out another list of questions to bird guides who have already been profiled on 10,000 Birds. In the first edition of this second series, we ask
Which bird book has been the most useful to you in real life – and why?
Here are the answers.
In Europe decades ago, before the internet and apps, I learned birds by the Peterson-Hollom Birds of Europe. In Costa Rica, also decades ago, A guide to the birds of Costa Rica by Gary Styles, Alexander Skutch, and Dana Gardner not just described and painted each bird, but there was a detailed description of habitats, behaviour, and protection of species. Gabor Orban, Hungary/Costa Rica
A Field Guide to the Birds of China by John MacKinnon.I started birding before the publication of this book. And it was quite difficult to know what birds I saw. The guide covers 1300+ species at a cost of CNY80, with nice color plates and lots of useful information for identification. The second edition(2021) is not as good as the original(2000), so even today, I still now and then use the original edition. The color plates are free to use on many websites, and we use them often when we print some booklets to promote birding in China. Zhang Lin, China
Birds of the World by Lynx. To have all the birds in the world in one book is just amazing. Great for reference, learning about families and getting excited about birds to see across the Globe. Uganda- birds of East Africa- it’s the most comprehensive for East Africa. South Africa- Roberts birds of SA- it’s had amazing info and illustrations of Southern African birds. Marc Cronje, East and Southern Africa
Originally, it was The Birds of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East (Heinzel, Fitter & Parslow). It was the book that truly set me on my road of discovery as a youngster, and I referred to it for a couple of decades. For the last couple of decades, it has been the birders’ bible – the Collins Bird Guide. It is the best field guide in the world. David Lindo, Spain
Birds of East Africa – because I much prefer leafing through a field guide than being on my phone trying to figure out what something is. Plus, I was doing safaris before Merlin. It’s been most helpful in identifying and understanding species. Faraaz Abdool, Trinidad & Tobago
The Collins Bird Guide, 3rd edition. It’s the standard for birding in Britain and Europe, and I have copies at home, in my car, and as an app on my phone. Great for calls. In autumn (fall) the updated Sibley is on my phone too. For tricky ID challenges, Nils van Duivendick’s ID Handbook of European Birds is also on my shelf and phone. John Hague, UK
Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica (de la Peña & Rumboll) has been indispensable. It combines field?ready illustrations with concise notes on behavior and habitat, which is crucial when guiding across such diverse ecosystems. It’s not just about identification, but about anticipating where and how birds will appear. Marcelo Carlos De Cruzky, Argentina
Birds of Ghana and Birds of West Africa books have been very useful to me, because they fall within my area and have most of the details of the birds. Kwame Brown, Ghana
One of the most useful bird books in real-life guiding has been African Raptors by William S. Clark and Rob Davies. It’s especially valuable for field identification of raptors—breaking down key features, flight patterns, and plumage differences in a very practical way. The book also helps refine how we describe birds in the field, giving clear terminology for body parts, structure, and characteristics. In guiding, where raptors are often distant or in flight, this kind of clarity and precision makes all the difference. Magada Haily Miriam, Uganda
Bird by Behavior, by Dominic Couzens, has always been very helpful, since in the field you often can’t look at bird details, so behavior itself can be critical in bird identification. Spyros Skareas, Greece
I could likely write an entire article for you on influential bird books, but I would probably start with my first “real” field guide, the “Golden Guide,” or more formally, “A Guide to Field Identification: Birds of North America” by Chandler Robbins et al. Graduating from my “Peterson’s First Guide” at a young age, the Golden Guide forced me to look more holistically at birds – not just memorizing where a few arrows pointed to. While this made for a steeper learning curve, it clearly appealed to my learning style and helped form me into the “whole bird and more” birder I became and even later wrote about decades later in my first book, How to Be a Better Birder (Princeton University Press, 2012). It was also my first full field guide to the birds of North America, so it opened my eyes to what was beyond my suburban, Central New Jersey back yard! Derek Lovich, Maine, USA
The book I used was Birds of New Guinea because the explanation in the book is quite complete and easy to understand, and it is useful to study when entering this field, especially in my area (Papua). Eko Lesomar, Papua New Guinea
The most useful book is Birds in Brazil by Helmut Sick. This is the bible of Brazilian birders, as the knowledge in this book is invaluable and inspiring! René Santos, Brazil
“Aves del Ecuador” by Robert S. Ridgely & Paul J. Greenfield. Sandra María Plua Alban, Ecuador
To be honest, I haven’t found one yet that meets the real-world demands of a professional guide. That’s exactly why I’m writing the next edition of my Field Guide to the Birds of Goa. I’m designing it to be the ultimate practical tool, incorporating dimensions that traditional guides miss: audio calls, temporal sighting data, perching locations, and detailed maps of specific hotspots. By including everything from sexual dimorphism to flight patterns and juvenile morphs, I’m aiming to elevate the field guide into a truly comprehensive, multi-dimensional resource for every birder. Savio Fonseca, India
That was my first “real” bird identification book: Dr. Wolfgang Makatsch’s “Wir bestimmen die Vögel Europas” (We Identify the Birds of Europe), 1st edition from 1966. This book was particularly important for my ornithological development. I remember lying in my tent in Bulgaria one day in 1979, caught in heavy rain, leafing through this book. Inside the cover were maps of important observation areas: Lofoten, Sicily, Malta, and so on. All of them were inaccessible to me at the time, as I lived in East Germany. Rolf Nessing, Germany
And a final word from the editor:
Birders around the world appear to have spent the last fifty years hauling increasingly large field guides through rainforests, deserts, and political systems, only to conclude that the perfect bird book still does not exist. Common themes include nostalgia, stubborn loyalty to first editions, mild distrust of apps, and the conviction that one’s regional guide is “the bible.”
Cover Photo: Black-crowned Night Heron, Nanhui, Shanghai, July 2017
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