I wish I could say I was well qualified to review this book. I wish I could say I had traveled around the world’s oceans, observing the great birds of the open seas, especially those rich seas of the Southern Ocean. I would love to experience remote islands off New Zealand, Tasmania, South Georgia, and the Antarctic Peninsula, home to so many of the birds in this new book. Alas, like most people I know, this is a “wish book” for me. Still, since I ogled Harrison’s Seabirds repeatedly many moons ago, I can make a few comments that I hope will be useful to my faithful readers.
First off, this is a beautiful book. I like the artwork, which is more the broad brushstrokes of Sibley’s style than the detailed feather-by-feather paintings seen in many field guides. This style works extremely well for birds you’re not likely to see extremely well, ones for which details of individual feathers are not likely to be useful in the field. Anyone who has been pelagic birding knows how rarely that exceptional view comes along – no, we usually see oceanic birds winging over the seas from the bouncing perch of a moving, rocking boat.
Authors Derek Onley and Paul Scofield, both New Zealanders with extensive seabird experience, have updated the taxonomy of many species, changes that made a knowledgeable friend say, “It’s about time someone made that change.” Repeatedly, I am not completely devoid of experience with the birds covered in this book, and I like what I see and read about familiar species. I do wonder, however, if Sooty and Short-tailed Shearwaters are as easy to separate in the field as the authors imply, having struggled to separate the two in Alaskan waters.
The authors have taken a fresh look at many field identification questions. Right in the acknowledgements, the first page of text in the book, they write, “We would like to point out that many texts in this book do not agree with the ‘conventional wisdom’ and contradict published identification texts that many birders accept as the ‘truth’. These differences of opinion are based on many hours of observation at sea and detailed examination of museum specimens. We may be wrong in some cases and we accept that any inaccuracies here are our own. We … welcome a vigorous debate.” At a time when many books simply recycle “conventional wisdom,” I find this attitude and approach to be quite refreshing. It’s easier to take an unconventional look at species that are not frequently observed by thousands of skilled birders, and that must surely be the case with many of the species in this book.
Sure wish I had a chance to put more of this book to a test. Anyone want to fund my fact-finding voyage to the Falkland Islands, Polynesia, the Chatham Islands, Bermuda, Midway, Tasmania, and Antarctica? Didn’t think so.
Onley, Derek and Paul Scofield. Albatrosses, Petrels & Shearwaters of the World. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2007. 240 pages, $29.95 paper. ISBN-13: 978-0-691-13132-0; ISBN-10: 0-691-13132-5.
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