The Macmillan Field Guide to Bird Identification

by Keith Vinicombe, Keith Vinicombe, Laurel Tucker (Illustrator)

192 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1989

Reviews

[Stephen Dunstan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am re-reading lots of my bird field guides this year rather than them gather dust on the shelf.

This book was pioneering in its day, and if you can find a copy relatively cheap (there were a number of reprints) it's still well worth having. The illustration by Alan Harris in particular have really stood the test of time. The book also doesn't cover 'unmistakable' birds and focuses on regular British species and some scarce / rare / vagrant birds where there are subtle ID features from a beginner's perspective.

In terms of relevance today (no mention below means they still seem fine):

Divers - before the awareness of Pacific Diver turning up

Cory's / Great Shearwater - before the split of Cory's into Cory's and Scopoli's Shearwater

Grey Geese - before the split of Bean Goose into Taiga and Tundra and doesn't illustrate the latter, which is more similar to Pinkfoot and thus trickier.

Diving ducks - brief treatment of Lesser Scaup as there had only been one record then

Scoters - before records of White-winged and Stejneger's Scoter which would be included now

Harriers - before the increase in Pallid Harrier which are now regular and need considering with Hen and Montagu's

Skuas - good but South Polar Skua may be becoming regular

Large Gulls - before Caspian was a separate species and much more frequent

Rock / Water Pipit - would probably include Buff-bellied Pipit with increase in records

Wagtails - would probably cover Eastern Yellow Wagtail now but treatment of Yellow Wagtail races was low key anyway

Reed / Marsh Warbler - would include Blyth's Reed Warbler now

Hippolais warblers - Booted Warbler would now be split into Booted and Sykes's Warblers

Sylvia warblers - would need to cover the split of Subalpine Warbler into Eastern and Western Subalpine Warblers and Moltoni's Warbler

Phylloscopus warblers - would include both splits Bonelli's Warbler (Eastern and Western) and Iberian Chiffchaff.

Treecreepers - might cover 'Northern' race of Eurasian Treecreeper

Red-backed and Isabelline Shrike - best ignored completely given changes to species

Great Grey Shrike - might include Steppe Grey Shrike

Crossbill - probably wouldn't include Scottish Crossbill which is a disputed taxon

That all said this still means the majority of accounts in the book are still completely relevant and worth referring to alongside more recent guides. I also like the 'notebook' style of the annotations of the artwork, and a shout out for the line 'Correct size assessment is vital: Peregrines Eat Merlins'.

[Jonathan Hutchins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slightly dated but still a useful and in its day ground-breaking reference

[Russ Peacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ground breaking in its day. Slightly dated but still excellent.

[Steven Heywood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Due an update in the light of recent work (particularly with the large gulls and the crossbill complex) but still an excellent guide to some tricky bird groups.