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OTHER ARTICLES JUNE 2006
Toucans of the Americas Out-of-Print Catalog |
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley GuidePamela C. Rasmussen and John C. Anderton.
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Volume 1: Field Guide: Covers all South Asian birds (including for the first time Afghanistan and Chagos Islands), with 180 color plates by a Who's-Who of nature artists, illustrating over 3400 plumages. All-new annotated maps opposite plates, showing seasonal distributions including migration routes. Maps include distribution of species in surrounding areas, mainly Tibet and western and central Myanmar. Thumbnails on endpapers. 378 pp. Volume 2: Attributes and Status: Morphology, distribution, vocalizations
and taxonomy. Describes over 2500 taxa, including all 1,428 species recorded for the region,
over 25 recent splits, sonograms, and the region's first hypothetical list. Maps on endpapers.
682 pp.
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This item is now in stock! This newly published book, over a year in the making, is the most complete and up-to-date guide to the birds of the region. It includes much previously unpublished data on identification, distribution, vocalization and taxonomy, along with a critical re-appraisal of historic information. To the relief of many birders, species lists follow the familiar Peters order except where changes are well-corroborated by recent research. It includes all accepted races and two species new to science, and over 25 recent species-splits. It establishes the region’s first hypothetical list and vocalizations are described in detail for nearly all species. |
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In 1992, Pam Rasmussen took the position of assistant to S. Dillon Ripley, the former secretary of the Smithsonian. As co-author of the ten-volume set Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, he was drawn to the avifauna of the Indian Subcontinent, and wanted, as his final project, to produce the canonical field guide to the region. Shortly after beginning the project, Ripley became to ill to continue, and Rasmussen took over. Ripley strongly favored the use of museum specimens to determine which birds to include, so Rasmussen examined tens of thousands of specimens, from museums all over the world. While studying these specimens, Rasmussen stumbled upon a decades-old fraud, perpetrated by one of the most highly respected bird collectors in history. The New Yorker, in its article Ruffled Feathers, examines the story (May 29, 2006, pp. 50-61). |
 Photo by Kurt Stepnitz |
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The late British Ornithologist Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, whose collection of twenty-five
thousand skins is in Britain’s Natural History Museum, is now suspected of having stolen many of
those skins from other collectors. While larceny alone is disconcerting, the discovery that he
re labelled the skins with incorrect data to make it look like he collected them, threw the status
of the entire bird list into chaos.
In order to resolve this dilemma, Rasmussen, along with collaborators from several museums, researched every available bird skin, starting in 1996. She eventually removed twenty-four species from the South Asia list, and categorized eighty-five more as hypothetical. This extensive research and attention to detail is carried on throughout the book, and has given us what truly is the best guide to the birds of the region to date. In a review in Birding Magazine (May/June 2006; 38(3)), Ben King thoroughly examines every aspect of the books, including taxonomy, format, organization, vocalizations, field marks, English names, maps, and color plates. In a comparison among the guides by Kazmierczak, Grimmett, and Ripley, King says "..the new South Asia guide's Part 1 text is better than either. A comparison of the full versions still favors the new guide. This new guide is also the most user friendly and best organized of these books... It also bests the others in its descriptions of vocalizations and in its taxonomic treatment. Finally, the new South Asia guide will be useful much longer than the other guides because of its forward-looking organization. "In sum, anyone who has any interest in the birds of the Indian subcontinent will want and need this excellent new guide to the Birds of South Asia." I think Mr. King says it all.
Professional Reviews:
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