It's out, and it's excellent! If you are thinking of birding Taiwan (or nearby) you need this book.
** May take a couple weeks before on sale overseas **
It's all you need for birding Taiwan. There is comprehensive coverage of the avifauna of the main island, offshore islands (Matsu, Lanyu, Kinmen etc), and surrounding seas. 670 birds are fully illustrated, plus compact double plates for escapees and difficult species comparisons. Eight years in preparation, the wait was worth it and WBST is to be congratulated for producing such a useful book.
The artwork is very good and of a standard meeting, or exceeding, that of international publishers. No other book illustrates the current 27 endemics, 56 endemic subspecies, other resident/migrant species and relevant subspecies better.
The 190 annotated painted plates will make it the default guide for foreign birders to Taiwan - and useful for birding other countries nearby. The plates have English species names and key field marks/behavior well highlighted. On the page opposite English scientific and Chinese names next to size, key occurrence details, and maps. Detailed text on appearance, confusion species, habitat, and calls.
Contents and index pages are good, and other less important introductory stuff is kept to a bare minimum. Glad there is a Chinese species index.
Large pocket size (21 X 15 X 2 cm) a reasonable 737 grams. Well bound and printed, flexi-cover. Taxonomy follows Clements 2017 and CWBF 2017. The uniformity of a single artist, and tasteful background habitat artwork worked for me.
Get it !!!
A Field Guide to the Birds of Taiwan. (English language) By Mu-Chi Hsiao (main author) and Cheng-Lin Li (artist), with Tzung-su Ding, Wu Jian-long, and Steve Mulkeen. 2017 Taipei Wild Bird Society and Taiwan Forestry Bureau. 416 pages; 190 color plates. ISBN 978-986-05-2019-1 List price NT$ 1,200 (US$ 45!).












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