Birds of India: Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives

A must have field Guide if you are into birding

Damaged to a certain extent.....

Great field guide! As compact as a field guide can be while covering reasonably well more than 1000 species.

Un bon guide de terrain qui traite toutes les espèces locales, endémiques et migratrices. Je le recommande aux amateurs !

I grew up in India but now reside in the US and started birding only after I came to the US. Last year when I planned a visit to India for visiting family, I decided to spend a few days birding and went to look for a field guide. After scouring all the local libraries and bookshops for all the books on Indian birding, I have to say that this is the closes thing to the Sibley's field guide for India. That is, it is good enough and small enough to be used in the field for identification. This book covers entire subcontinent, so it is a bit bulkier than the Sibley's eastern or western US field guides.For every bird, it has a short text describing its key field marks and its habitat and distribution. The best thing about the field guide is that it has description, images and distribution maps all side-by-side. The plates are pretty good and realistic. On the negative side, the print is a little small and may be difficult to read for some people. Also, for some birds, the colors are a bit off, as if I am looking at an old photograph. I only found that an issue for some birds where the color differences are subtle. But, it is not that big a deal. The description does clearly point out the field marks when the differences are that subtle.So, if you are looking for a field guide for India birds, I would heartily recommend this book. Even the Indian birders that I met, suggested this as the best field guide for Indian birds.

Probably the best guide on the market to this region. Good pictures, although sound ID could be improved. Recommended definitely.

First use of the book was in Sri Lanka - excellent guide, not too big to bring along while hiking, and keeps me typing in Princeton first when I start looking for a bird field guide in a new corner of the World.