Shorebirds of North America, Europe, & Asia

by Message, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9780691126722
• ISBN10: 0691126720
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-06
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asiais a quick-reference field guide to the sandpipers, plovers, stints, and other shorebirds found on these continents. The exhaustive and superbly detailed color plates show the birds at rest and in flight, and in every plumage variant likely to be encountered. Species are treated plumage by plumage alongside images of similar species they are otherwise likely to be confused with. Succinct text on pages facing the plates summarizes the key identification features of appearance, voice, and behavior. There is a color distribution map for each of the described species. This guide provides fast, easy, and reliable field identification of this challenging group of birds. 80 color plates show full range of plumage types of all species covered Concise facing text treats appearance, voice, and behavior Clear color distribution map for each species Definitive pictorial guide to the shorebirds of these continents

Author Biography

Stephen Message is a professional bird artist whose work has appeared in several books, including Bill Oddie's Birds of Britain and Ireland Don Taylor is a well-known birder in the United Kingdom

Table of Contents

Preface	6	(2)
Acknowledgements	8	(1)
Introduction	9	(26)
Overview of wader families	9	(3)
How to use this guide	12	(1)
How to identify waders at rest	13	(18)
Topography of waders at rest	14	(2)
Bills	16	(1)
Feet and legs	16	(1)
Structure	17	(1)
Size and colour	18	(1)
Moult	19	(5)
Feather patterns	24	(1)
Plumage variations	25	(1)
Behaviour	25	(1)
Feeding	26	(3)
Display	29	(1)
Feigning injury	30	(1)
How to identify waders in flight	31	(4)
Topography of waders in flight	32	(2)
Behaviour	34	(1)
Colour plates: Waders at rest
Explanation of the species accounts	35	(92)
1. Painted Snipe, Crab Plover and Ibisbill	36	(2)
2. Oystercatchers	38	(2)
3. Stilts	40	(2)
4. Avocets	42	(2)
5. Thick-knees	44	(2)
6. Egyptian Plover and coursers	46	(2)
7. Pratincoles	48	(2)
8. Lapwings	50	(2)
9. Eurasian Golden and Grey Plovers	52	(2)
10. Pacific and American Golden Plovers	54	(2)
11. Ringed Plovers	56	(2)
12. Wilson's Plover and Killdeer	58	(2)
13. Kentish and Piping Plovers	60	(2)
14. Sand Plovers	62	(2)
15. Caspian and Mountain Plovers, and Dotterel	64	(2)
16. Asian Plovers and Lapwings	66	(2)
17. Great Snipe and woodcocks	68	(2)
18. Swinhoe's, Latham's, Wood and Solitary Snipes	70	(2)
19. Jack, Common, Wilson's and Pintail Snipes	72	(2)
20. Dowitchers	74	(2)
21. Eurasian godwits	76	(2)
22. American godwits	78	(2)
23. Upland Sandpiper and Little Curlew	80	(2)
24. Smaller curlews	82	(2)
25. Larger curlews	84	(2)
26. Redshanks	86	(2)
27. Marsh Sandpiper, Greenshank and Willet	88	(2)
28. Yellowlegs and tattlers	90	(2)
29. Wood, Solitary and Green Sandpipers	92	(2)
30. Spotted, Common and Terek Sandpipers	94	(2)
31. Turnstones and Surfbird	96	(2)
32. Asian specialities	98	(2)
33. Sanderling and knots	100	(2)
34. Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers	102	(2)
35. Dark-legged stints	104	(2)
36. Pale-legged stints	106	(2)
37. White-rumped and Baird's Sandpipers	108	(2)
38. Pectoral, Sharp-tailed and Buff-breasted Sandpipers	110	(2)
39. Dunlin and Curlew Sandpiper	112	(2)
40. Broad-billed, Rock and Purple Sandpipers	114	(2)
41. Stilt Sandpiper and Ruff	116	(2)
42. Phalaropes	118	(2)
43. North American rarities	120	(2)
44. Oriental vagrants	122	(2)
45. African vagrants	124	(3)
Colour plates: Waders in flight
Explanation of the species accounts	127	(66)
46. Painted Snipe, jacanas and Ibisbill	128	(2)
47. Crab Plover and oystercatchers	130	(2)
48. Avocets and stilts	132	(2)
49. Thick-knees	134	(2)
50. Coursers and Egyptian Plover	136	(2)
51. Pratincoles	138	(2)
52. Lapwings	140	(2)
53. Southern lapwings and Great Thick-knee	142	(2)
54. Large plovers	144	(2)
55. Ringed plovers	146	(2)
56. Killdeer, and Wilson's, Collared and Piping Plovers	148	(2)
57. Kentish, Kittlitz's and Three-banded Plovers	150	(2)
58. Sand Plovers, Caspian and Oriental Plovers and Dotterel	152	(2)
59. Woodcocks and Great Snipe	154	(2)
60. Common, Wilson's, Pintail and Jack Snipes	156	(2)
61. Swinhoe's, Solitary, Latham's and Wood Snipes	158	(2)
62. Bar-tailed Godwit and dowitchers	160	(2)
63. Willet and godwits	162	(2)
64. Smaller curlews and Upland Sandpiper	164	(2)
65. Whimbrel and Bristle-thighed Curlew	166	(2)
66. Larger curlews	168	(2)
67. Greenshanks, Spotted Redshank and Marsh Sandpiper	170	(2)
68. Yellowlegs and tattlers	172	(2)
69. Wood, Solitary and Green Sandpipers	174	(2)
70. Spotted, Common and Terek Sandpipers, and Redshank	176	(2)
71. Turnstones and Surfbird	178	(2)
72. Stints and Spoon-billed Sandpiper	180	(2)
73. American sandpipers and Long-toed Stint	182	(2)
74. 'White-rumped' sandpipers and knots	184	(2)
75. Dark-rumped' sandpipers and Ruff	186	(2)
76. Purple, Rock and Broad-billed Sandpipers, and Dunlin	188	(2)
77. Phalaropes and Sanderling	190	(3)
Appendices
A Upperpart flight patterns	193	(7)
i) Nearctic	194	(2)
ii) Western Palearctic	196	(2)
iii) Eastern Palearctic	198	(2)
B Underpart flight patterns	200	(3)
C Systematic list	203	(13)
Bibliography	216	(2)
Index	218