In this thorough new identification guide, author Bill Clark presents the latest information on tried-and-tested field marks for the diurnal raptors, both perched and in flight, making this book essential for all ornithologists or any bird watcher who wants to accurately identify these extraordinary birds.

This book is the ultimate flight-identification guide for the raptors of the Western Palaearctic, covering Europe, North Africa, the Middle East (including Arabia) to Central Asia. Raptors are notoriously hard to identify, even if seen well, and represent perhaps the toughest of all ID challenges for birders. This guide provides identification information for all 60 species that regularly occur in the region, to subspecific level. The text covers every plumage and age in detail, with each species account accompanied by a range of photographs covering all the principal plumages. Based on this stunning photographic coverage, most of which has never been published before, this book represents a landmark in bird identification books and a major work for all raptor enthusiasts.

Birds of prey are among the most imposing and spectacular birds to be found in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. In this thorough new identification guide, author Bill Clark presents the latest information on tried and tested field marks for the diurnal raptors, both perched and in flight. Many of these field marks are the result of his own extensive experience in classifying raptors, and most have never before been published. Clark has been observing, studying, writing about, and photographing raptors for over thirty years. And his passion for birds of prey has taken him around the world, making him uniquely qualified to write this book. He presents a forty-page color photograph section in addition to detailed facts about each bird, providing the essential clues to identification. These include plumage descriptions for each age, sex, and color change as well as descriptions of flight, molt, behavior, and distribution for every species. With forty-eight stunning color plates especially painted for this volume, it depicts all the plumage for every raptor found in the Western Palearctic region, both regularly occurring and vagrant. Also contained in this guide are useful sections on similar species and how to distinguish them, and each account concludes with the range of measurements for length, wing span, and weight. This guide is essential for all ornithologists or any birdwatcher who wants to accurately identify the region's raptors.

This book presents the most complete and up to date guide to therecognition of the diurnal raptors of Europe and the Middle East yetpublished. It is written by an acknowledged expert, the author of manydefinitive identification articles and veteran of countless tours andexpeditions. Over 700 high quality colour photographs have beenspecially chosen to show the plumages of each age and sex class ofevery species found in Europe and the Middle East, back up by adetailed text enabling birdwatchers to get to grips with even the mostdifficult species. The photographs are complemented by almost 100drawings focussing on particular identification details, and the wholeis fully referenced with a list of nearly 300 key papers and articles.This book sets a new standard for raptor watching and identification inEurope and further afield.

The first comprehensive field guide to every bird species in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East Birds of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East is the first comprehensive pocket-sized photographic field guide to every bird species in Europe—this includes winter visitors and common migrants but also all rarities to the region, even if they have been recorded only once. The guide also covers hypothetical species—those that have a good chance of being recorded due to such factors as range expansion and changing weather patterns. The book's 2,200 stunning color photographs mean that every species is pictured, making field identification quick and easy. Succinct text covers key identification features, voice, habitat, and distribution, and distribution maps are provided for regular breeding species. Particular attention and details are given to help differentiate similar-looking species. Lavishly illustrated, up-to-date, and wide-ranging, Birds of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East is an essential field guide for every naturalist and birder. First comprehensive field guide to all species recorded in Europe: resident, winter visitor, common migrant, and rarity 860 species covered using 2,200 photographs Includes every species from North Africa and the Middle East to have occurred in Europe

Raptors are among the most challenging birds to identify in the field due to their bewildering variability of plumage, flight silhouettes, and behavior. Raptors of Mexico and Central America is the first illustrated guide to the region's 69 species of raptors, including vagrants. It features 32 stunning color plates and 213 color photos, and a distribution map for each regularly occurring species. Detailed species accounts describe key identification features, age-related plumages, status and distribution, subspecies, molt, habitats, behaviors, potential confusion species, and more. Raptors of Mexico and Central America is the essential field guide to this difficult bird group and the ideal travel companion for anyone visiting this region of the world. Covers all 69 species of raptors found in Mexico and Central America Features 32 color plates and hundreds of color photos Provides multiple illustrations of each species Depicts and describes variations in plumage by individual, morph, age, and region Describes behavior, food preferences, hunting strategies, vocalizations, and molt Covers rare and extralimital species Includes distribution maps and flight silhouettes

The Middle East has a wonderfully broad and diverse avifauna, featuring a host of wintering and passage migrants, enigmatic and sometimes colourful breeders, and even a few endemics that occur nowhere else. The perfect companion for any wildlife-friendly visitor, Birds of the Middle East provides photographic coverage of more than 320 species that regularly occur in the region. Concise text for each species includes information on identification, songs and calls, behaviour, distribution and habitat, with each photo having been carefully selected to guide identification. A guide to the best birdwatching sites in the Middle East is also included. Portable yet authoritative, this is the perfect guide for travellers and birdwatchers visiting this spectacular and bird-rich slice of western Asia.