A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan nd North-East Asia

Birders visiting the Far East have, until now, had few English-language field guides to choose from. This new photographic guide, however, finally delivers an up-to-date aid to identification.

The guide covers birds of Japan and Korea, as well as north-east China and far eastern Russia up to the Arctic. Nomenclature largely follows Clements and uses English names from Gill et al, which are now widely accepted. This means one or two changes from the earlier guides, such as Stub-tailed Warbler (a name that indicates the species’ affinities), which now becomes Asian Stubtail. 

So many photographic guides never quite fully illustrate everything needed to identify each species, but this one tries very hard. Sometimes two species are fitted onto a page, but in most cases there is just one, with a generous photograph along the bottom and two smaller ones next to the text. Occasionally four small photos are used. Where there are two species per page, one or two photos illustrate each species. The standard of printing is very good on the whole, with only one or two photographs appearing slightly dark.

Short opening sections cover habitats, birding and photography. Individual species accounts comprise a description of the bird and a note on similar species, as well as a few lines about vocalisations if they will help identification. Distinctive races, if any, are also included. The maps are quite detailed, but the use of pale yellow for a breeding range makes it sometimes difficult to see when it is just a small spot. Alongside the map is a box with information on range (world and regional) and the species’ status in Japan.

Where there are clearly different subspecies – such as the two Jays, one with white, the other with dark eyes – the guide illustrates some of these too. Gulls are well represented, with Vega and Heuglin’s Gulls both included as species. However, the text descriptions do little to help separate them and the photographs, although good, do not show all plumages.

Some labelling errors have crept in: on the Common Tern page, two black-billed birds are called minussensis (the red-billed race) and a red-billed bird is labelled longipennis. Minor name discrepancies could also be confusing: under Common Cuckoo, a similar species is called Lesser (not Little) Cuckoo.

As a photographic guide, this certainly achieves its purpose, but to get good-sized photos into a guide of these proportions the text has sometimes been made too brief; perhaps there has been too much emphasis on cramming almost 600 species into the 500 or so pages. Criticism aside, this guide is a great achievement and the standard of photography in it is excellent. Any birder planning to visit this large region should take this book with them – and when the new Birds of East Asia is published, the two guides should complement each other wonderfully.


Tech spec

• A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-East Asia by Tadao Shimba (Christopher Helm, London, 2007).

• 504 pages, 1,300 photographs.

• ISBN 9780713674392. Pbk, £24.99.

Available from Birdwatch Bookshop

First published in Birdwatch 191:52 (May 2008)