Bird book advice

Rob Dolton · Post by **Rob Dolton** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 8:57 pm

Hi

My first post on this excellent website! Michelle and I are travelling to Blue Waters Inn early next year and are keen bird watchers, albeit still fairly new, so we really wanted a book that had plenty of good colour plates and descriptions. We would like to have some idea as to what wonderful birds we can expect to see before we visit.

I've seen a few books on amazon but the reviews seem to contradict each other, ie some good and some bad.

Could someone give us some advice as to what book would be most suitable. We'd love a book that listed all the birds so any help would be much appreciated.

Rob

Henry Prempeh · Post by **Henry Prempeh** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 11:45 pm

Hello Rob,
There is a really good book called "Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago" by Richard French. I'm not sure how easy it is to get in the UK.

Henry

Tony J · Post by **Tony J** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:38 am

Hi Rob

The book that Henry is speaking about is by macmillan caribbean. Their website is http://www.macmillan-caribbean.com.

I have checked the site out and you can buy the book online.

It has some very good colour plates and seems to cover most of the popular birds.

If you have no success there, the ISBN number is 0 333 99584 8

Kind regards

Sara

Dave B · Post by **Dave B** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 7:49 am

Hi Rob,

I'm a bit of a birder and spent two weeks at the Coco Reef in April getting married. We went out twice with the brilliant Newton George (see my review somewhere!).

I ended up taking four bird books with me. The Ffrench book mentioned I found somewhat limited with not enough plates. There is a smaller version of it with photos which covers birds by habitat. Not the best way in my opinion.

A very good book came out last year which is a where to watch birds on T&T. Although much of the book covers Trinidad there is an adequate section on Tobago. There is an up to date checklist and a calendar which shows which birds are seen in which month. This was really useful.

I also found the Sibley 'Birds of the USA' invaluable as many of the island birds are covered in it as vagrants to America.

Basically a combination of the four books were enough although I think my wife thought I was being a bit over the top! If you want the exact titles I can find them at home and post them on here.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Post by **Steve Wooler** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 8:13 am

Hi Rob

Welcome aboard!

The first place to start is our own Bird Watching article, which is available in the Out & About/Activities menu at the top of the page.

Rob Dolton · Post by **Rob Dolton** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:35 pm

Thank you all for your help and advice. Could Dave B pass on the title of the T&T bird book you mentioned as I will be spending a week at Asa Wright before coming to Tobago, Blue Waters Inn.

Am still getting used to the web site so thank you Steve for pointing out the Bird Watching article.

I think booking Newton George is a must by all accounts !

Thanks again, I expect I'll end up buying them all !

Rob

Dave B · Post by **Dave B** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 7:27 am

Rob,

The book is 'A Birdwatcher's Guide to Trinidad and Tobago' by William L. Murphy. Make sure you get the new edition which came out last year and not the older one. I bought it in September last year off the Internet and the lists in it went up to July 2004 so it can't be more up to date.

I only skimmed the Trinidad section but the information is very good for Tobago. It isn't a field guide but tells you how to get to places, what to expect and the chances of doing so. I used it all the time.

While we were out on our two trips with Newton George we bought a DVD of the birds of Tobago. I can't remember the price but I think about £20 for 90 minutes. We haven't watched it yet. I'm waiting until my Tobago withdrawl symptoms get really bad and then we will!

Dave

Post by **Steve Wooler** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 7:35 am

Hi Guys

Once again, may I refer you to our article. All these books and videos are listed in the article. You could save yourself a lot of time.

I agree with you about William Murphy's "Birdwater's Guide", Dave. I met him briefly in January and have a copy of the new edition. Good book, but what a shame about the total lack of illustration. The video you are referring to is almost certainly Malcolm Rymers. Its really good.

John Hill · Post by **John Hill** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:29 pm

Hi Rob

Do consider going over to Trinadad to Asa Wright centre worth the effort very cheep flight from Tobago stay the night its worth every penny if you like birds if you want some more info please ask will be happy to help.