An Atlas Of Wader Populations in Africa and Western Eurasia,
If like me, you spend time at a site watching Waders on passage and think to yourself, "I wonder where this hatched", "on which part of the Tundra within the Arctic Circle did this bird depart from before it arrived here" and more similar questions then this book is for you, No doubts, no hesitations trust me this book really is for you. It sits pride of place on the top shelf of my book case, and seems to find itself in to the hands of most visiting birders to my home. It covers 90 species in great detail, and includes "anomaly" species such as St Helena Plover and Madagascar Snipe.
(Look at this photo, Its says it all, an amazing looking Breeding Plumaged Great Knot on the breeding grounds within the rocky mountain slopes of Siberia with some sheets of snow still present in the background,"What a photo")
Each species has its own account with usually a good quality photograph but not always and this some what lets the book down a little with such critical detailed content I believe that they should have used a top quality photo of each species as some are rather poor. Then you have the detailed information of Population estimates,status, migration and movements with detailed maps (as above) that include breeding ranges, wintering locations, migration routes and key sites marked up.
The text is detailed throughout and some species such as Black Tailed Godwit contains 10 pages of information. Then at the back there are 66 pages covering Key Sites by Country in a table format as per Mauritania and includes 12 sites such as Banc d' Arguin and covers Latitude, Longitude, Scientific Name, English Name, Season, Max Count, Max Year, Average, basis for Average, Source & Populations as per below.
This book is Great, I highly rate this book and I long for the American Version with such detailed information on the New World Waders this will be a great double act of information. Its size is in a Large and hefty A4 format and is 2 & half CM thick. It is also heavy in weight and price, with a £70 price tag it isn't cheap however members of the IWSG like myself were offered a discount of £30 before it reached the shelves of the stores. The only gripe I have with this book is that it wasn't around years ago and like I said earlier some of the photos let it down.........
