Birds' Eggs: The Visual Guide to the Eggs of over 500 Species from Around the World

by Michael Walters

Featuring more than 500 full-color illustrations and photographs, along with detailed annotations, Dorling Kindersley Handbooks make identification easy and accurate.

Genres: Nature, Reference, Birds, Animals, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Michael Walters is Emeritus Fellow, Bird Group, The Natural History Museum at Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum, Tring, United Kingdom.

Reviews

[Tory · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stars for the amount of information and photographs, which show birds' eggs at their actual shape and size, which helps with identification. Reduction in stars for the organization --- the information is organized by bird family and not by range, so eggs of Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the South Pacific are interspersed among each other. The information would have been more helpful if the eggs were organized by range, or at least by continent on which they might be found.

[Ludo Bird Club · Rating 3 out of 5]

A handy collection of clear photos and useful data.

Check out the full review on our blog

[K LF · Rating 5 out of 5]

I skim this book from time to time - amazing colours and patterns.

[Raine Rucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up Birds' Eggs by Michael Walters today. It showcases many beautiful eggs, and Walters emphasizes the book is meant to be a display case, not a field guide. Walters also makes a point of clarifying that all the eggs in this book were photographed in a museum, not stolen from a nest for this book.

The pages of the book show the actual size of the eggs, some of the variety of colors and shades that the eggs come in (if applicable), the nesting habits of the birds, the clutch size, the incubation time (if known), and which parent does the incubation (if known).

It truly is fascinating to flip through the book and see the variety of eggs. Additionally, there are a few pages in the beginning which tell about eggs in general, various nesting habits, and a few other odds and ends.

I think that this is an excellent book to get whether you are interested the eggs of a particular bird, or if you are simply curious about eggs in general. It has my official stamp of approval. :)

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have yet to discover a strange egg. But when I do, I'll be totally prepared to identify it!!