Date: 5/13/25 6:50 am From: Russ Ruffing <russruffing...> Subject: Re: [MDBirding] SE Asia field guides
I suggest pulling up the eBird bar charts for the locations and month
you’ll be visiting and peruse those. It greatly narrows down the list of
birds to familiarize yourself with and the bar charts even give an idea of
how likely you’d be to see each species. It’s so much easier than trying to
leaf through field guides and decipher species ranges and seasonal
distribution.
On Tue, May 13, 2025 at 9:32 AM L Rubey <rubeysouth...> wrote:
> Jim: I took an independent birding trip to SE Asia last year and faced the
> same issue as to "which field guide to bring." My experience: The Craig
> Robson Helm SE Asia guide was not user friendly as a field guide. The maps
> and much of the info are separated from the plates, making it a pain to use
> in the field. And since it covers so many species, in any given area, there
> are a lot of similar "out of range" species to sift through. It is a good
> reference to have, but perhaps to leave back at the hotel. That leaves the
> country-specific guides. The Robson Helm "Birds of Thailand" is more
> manageable and has range maps on the same page as the plates. The downside
> is the text is TINY, almost unusable for me in the field. The Birdlife
> "Birds of Vietnam" by Richard Craik guide is quite good. Interestingly, in
> this guide, each description on the facing page to the plate has a QR code
> that links to eBird and the Handbook of the Birds of the World. Not a
> feature I used though.
> In the end, I found myself using Merlin bird packs on my phone almost
> exclusively. While I too prefer guides with illustrations to those with
> photos, the ability of Merlin is prioritize by abundance at my
> specific location was critical. The field guides I brought (too many) were
> mostly deadweight save for a few times I referred to them in the evening
> for an ID challenge. Even then, a Google search was often more illuminating
> than parsing the thumbnail descriptions in the written guides. Good luck!
>
> On Monday, May 12, 2025 at 9:25:08 AM UTC-4 Mike Bowen wrote:
>
>> Jim: Better check carefully for each guide to see EXACTLY which
>> countries are included or excluded. "Southeast Asia" -- and especially
>> "East Asia" -- can mean a different set of countries, depending on the
>> author and publisher.
>>
>> That said, I have heard good things about the Craig Robson book (Helm
>> Guides) which is in its second edition -- although even that is now a few
>> years old. It definitely covers the countries you mentioned.
>>
>> Mike Bowen
>> Bethesda
>>
>> D. H. Michael Bowen
>> 8609 Ewing Drive
>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/8609+Ewing+Drive+Bethesda,+Maryland+20817?entry=gmail&source=g> >> Bethesda, Maryland 20817
>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/8609+Ewing+Drive+Bethesda,+Maryland+20817?entry=gmail&source=g> >> Phone: (202) 236-0510
>> Ambassador for American Bird Conservancy, helping ABC help the birds
>> eBird volunteer Hotspot Reviewer/Editor for Maryland, Delaware, the
>> District of Columbia, and the Republic of Ghana
>>
>>
>> On Monday, May 12, 2025 at 06:24:55 AM EDT, Jim Felley <jdfe......>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> It looks like I'll be going to Southeast Asia next year, visits that will
>> include Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
>> What is (are) the best field guide(s) that cover this area? I should say
>> that I prefer illustrated guides to photographic.
>> I look forwa4rd to your recommendations, and thanks in advance for your
>> help.
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> Jim Felley
>> Clarksburg, MD
>>
> --
>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
>> Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
>> To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on
>> the web at http://www.mdbirding.com >> Unfamiliar with a hotspot mentioned on this list? Quickly locate it here
>> - http://www.mdbirding.com/hotspot.html >> ---
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>> "Maryland & DC Birding" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
>> email to mdbirding+<......>
>> To view this discussion visit
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/<fd01be19-05ec-4ad5-979b-5affd9f5fa64n...> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/<fd01be19-05ec-4ad5-979b-5affd9f5fa64n...>?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> .
>>
> --
> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
> To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on
> the web at http://www.mdbirding.com > Unfamiliar with a hotspot mentioned on this list? Quickly locate it here -
> http://www.mdbirding.com/hotspot.html > ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Maryland & DC Birding" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to mdbirding+<unsubscribe...>
> To view this discussion visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/<8f68f42a-9a11-4359-9403-86bdf1657148n...> > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/<8f68f42a-9a11-4359-9403-86bdf1657148n...>?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > .
>
--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the web at http://www.mdbirding.com Unfamiliar with a hotspot mentioned on this list? Quickly locate it here - http://www.mdbirding.com/hotspot.html ---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maryland & DC Birding" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mdbirding+<unsubscribe...>
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/CAHwpv5uj73n2%2BAADwM00NVzj8UfRDzZoxY9RZ%<3DFDDPTUxNVmUA...>
