Helm’s new field guide covers 125 species of waders in a little over 220 pages and is divided into three sections – Introduction, Waders at rest and Waders in flight.The 25 page introduction covers many field guide standards such as bird topography, moult, plumage variation and behaviour. It includes a number of useful identification tips and is liberally scattered with Steve’s illustrations including some particularly pleasing ‘looser’ paintings depicting aspects of wader behaviour.
The waders at rest section consists of 45 double page spreads each covering two to four species. The text is concise and starts with a few ‘key ID features’ before covering behaviour, habitat, plumage and confusion species.
Most potential purchasers will look at the illustrations first and this is where the guide scores highly. The large image size and uncluttered design of the plates makes them a joy to browse through or grill intensely. Steve Message has done an excellent job at illustrating a very difficult group of birds and has produced some of the best field guide plates of recent times.
The in flight section gives upper- and under-wing illustrations and brief notes covering key ID features, flight action, voice, distribution and confusion species as well as distribution maps. It finishes with two appendices that tabulate upper- and under-part flight patterns.
This is a very good guide for anyone who wants to take their shorebirding to a new level and will certainly help you identify a Baird’s Sandpiper in Hampshire or a Bar-tailed Godwit in New Hampshire.
