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Academic & Professional Books  Ornithology  Birds of Europe/Western Palaearctic

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2 Distribution, Abundance and Change

Distribution Atlas
By: Verena Keller(Author), Sergi Herrando(Author), Petr Voříšek(Author), Martí Rodríguez-Franch(Author), Marina Kipson(Author), Pietro Milanesi(Author), David Martí(Author), Marc Anton(Author), Alena Klvaňová(Author), Mikhail V Kalyakin(Author), Hans-Günther Bauer(Author), Ruud PB Foppen(Author)
967 pages, colour photos, 568 colour illustrations, 1357colour distribution maps, 11 tables
Publisher: Lynx Edicions
NHBS
More than 20 years after the publication of the first European Breeding Bird Atlas, this book is the most up-to-date source of information on distribution, abundance and change of bird populations in Europe.
European Breeding Bird Atlas 2
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  • European Breeding Bird Atlas 2 ISBN: 9788416728381 Hardback Dec 2020 In stock
    £84.99
    #250838
Price: £84.99
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About this book

Determining properly where birds are in this changing world is of paramount importance for their conservation, and doing that at a continental scale is something that can be only achieved under a strong willingness of international cooperation. To do that, the European Bird Census Council (EBCC) is organised as a network of expert ornithologists that boost bird atlas work across Europe.

The first European Breeding Bird Atlas (EBBA1) published by the EBCC in 1997 was a milestone in European ornithology. The project of the second European Breeding Bird Atlas (EBBA2) was carried out by the EBCC network of partner organisations from 48 countries. In total, around 120,000 fieldworkers contributed data to the atlas, the great majority of them on a voluntary basis. As such this project constitutes one of the biggest citizen science projects on biodiversity ever. Data collection and analysis followed a rigorous scientific protocol, led by a team of researchers from ornithological institutes with many years of experience in atlas work.

The huge fieldwork effort resulted in unprecedented geographical coverage for a biodiversity atlas in Europe, including all areas up to the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea that were not well covered for EBBA1. These data were mainly collected for the period lasting from 2013 to 2017.

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2 presents information on all species reported to breed in the study period and some with more uncertain breeding status. A total of 556 species are treated with a full species account including maps, text and an illustration; information on 69 very rare or irregularly breeding species is presented in an Appendix. Full species accounts include distribution maps at a resolution of 50×50 km (usually showing abundance data), modelled distribution maps with a resolution of 10×10 km (for 224 breeding birds) and change maps documenting changes in distribution since the first atlas.

Original artwork illustrates all species with a full account. Illustrations were provided by 45 artists from 18 countries, with different styles and techniques, reflecting European diversity.

This book represents the most up-to-date source of information on bird distribution and change in Europe, and a great contribution to the global aim of understanding biodiversity to ensure its conservation.

Customer Reviews (2)

  • Stupendous must-have for any serious Birder
    By Roderick 15 Feb 2021 Written for Hardback
    Weighing in at over 5 kilos EBBA2 is stupendous at every level, a spectacular achievement ranging from a continental overview of a crucial element of our environment to the best guide to where to find breeding birds. The big change since EBBA1, published in 1997, is the near-complete coverage of Eastern Europe and European Russia, and the inclusion of Turkey. EBBA2’s continent extends to the Urals and the western shores of the Caspian, Europe’s Mediterranean shores in the south and to the arctic archipelagos and Iceland, but not Greenland. It includes 596 breeding bird species and 556 full species accounts. Most have density and/or level of breeding proof maps and a change between EBBA’s 1 and 2. Many also include a sophisticated new model map aimed at showing the probability of occurrence.
    I found the density maps, in shades of brown, hard to read. In contrast, in primary red and blue, the change maps although at smaller scale work well.

    At the continental level, two big findings jumped out at me. Firstly, the big increase in species counts for the Arctic (+29), Alpine (+23) and Boreal (+9) zones with a small decrease for the Mediterranean (-3), surely strong evidence of the changing climate. Secondly, the stark contrast between birds listed in European Directives, which are doing well, and the broader list of Species of European Conservation Concern, which are doing almost equally badly. It seems to be a continent-wide confirmation of the UK situation where species that have received special attention are generally doing well, whilst widespread species, other than generalists, continue to decline.

    Zooming in on species accounts, it’s fascinating to see what’s happening in the bits one knows – and to check one’s own experience against what the 50 km square scale maps show. It is equally engrossing to see what is happening across the range of familiar and not so familiar species – and in my case to start to get my head round the huge changes in taxonomic order of the last few years, and even some new and splitting and lumping, just one Redpoll but several Chiffchaffs and a confusion of Grey Shrikes. For UK listers the top right-hand corner brings in the breeding range of a surprising number of sought after Siberian vagrants. And at the very most practical level, I’m already scanning the maps for missing species – I really must see Middle Spotted Woodpecker as soon as we are freed! At the price of a single on Eurotunnel (£84.99 + p&p) it’s a must-have for any continental birder, even if you may need to buy Range Rover to cart it about!
    9 of 11 found this helpful - Was this helpful to you? Yes No
  • An important baseline for European Ornithology
    By Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne 2 Mar 2021 Written for Hardback
    The European Breeding Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change (EBBA2) is destined to become one of the most heavily cited ornithological publications in the European region. Spanning 48 countries, it is a monumental work and will be a key baseline that informs future conservation policy and actions. Although it is a data-centric publication with data collected in a standardised and systematic manner, the information has been written in accessible language and visually presented in an intuitive manner. The bulk of the book, which are the species accounts are put together with clear maps, beautiful artwork and largely free of technical jargon so that it will become a source of reference even to non-specialists who are curious to learn more about the region’s breeding birds. More on this later. To cull a few key facts, the book represents one of the biggest citizen science projects with data from around 120,000 field workers covering an area of 11 million square kilometres, with text written by 348 authors, with full accounts for 556 species and original artwork by 46 artists.

    There will be plenty of book reviews that will dwell on the book’s academic merits, therefore let me focus on what I think is one of its strengths; to inform and entertain non-academics who will find it pleasurable to dip into from time to time to pick up some useful nuggets of information that will enrich their bird watching. On a beautifully sunny and mild winter Saturday, on the week of receiving my review copy, I went for a walk with my wife to the Stave Hill Ecology Park and the Russia Dock Woodland in the London Borough of Southwark, a precious, urban refuge for nature which is visited by hundreds of young families where adults and children connect with nature. The highlight of the walk, about half an hour before dusk, was a Song Thrush that sang at length confidently above the screams and laughter of children playing below. I was with my wife (not a birder, but I am on the case). We stopped to listen and I pointed out that it was a bird whose population has crashed precipitously in the UK and this was the closest location to where we lived where we could hear a Song Thrush. Conversations of strangers walking past discussing furlough and redundancy in the COVID pandemic strayed into the soundscape dominated by the singing Song Thrush with a backdrop of vocalisations from Blue and Great Tits, Dunnock, Wren and a Ring-necked Parakeet screeching past. Back home we looked up EBBA2. In the text there were two insights to its behaviour that I had not thought about much before and which a typical field guide would not have space for. The Song Thrush sings mainly in the evenings. Furthermore, it stops singing once it has paired. Two aspects that also make it harder to census. Perusing the ‘Probability of occurrence’ map, I was surprised to see the densest colouring was in Scandinavia. I had not really thought of it as a bird of Northern forests. Curiously, it was conspicuously absent south of the Iberian Peninsula. When I think back on it, during my last holiday in Portugal in an area bordering the Mediterranean Sea I had listened to a Mistle Thrush sing, but I had not seen or heard any Song Thrushes. On our walk at Stave Hill, I had also pointed out flocks of wintering Redwings. The ‘Probability of occurrence’ map confirmed what I had explained earlier to my wife about the birds wintering in Britain originating in Iceland or Northwestern Europe.

    The purpose of my little story above is to reinforce my comments that despite the heavy-duty science and statistical modelling behind the visualisation, this is a book that will have relevance to a wide audience. This will include even those whose bird watching is focussed on their walks in a local town park. Nature reserve wardens and those who write interpretation material will find plenty of interesting information to harvest from this book. The political map on the inside front cover and ‘Interpreting species accounts’ on page 66 to 67 are the only sets of pages most people will need to enjoy this book. The useful discussion on modelling techniques and census methods in the introductory sections can be left to the scientists. Travelling birders will find the ‘Species and habitats’ section on pages 48 to 61 of interest. This covers a variety of habitats and has text boxes on regions (e.g. Pannonian Region, Steppic Region, Anatolian Region etc.)
    The ‘Species accounts’ vary from a full page to a generous two pages which contribute to a beast of a large format (24 × 31 cm) book weighing in at 5 kg with 967 pages. In the large majority of the species, the maps are to a large size and are easy to examine. All of the main species accounts have a ‘dot map’ showing the abundance in pairs on a 50 × 50 km grid. Some species have a breeding evidence dot map which indicates the highest category (e.g. confirmed, probable) recorded for the grid. Some species have a probability of occurrence (0 to 1) instead of a breeding evidence dot map, which is in the familiar ‘heat map’ style, albeit shaded in green. The abundance dot maps, breeding evidence dot maps and probability of occurrence maps occupy over half the page area. A smaller change map, included with most accounts, is fairly easy to intuit with grey (no change), blue (increase) and orange (decrease) colour coding. Given the space occupied by the maps and a small illustration, the word count of the text descriptions is therefore comparatively modest but of a length that lends itself to being read in full during periodic bouts of dipping into the book.

    The 66 pages of introductory material include a detailed discussion on methods (pages 23 to 39), and overviews of the patterns of distribution and change (pages 42 to 65). The species accounts are the bulk of the book (pages 69 to 881) followed by three appendices and extensive references (pages 912-959).

    Although I was not one of the three authors, I can still remember when as Chair of the London Bird Club (a section of the London Natural History Society) all of my available free time appeared to be consumed with my behind the scenes project coordination for the last London Bird Atlas which was published in 2017. As a result, I suspect I am more attuned to appreciating the enormity and scale of EBBA2. A book like this is the fruition of a series of parallel project streams from coordinating field workers, data gathering, mapping, fundraising and the eventual publication. It has been a good call by the European Bird Census Council to work with a publisher that is practised in taking science to a wider audience.
    20 of 24 found this helpful - Was this helpful to you? Yes No
Distribution Atlas
By: Verena Keller(Author), Sergi Herrando(Author), Petr Voříšek(Author), Martí Rodríguez-Franch(Author), Marina Kipson(Author), Pietro Milanesi(Author), David Martí(Author), Marc Anton(Author), Alena Klvaňová(Author), Mikhail V Kalyakin(Author), Hans-Günther Bauer(Author), Ruud PB Foppen(Author)
967 pages, colour photos, 568 colour illustrations, 1357colour distribution maps, 11 tables
Publisher: Lynx Edicions
NHBS
More than 20 years after the publication of the first European Breeding Bird Atlas, this book is the most up-to-date source of information on distribution, abundance and change of bird populations in Europe.
Media reviews

"[...] This huge book is the result of an equally huge undertaking by a huge number of people. It will provide the key reference material on the status and distribution of European species for many years. [...]"
– Christopher Perrins, Ibis, 2021

"[...] EBBA2 is an awesome piece of work and a must have for any birder interested in population trends and changes, both in Britain and on the Continent. It is absolutely massive – this is not a casual read – but it's well worth clearing extra space on your bookshelf for."
– Ed Stubbs, birdguides.com

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