A Birdwatcher's Guide to Italy
Brief Review: A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Italy by Luciano Ruggieri and Igor Festari from Lynx 2005 ISBN 8487334865
This is an excellent and novel guide. It combines the traditional “where to watch” format with an annotated checklist with cross referencing. So, after the useful overview introductory chapters the species section typically gives the taxonomy, status & distribution in Italy and Europe, population and habitat and then gives a list of site numbers where it may be seen! This is a great departure from the norm where one either gets a site guide or a annotated checklist but hardly ever both and rarely cross-referenced both ways.
The gazetteer then follows split down into region with each site assigned a number – the site details are followed by pretty detailed species lists and, moreover, important sub-species lists too! These sites are accompanied by stylised and simple maps – again just what you need to get to the site and find your way around it. Details of how to find the site, a description of it, entrance fees if applicable and the frequency with which certain species occur are all terrific making this a guide I unhesitatingly recommend!
Fatbirder
Created: 13th Oct 2005
