A Photographic Guide to Birds of Thailand
By Michael Webster & Chew Yen Fook – (1997; current edition 2013)
144 pages; gloss art paper, with 267 colour photos, 1 monochrome drawing, 1 map & 1 colour page guide.
Soft Cover: 19cm x 9.6cm.
ISBN: 978-1-84773-829-5
New Holland (Publishers), UK.
This small book covers 252 species of the 925 or so known to Thailand. Each species has its common and scientific name and a height measurement, accompanied by at least one photo, some have two photos normally showing male and female.
The text provided for each species includes a physical description, notes on habitat and voice calls. The distribution information is restricted to Thailand and is a little broad referring to specific compass point regions, such as throughout the country or restricted to the western forest belt, or throughout Thailand but absent from the peninsular etc.
What I like about this book, is virtually all of the photos are clear and of a good quality, a few of them excellent. Good quality photos are always helpful to encourage the general public to become interested in our natural world. Further, quality photographs provide insight for bird enthusiasts and naturalists as to what a particular species may look like in real life, as opposed to artistically illustrated.
The clear photographs and easy to carry pocket size of this book makes it a very handy guide to carry on your person during transit on your way to Thailand for reading on the plane and or for use in the field.
Rod Rice
Principal Reviewer
Nature & Travel Books