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| Gulls
of Europe, Asia and North America by Klaus Malling Olsen & Hans Larsson |
Title: Gulls
of Europe, Asia & North AmericaPublisher: Helm, 2004 Authors: Klaus Malling Olsen & Hans Larsson Gulls are perhaps one of the most difficult bird families to get to grips with and, indeed, even the experts agree that there is still much to learn about the taxonomic status of many species/subspecies. This weighty book, published by Helm, is on hand for those birders wishing to learn more about gull distribution, identification and, perhaps most importantly, moult patterns. This excellent book contains authoritative text concerning the identification of previously little known species/subspecies of gulls and does an excellent job of conveying the subtle differences to look for in the field with a combination of plates and numerous photographs for each taxon. Each species (as recognized by the authors) has its own section in the book with subsections including "identification", "moult", "geographical variation" and "distribution and migration" along with a distributional map which is not only useful for narrowing down the possibilities in any given location, but can prove helpful in predicting which rarities could be found and where they could show up. Although the accounts for each taxon are extensive and complete, they are not prosaic and are well-ordered so that the reader does not get lost in never-ending text, preserving the readability of this publication. The visual impact of this book is also very impressive too with 96 full-colour plates, beautifully illustrated by Hans Larsson, which show each species in a full range of plumages both in flight and standing; each plate is nicely spaced and arranged making them pleasing to the eye and not confusing allowing the relavent plumage details to be seen clearly. As well as this there are over 800 photographs with which the book further illustrates each species/taxon not only helping in identification and understanding moult but which also punctuate the text, enhancing the book's attention-keeping qualities. Adding to this are the range maps which are full page-width and well annotated making them easy to use and understand. Whilst the body of the book deals with the many species of gulls, there is also an interesting introduction which explains the taxonomies used within the book, how the book is structured and gives extremely useful advice on which features to look for in gull identification, including notes on how to age gulls and recognize hybrids by studying plumage details alongside the time of the year in which these features occur. For anyone beginning to try and understand the taxonomies and identification of gulls, this section is extremely important and illuminating. Although this guide is perhaps too large to regularly carry around for most birders, its size is certainly not prohibitive to those specializing in gulls and can certainly fit into a car door pocket/glovebox for reference. This is an essential source of information for birders hoping to identify gulls as they travel worldwide or for those hoping to pick out the unusual from large groups of birds. However, it should be noted that there are few problems with this publication and perhaps one of the biggest criticisms I could level at it is that there could be more use of comparative illustrations to help separate similar species, although there is a section near the beginning of the book which compares large gulls. One other slight downfall of this book is that it was perhaps published too early and with an increased knowledge of gull taxonomy it was already slightly outdated in parts, even on publication, and certainly much has been learned since publication. A taxonomic tree to show the relationship between the taxons covered would have been very welcome and perhaps any future publications should carry this to illustrate these relationships in a simple way. These issues aside, "Gulls" is certainly a superb source of information on this group of difficult species, providing top-quality plates, a wide variety of photographs and an unrivalled amount of information on a group of birds that many birders struggle to deal with. Gulls of Europe, Asia & North America is one of the best bird guides I have used and birders throughout the world would do well to add it to their collection; certainly it is one of the reference guides that I delve into most frequently and my copy is well-thumbed. If you are a birder in Thailand, considering the lack of quality plates and information on gulls in all the field guides for the region, this publication is an essential addition to the library in attempting to get to grips with the gulls which turn up in small numbers in the Gulf of Thailand as rarities and scarce winter visitors. This guide is absolutely essential if you want to get to grips with all the confusing plumages of gulls not only in Thailand, but around the world. Score: 9.5/10 |
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