A Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka

by John Harrison, Tim Worfolk (Illustrator)

A Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka is the first fully comprehensive, modern field guide to this ornithologically fascinating country. All of Sri Lanka's official avian species are described in the text and depicted in a collection of stunning color plates painted by Tim Worfolk, one of Britain's leading bird artists. The text, accessible to experienced ornithologists and beginners alike, highlights the important identification features such as plumage variations, size, calls and songs, range, distribution, and status for every species. The plates illustrate the various plumage variations for each bird, and show the birds perched and also in flight, where relevant to their identification.

An introduction to the guide describes briefly some of the best sites for watching Sri Lanka's abundant avifauna, and provides useful contact addresses for the prospective traveller. This will be an essential purchase for all birdwatchers travelling to the region; the beautiful plates and clearly-written text will also make it a must-have for anyone who loves birds, and Sri Lankan birds in particular.

Genres: Birds

240 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1999

About the author

There are more than 16 authors in the GoodReads database with this name. This is John^Harrison (adventurer, writer, broadcaster & lecturer), . This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

After hitch-hiking from London to Johannesburg before he was 21, and two further years hitching around every country in South and Central America, John never really shook off the travel bug. He studied Latin American History and Sociology at university before becoming a language teacher in Spain and Portugal. He then worked as a tour guide for Journey Latin America, taking small groups to South America, and bringing most of them back. It was during this time that he started making his own expeditions – especially to the Amazon. A lover of wilderness, he has also canoed in Africa, Europe and North America.
‘Up the Creek: an Amazon Adventure’, originally published in 1986, and was reissued in February 2012, was an account of one of these journeys, and ‘Into the Amazon: an incredible story of survival in the jungle' was published in 2011.
The film ‘John Harrison Explorer’ was made for the ‘Voyager’ series by National Geographic in 1991, about a canoe journey on the Rio Ximim-Ximim in Brazil.
John has written and presented several radio programmes for the BBC, and contributed articles to many magazines and newspapers.
He has entertained audiences with more than 200 lectures over the last 25 years, including four talks at the Royal Geographical Society in London, (where he has also chaired three seminars on tropical forest expedition logistics), plus motivational seminars and visits to schools and Luncheon Clubs. He has also been an on-board speaker for the Cunard, Silversea, Seabourn, Holland America and Fred Olsen cruise lines.
He lives in Bristol in the UK with his wife and two children, where he has his own construction company.