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Birds of Vietnam
by Richard Craik & Le Quy Minh

Birds of Vietnam Title: Birds of Vietnam

Publisher:
Lynx, December 2018

ISBN: 978-84-16728-13-8

Authors: Richard Craik & Le Quy Minh

With the highest number of endemic species of any country in mainland Southeast Asia as well as being the best place to see many of the region's scarcest and most secretive birds it is a mystery why there has previously been no field guide dedicated to this interesting country's exceptional avifauna, finally that void has been filled. With ever-increasing numbers of birders visiting Vietnam and an expanding number of local birders, relying on the hard-to-use-in-the-field Robson's Birds of Southeast Asia for birding in this country has become quite unsatisfactory so that the publication of this new field guide is both welcome and none too soon.

This field guide is available in two formats, a hard back cover and a waterproof flexible cover. Both formats have exactly the same attractive design which uses exactly the same layout as the previous book in this series "Birds of Thailand" and presumably this will be the standard for forthcoming publications too. Although book-lovers will appreciate a volume that looks nice on their shelf it is what is contained within the pages that really counts and after a useful introduction, with notes on the habitats and main birding sites in Vietnam, the main body of this field guide begins, containing more than 1900 illustrations. Generally the plates are well laid out, with species easily distinguished from each other as they are not too closely crammed in next to each other. However, there are a few exceptions to this, notably terns and some of the smaller shorebirds, which I guess limitations of space demanded but these few exceptions are a shame considering the high quality of the layout of most of the book. Range maps are actually displayed alongside the species illustrated, eliminating having to refer between pages to narrow down identification on range and each species illustration is also clearly annotated with its common name as well as the scientific name for subspecies where relevant. The usability of this field guide is also helped by keeping the species accounts on the facing page to the plates, unlike some annoying guides that place them in confusing places. It is always good to see that a few words have been dedicated to whether a species is common or not, which can help birders work out whether their sightings are notable or not.

The artwork in Birds of Vietnam is of a high standard and similar species have been consistently posed in profile for easy comparison and almost all are positioned in typical poses which reflect the shape they usually acquire when seen in the field. This may seem obvious but some guides dealing with the region have failed miserably to do this, rendering some species so contorted that they are unidentifiable in the field; Birds of Vietnam does not fall into this trap. The illustrations are also vibrant in colour, reflecting the true appearance of most species well and presumably this is a result of artists working alongside the authors and being able to refer to modern, high-quality digital images. However the differences in colour of a few species are rather over-emphasized to justify splits or future splits but these are few in number.

As with the preceding guide in this series, Birds of Vietnam deals with the rapidly changing taxonomy of birds in a novel way in order to be relevant pre and post split and with a variety of taxonomical lists. By including all known subspecies that occur in Vietnam as well as indicating where they occur on the species range maps by using annotations of "a", "b", 'c" etc. for the subspecies named in the text this guide deals with all currently known taxons. In the text potential splits are grouped under the title of the current taxonomy but also listed with their own text entries as if they were already full species. An example of this is Russet Grasshopper Warbler which forms a group heading under which two taxons are dealt with separately: Russet Grasshopper Warbler and Annam Grasshopper Warbler. Both of these have full text entries, range maps and illustrations so whether the taxonomy a birder uses regards these as species or subspecies the book is still relevant. This thoughtful way of dealing with birds not only makes it clear to birders where the potential splits lie but also encourages them to be more thorough in their observations by making them aware of all subspecies they are likely to encounter.

For those birders who follow Handbook of the Birds of the World the good news is that Birds of Vietnam uses the taxonomy prescribed there and this is also in alignment with the previously issued guide in the series and the publishers have informed me that this will be the standard for all future guides for other countries too. This will allow birders using several books when traveling to be able to refer to plates quickly and easily rather than struggle with different layouts in every book. For those who are not already fully conversant with this increasingly-used taxonomy confusion is limited by including alternate names for each species and potential split.

While the soft cover version of this book will doubtlessly do its job and protect the book in the field without degrading much or getting badly damaged, there is something about the feel of it that is not quite right. Quite frankly it is made from the same material as "books" for infants that prevent damage from various methods of soaking and at first it feels a bit weird to be handling a book that feels like this as an adult. Still, this is a small thing and I am sure the cover will do its job.

For those that like such things, QR codes are included for every species. Scan them and a variety of images and sounds will be available for reference but I have not used this feature so cannot comment on how good it is. Also included is card which carries a unique code so download a full checklist of the birds of Vietnam from the publisher's website; a very nice addition.

Quite frankly there are very few errors or omissions to pick up on in this field guide although some birders will not like some of the common names imposed upon them by HBW taxonomy. However, the consistency that this gives for those who already have this excellent series of books is helpful and being the first field guide dedicated to Vietnam there is no previous book to get names confused with. Anyway, with this in mind alternative and old names for species are also included in the text to deal with this potential issue. It is inevitable that new birds will be added to the Vietnamese list and this field guide, like all others, will become a little outdated but by publishing this field guide in parallel to HBW further, updated editions will be easy to publish. At 55 Euros this is not a cheap field guide, but it is encouraging regarding the price of further titles that Birds of Vietnam is a little cheaper than the previous book in the series. With a hard cover version for the book shelf and a waterproof soft cover version for the field at least one should be a must-have for birders in the region and it would be unthinkable to go birding in Vietnam without this guide.

Score: 9.5/10

 
I use this excellent field guide on the birding tours I lead in Vietnam; South Vietnam Birding Tour & Thailand and Vietnam Pittas Birding Tour. Take a look at the itineraries and dates for the next trips.
 
Other Relevant Field Guides

Birds of ThailandBirds of Southeast Asia - Published in 2015 this is a beautifully illustrated book covering all the birds known to occur in Southeast Asia at the time of publication. However, with just one illustration per species this is more of an illustrated checklist than a field guide, although nice addition to the bookshelf.

Birds of Southeast AsiaBirds of Southeast Asia - This field guide covers birds found in all countries of mainland Southeast Asia and this is the ost up to date version of the book, published in 2011. Great for those traveling in several countries but a little tricky to use in the field due to its layout. Still the best guide to the whole region though.

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