Supplement to the new Taiwan Bird Field Guide.
This is a supplement to the Chinese-language ‘Field Guide of Wild Bird in Taiwan’ published October 2014 by Taipei Wild Bird Society and the Forestry Bureau. ISBN 978-986-04-2555-0 My aim here is to make this already excellent book a bit more useful for non-Chinese readers.
This is version 2 published here January 12th 2015. Later versions will hopefully include more relevant details. Feel free to send suggestions.
Consider combining this field guide with Mark Brazil’s Birds of East Asia (now available as as an e-book with embedded calls), birding reports, the latest Taiwan checklist, and Liao Penshing’s photo books.
- Book sections.
- Known errors.
- Page by page.
- Better Index.
Book Sections:
Page 1 to 42 are in in Chinese only. Some of you may wish to remove these pages.
Page 2-5. Introductions from the leaders of the Bird Society, Forestry Bureau, main author and artist.
Page 6-7. How to use the book. Right-hand side of p7 has a guide to pronunciation of uncommon words (Chinese speakers may find useful).
Page 8-13. Contents.
Page 14-19. An introduction to birds and classification.
Page 20-23. Avian Topography.
Page 24-43. Family descriptions
Page 44-417. Individual species description and illustration.
Page 418-419. Exotic species.
Page 420-423. Index of Chinese names.
Page 424-433. Index of English and scientific names.
Page 434-439. Index of Japanese names.
Page 440-450. Checklist of Taiwan birds indicating endemic and protected status (in Chinese)
Page 451. References.
Known errors:
(these are the rare exceptions - otherwise very accurate!)
Page 75. The illustration of Short-tailed Albatross is mislabeled as Long-eared Owl.
Page 75. Red-necked Grebe nonbreeding illustration mislabeled as juvenile.
Page 87. Masked Booby ad. nonbreeding should be ad.
Page 116. Correct dimensions for Crested Goshawk should be L 30-46 cm, M 224-450 g, W 54-79 cm.
Page 128. Eurasian Kestrel subspecies should be interstinctus, not linnaeus or innaeus.
Page 155. Terek Sandpiper back black...tbc
Page 185. Buff-breasted Sandpiper flight tail shape seems odd.
Page 279. Bird in the middle should be labeled as Lesser Short-toed Lark.
Page 282. Grey-throated (as opposed to Gray-throated) Martin IS CORRECT...because...I’m British! See also Page 367 Grey-sided Thrush.
Page 295. The two Japanese Bush-warbler subspecies labels should be reversed.
Page 333. Yellow Tit (and Green-backed) is printed too orange.
Page 361. Blue Whistling-Thrush subspecies is correctly spelled caeruleus.
Page 383. Western Yellow Wagtail subspecies plex should read plexa.
Page 401. Black-faced Bunting subspecies should be spelled personala not personata.
Page 411. Illustrated Eurasian Bullfinch is pyrrhula subspecies.
Page 413. The illustration of Japanese Grosbeak is mislabeled as Common Rosefinch.
Page by page notes:
(to illustrations needing more labeling in English)
Unless otherwise mentioned, I’m moving top to bottom, left to right.
P 50. Tundra Swan, Whooper Swan.
P 80. Bulwer’s Petrel, Short-tailed Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Flesh-footed Shearwater, Wedge-tailed Shearwater.
P 88. Great Cormorant, Japanese Cormorant.
P 96. Egret, Night Heron, Ibis, Spoonbill, Crane, Crane.
P 102. Pacific Reef-Heron, Little Egret, Chinese Egret, Cattle Egret, Intermediate Egret, Great Egret.
P 110. Osprey (shallow ‘m’), White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Falcon, Crested Serpent-Eagle (shallow ‘v’), Mountain Hawk Eagle, Oriental Honey-buzzard, Eastern Marsh-Harrier and Common Buzzard (deep ‘v’), Black Eagle.
P 128. Eurasian Hobby (top left), Amur Falcon (middle), Peregrine Falcon (bottom left), Merlin (top right), Eurasian Kestrel (bottom right).
P 140. Demoiselle Crane, Common Crane.
P 142. (top, then anti-clockwise) Demoiselle Crane, Hooded Crane, White-naped Crane, Red-crowned Crane, Common Crane.
P 159. Grey-tailed Tattler: white supercilium extending beyond eye. Wandering Tattler: supercilium only in front of eye, contrasts with eyestripe.
P 160. Common Redshank, Spotted Redshank.
P 196. Laughing Gull, Franklin’s Gull.
P 214. Non breeding plumage: Gull-billed Tern, Common Tern, Little Tern, Whiskered Tern.
P 216. Non-breeding plumage: Black Tern, White-winged Tern, Whiskered Tern.
P 258. Ryukyu Minivet, Ashy Minivet, Brown-rumped Minivet.
P 264. Long-tailed Shrike schach subspecies intermediate and dark morph on Kinmen Islands.
P 280. Skylark, Oriental Skylark.
P289. Bottom left Light-vented Bulbul: Dongyin (a Matsu island) race white bandana small, darker breast.
P 298. Dusky Warbler: supercilium front white, buff behind, bill fine; Radde’s Warbler: supercilium front broader, rear finer, bill short and thick. Yellow-streaked Warbler: supercilium uniform, bill more pointed and finer than Radde’s.
P 353. Flying birds are Black Redstart, Daurian Redstart.
P 384. Inset shows median coverts of Richard’s Pipit and Blyth’s Pipit.
Better Index.
A more user friendly index is now available on the Taipei Bird Society’s website here. In excel format - can someone help me reformat this into handy printable version? The section for combined English/Scientific names is under the middle tab.
