Dave Gosney’s Discovering Birds Sequence covers principally the Western Palearctic and describes birding in numerous areas of Portugal, Spain, Morocco, France, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and so on., with some additions, specifically South Texas, The Gambia, and Goa (India). Afterwards, the person website updates can be found at his web site findingbirds.com.
Discovering Birds in Northern Greece (2015) covers the birdwise absolute best northeast of the nation (provinces of Macedonia and Thrace), from the wetland border with Turkey all the way in which to the mountains and lakes on the triple border with Albania and North Macedonia. Based mostly on a go to in spring 2014, this information updates the earlier Discovering Birds in Greece.
Gosney writes: ‘‘After I revisited northern Greece in 2014 I used to be reminded simply how distinctive it’s for birding. Close by western Turkey might have some further, extra unique species …, however the birding in Greece is way more pleasing due to the far larger numbers of raptors, warblers, buntings, shrikes and, particularly, waterbirds. The truth that I filmed over 100 species on one 3 week journey (in contrast with 60-80 at each different European space I’ve visited to date) provides you an concept simply how distinctive this space is.”
Discovering Birds in Northern Greece presents info on how one can attain the perfect websites, detailed hand-drawn maps, and notes on what birds you may see when you get there. In 45 (very) concise, no-nonsense pages, this information covers, east to west, the Evros delta, Avas gorge, Dadia forest nationwide park (the most effective areas for raptors in Europe), Thimaria marsh, Lake Ismarida and the close by Porto Lagos (a city surrounded by numerous lagoons), Mandria Seashore marsh, Nestos delta (together with precisely the place to search out the Spur-winged Plover), Nestos gorge (for the birds of rocky habitats), Mount Pangeo (a ski centre with numerous alpine species), Mount Vrontou (related), Lake Kerkini (the most effective birding websites in Europe) and above it, Mount Belles (together with precisely the place to search for Rock Partridge and White-backed Woodpecker), Kalohori lagoon (a shorebirds website near Thessaloniki), the interconnected Axios, Loudios and Gallikos deltas, Kitros lagoon, Angelohori lagoon (common Slender-billed Gulls) and Epanomi lagoon (little-known wetlands close to Thessaloniki), and the mountainous Prespa Lakes Nationwide Park. Sure, all this in mere 45 pages, half of them depicting maps!
However how will you pack a lot in so few pages? Right here is an instance from Bulgaria information: http://www.easybirder.co.uk/Pamporovo_map.html. Okay, this instance hardly has a lot textual content (these printed website guides have extra detailed textual descriptions, however you’ll be able to see the overall format), and the map seems to be like one thing from these early hippy guides to India, hand-drawn, spotty, tough to observe with exhausting to learn hand-written particulars.
That is extra of a discovering birds atlas, than a information e-book (and I prefer it that manner). I’ve three hen finder books for Greece, the opposite two are thicker and way more detailed, making for a superb studying earlier than the journey. But, regardless of my dislike of Gosney’s maps as they’re (it’s well beyond time to digitalise them), as soon as within the subject my e-book of alternative nonetheless is Gosney’s little atlas: I don’t wish to learn a lot whereas making fast roadside stops whereas driving.
That may be a state of affairs the place I want an equal of a subject information, map on the appropriate and related brief and simple to observe description on the left hand web page: getting there, GPS coordinates to assist me discover the appropriate turnings or viewing factors, and marked areas the place specific birding specialties may very well be discovered. No extra, no much less. And that’s the reason I like to recommend Dave Gosney’s no nonsense guides.
Final and least, another excuse is likely to be, they’re so low-cost that you needn’t assume twice. A lot in order that I’m contemplating shopping for three extra Discovering Birds guides.
