Collins Traveller's Guide - Birds of New Zealand

An easy-to-use, compact photoguide to the birds of New Zealand, including tips on where to go to make the most of your visit. New Zealand has long been known as 'The Land of Birds', and as a popular holiday destination it is regularly visited by tourists from around the world. The country's birdlife is remarkably rich, with much of it not just endemic, but unlike anything elsewhere.

This beautiful photographic guide is the ideal companion for travelling birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts alike. Featuring over 300 species of bird most likely to be encountered on a trip to New Zealand, it is the only guide that anyone travelling to this fascinating region of the world will need. Each bird is illustrated with a full-colour photograph along with a full species description, and key information on national parks helps readers to find the best spots to discover each bird. The book not only helps travellers to identify birds, it also highlights the importance of conservation efforts and offers guidelines on sensible behaviour whilst travelling through the area and encountering nature at its very best.

Probably the best photographic guide to the birds of New Zealand currently available.
- The Birdbooker Report

Customer Reviews:

Birds of New Zealand
by Keith Betton in the United Kingdom
This is an easy-to-use "Traveller's Guide", featuring all 350 species you could possibly see in New Zealand. This is certainly a great country, and is often voted as the world's best destination. I've now been three times, and I need to manage your expectations on how many of the 360 you might see. I love the place but you need to realise that if you just dawdle around you might only see 100 species, and if you really "go for it" you'll maybe only get 140 in two weeks. That said, it has over 60 endemic species, so if you haven't been you really are missing out. The book also gives complete coverage to those sub-Antarctic islands that are part of New Zealand.

The layout of this book is text on the left-hand page opposite colour photographs on the right. Each species is given 150-200 words to describe plumage, calls, breeding habits, feeding preferences, population, range, threats and conservation management. There are also tips on where to get the best views and a very small distribution map. This information faces a page of colour photographs with usually one or two images per species, with both sexes shown where they differ.

There is also an eight page section giving details of the key birding areas on North and South Island and the surrounding waters (but not the sub-Antarctic islands). Unfortunately none of these are shown on the maps at the beginning of the introductory chapters.

Sadly Don Merton did not live to see this book published. He led teams who saved the South Island Saddleback, Kakapo and Black Robin from extinction, and if anyone in New Zealand deserved a knighthood it was him. I think he would be pleased with the way this book has been created.