Jonathan Elphick is a natural history author and consultant with a 40-year career in ornithology. His many books include the award-winning Birdwatcher's Handbook and Birds: The Art of Ornithology.
(review of UK edition) Lavishly illustrated with some stunning
photographs... The format is cleverly based upon double-page
spreads, each of which deals with a different topic, and is largely
self-contained... The whole comes together to give a well explained
and fairly balanced overview of our current knowledge of migration,
written in an easily accessible style.--David Parkin "British Birds
Magazine" (10/1/2007 12:00:00 AM)
The layout of the volume is attractive and the artwork is
outstanding. The book succeeds in portraying the astonishing
accomplishments of migratory birds during their seasonal journeys,
and readers without prior knowledge of bird migration will be
stimulated to read more about this amazing behavior. To that end,
the final page of the volume has a list of sources for further
reading.--Sidney A. Gauthreaux "Quarterly Review of Biology"
(3/1/2008 12:00:00 AM)
(starred review) The photos and illustrations in this large volume
are so beautiful that one is tempted to skim the text... That,
however, would be a mistake: while brief, the text provides all the
information readers need to understand the how, why and where of
bird migration.-- "Publishers Weekly" (12/31/2007 12:00:00 AM)
An invaluable resource for ornithologists, birders, and
conservationists. Patterns of migration are discussed, such as long
distance, east-west, attitudinal migration, and more. Entire
sections are dedicated to the preparations of travel, flight
stills, and techniques for studying bird migration, increasing
conservation, and the human created threats migrants face. Many
interesting facts are unearthed such as birds that migrant by
swimming (such as Razorbills who are effectively flightless as they
molt), and the specific routes of birds like Blackpoll Warblers
that may not be the most direct but are nonetheless successful.
Much of the Atlas provides detailed accounts of families of migrant
birds. Specific species are used to illustrate--with colorful
drawings, maps, and photographs--the various paths of migration.
These treatments do not include every species in a family, but
provide an excellent overview of the range and styles of migration
they participate in. Each of the family accounts have information
boxes with more cool bird facts... A catalog of migrants finishes
out the book, providing an account of the more than 500 species of
birds covered throughout the book. It includes a quick reference to
the timing and locations of these species and also the distance
covered by each bird.-- "Birdfreak" (11/25/2008 12:00:00 AM)
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