Birds of India - A Pictorial Field Guide

Beautiful pictures, very informative especially for a beginner. Very exhaustive but yet interesting for all birders. Once again, the photographs are to die for. A must have book in collection of all birders.

This Magnum Opus by Bikram et al is not to be missed by anyone even remotely interested in the birds of Indian Subcontinent. With 1300 species and 4000 photographs, this is clearly in a league of it's own. The biggest USP of this book, in my opinion, is it's photographs. The 2 most popular field guides (Grimmet and Krys) have bird paintings that are helpful in understanding the features and appreciating the finer nuances, but when it comes down to identifying a bird in the field, the impression s/he gets is not of a painting but a real bird and nothing can be better than a good photograph as a reference. The choice of photographs in the book, is focused and meticulous. In many cases where the confusion between various plumage/stages of a specific bird, is rampant between bird watching community, the authors have chosen to publish multiple pictures of the bird, with the insets providing critical angles that will be immensely helpful to the birder in field. The opening commentary by Inskipps touches upon the diversity, threats, keystone species, decline and a host of other aspects and provides an engaging and enlightening read. The list of Vagrants and improbable birds in the end will definitely fuel the energies of twitchers who are keen on a challenge. Maps are accurate and well illustrated. I just wish the dull grey could be avoided, may be a white background so it could stand out. The details about each bird like sound, range are very helpful. The way creative team designed the layout, it makes for an interesting read, with the background of each photograph providing the blurred backdrop for writing details of the bird in white font. That takes away the monotony of a uniform background and introduces diverse colour plates, making it actually a colourful book. The cover, as many have noted, could have been sturdier for a big book such as this. Overall, this is one labour of love, from the stables of Bikram, that will surely be a proud addition to any bookshelf. Go buy it for yourself or to gift to someone who will appreciate. Thanks for reading

This book is one of the three famous bird guides of India, alongwith Salim Ali's "Book of Indian Birds" and Grimmett/Inskipp/Inskipp's "Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (Field Guide). What makes it unique is that it relies solely on photographs rather than drawings, and this has its pros and cons: PRO: The photographs are much more lifelike than drawings, which makes this book a real pleasure to read sitting at home... even when you aren't out in the field. >The descriptions are written with a lot of love and passion, and I have already spent several hours reading them. CON: The drawings of the other field guides show every detail of the bird's physical appearance - from the beak to the tertiaries. However, some of the photographs in this book miss out key identificatory features - e.g. the picture of the Lineated Barbet doesn't even show the characteristic lineations on the throat and chest! >Distribution maps of the range of birds are included, but not always accurate. On occasion, the written description under the "range" column doesn't match the distribution map right beside it. The book has been written with a view to conservation and preservation of birds and other wildlife, so it also includes certain extinct or presumed-extinct species. On the whole, I find this guide helpful because I can spend several hours reading it to familiarize myself with birds of areas I haven't visited, but in the field there's no substitute for the Grimmett guide.

Really great , unique excellent book on birds on India. Cons - First ever bird guide in India, with good photographs. Though the existing ones like grimmett are better, but those have paintings, where as this book has gorgeous photographs. Really great value for Money. I bought this book in Amazon for 750 bucks. A steal in deed. 4000 photographs for just 750. On par with other field guides available in market. Though I like this book very much, I cannot overlook the cons. This is not a field guide in true essence. Though its an awesome reference book, binding is too fragile, If you take this in field for few days, be assured to damage the book. Hard binding would have made this book the best one. Maps are way too small. Slightly bigger would have been better. Moreover accuracy of maps are that good. Species like Grey headed lapwing and Fulvous whistling duck are found in abundant down south around chennai since last 10 years or so. But the maps does not show any reference for these species down south. Not all images are good. Even for some common species like kentish plover, images are way too soft. Mindy you still, majority of the images are way too good. In my opinion to learn the minute details of bird for a beginner, paintings are best choice. Not all images have all minute details of birds. But still to enjoy the beauty and identify the birds ofcourse, this book in additon to Grimmett's book will be a pleasure to own. Go ahead and buy one, if you are an avid birder like me.

product Awesome

Bought Birds of India by Bikram Grewal after detailed comparison with Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Richard Grimmett and The book of Indian Birds by Salim ali. All three are excellent field guides. I opted for this one over the latter two since I have recently started Birding and need clear pictures to identify birds. This book gives over 4000 pictures of birds with details (including male, female, juvenile, bird taking a flight etc) to identify the birds. It really helps having a picture vs having a painting like in other books. Though Salim Ali has more details on Distribution, Habits, Nesting etc this one has all the details needed for beginners. I later also bought a copy of The book of Indian Birds by Salim Ali for detailed description which is missing in this book, however for on field identification I prefer this book over any other book in the market. The quality of the paper is really good, wish the book was hard bound since field guides are subject to more wear and tear, though that would make the book more heavy than it already is. For all bird lovers, I highly recommend this, Happy Birding!

Full of Indian Bird with Colour Photographs, with available Location, Brief Descriptions. A must have Guide-Book for Indian Birdwatchers.

Outstanding book.