Birds of Southeast Asia

by Craig Robson

This concise, updated edition of the award-winning A Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia (Princeton, 2000) is the most comprehensive, compact guide to this magnificent bird-rich region. It is a complete field and reference guide to the birds of Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. It also covers a wide range of species found in the Indian subcontinent, China, Taiwan, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo, and the Philippines.

Genres: Birds, Field Guides, Reference, Nonfiction, Nature

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2005

Reviews

[Mads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, like Morten Strange's book, I'm not satisfied with the under-representation of the Philippine species in this book. But given that Philippine birders don't have much choice in field guides, its better to have a bad one than none at all. So I'm still grateful to Mr. Robson.

[Madhumitha]

This is not meant to be the definitive book for identification, I think anyone looking for that might be disappointed. The information is sparse, some of it outdated (and I say that based on my limited knowledge of birds in Singapore).

However, for someone like me -- looking to learn more about the range of birds in this biodiversity hotspot region of ours, spot patterns in their phenotypic variation and marvel at the beauty of the creatures of this world -- it was perfect.

The birds I feel lucky to have seen in the wild in real life: Asian fairy bluebird, Dollarbird, Common hoopoe, Jambu fruit dove, Emerald dove, Laced woodpecker, Darter, Red-whiskered bulbul, amongst others.

And some of the birds that I hadn't known about before and couldn't stop staring at because they were so beautiful to me: Crested kingfisher, Chestnut-winged cuckoo, Pied avocet, Collared treepie, Bushy crested hornbill, Asian paradise flycatcher, Bluethroat, White-rumped shama, White-capped water redstart, Chestnut-naped forktail, Dark-backed sibia, Stripe-throated yuhina, Red Avadavat. Let those names wash over you, just reading them makes me smile.

Here's to them thriving and flourishing amidst all the human-induced challenge they face, and to hopefully seeing them in the wild in future regional travels!

[Jan-Joost Bouwman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reused this book on my recent birding trip to Cambodia and Laos. Incidentally on a tour led by the author. Still a very useful, concise guide to the birds. Maps would have been nice, but I guess there is no way to cram all species in that way. Also, I know an updated version is available, which will probably have all the splits and renaming in it. For some of the species this was a bit tricky, but as I said, since we were guided by the author this wasn't a real problem :)

[Jacques Van Den Bergh · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the worst bird books I’ve purchased. No distribution maps, very old plate system that requires you to find different references to complete one write-up. I would not recommend this book as a field guide.

[Sheri Fresonke Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really easy to use field guide, was a great help identifying birds for Thailand, Cambodia and Singapore

[Scott Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very methodical and comprehensive field guide to the birds of Southeast Asia. I have used this guide (post-trip) for birds I have seen in Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia. This guide is an excellent reference!

[Nicholas Sly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A field guide spanning at least seven countries should have range maps. A critical flaw in an otherwise okay guide