By Geoffrey Davison | Illustrated by Con Foley & Adam Hogg | John Beaufoy Books | 2019 | Paperback | 176 pages, 300 colour photos, 2 colour maps | ISBN: 9781912081547
The Publisher’s View:
Fraser’s Hill is a mountain village in Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia, known for its highland rainforest and extensive birdlife. This identification guide to the bird species, including all resident and regular migratory species, occurring in Fraser’s Hill is perfect for resident and visitor alike. High quality photographs from top nature photographers are accompanied by detailed species descriptions, which include common and scientific names, size, distribution, habits and habitat. The user-friendly introduction covers geography and climate, vegetation, opportunities for naturalists and the main sites for viewing the listed species. Also included is an all-important checklist of all of the birds of Fraser’s Hill encompassing, for each species, its common and scientific name, and IUCN status as of 2018.
The Author & Illustrators:
Dr Geoffrey Davison has worked with the National Parks Board in Singapore. Con Foley is a professional nature photographer and Adam Hogg is a young photographer based in Fraser’s Hill
Fatbirder View:
Fraser’s Hill is one of those birding hotspots that attract many non-birders as well as us fanatics. Its somewhere I badly want to go as it not only holds families I’ve never seen but is reputedly pretty easy to bird, even for those of us with mobility issues. Given this and its unique mixture of iconic species having a guide all to itself is completely justifiable.
Furthermore, this is a lightweight compact ID guide easily tucked in a pocket or knapsack pouch and it has up to date info on the various trails to be followed. These days there is an up road and down road replacing the one road that allowed travel in each direction switching direction each hour.
Regular readers know I am not fond of photoguides as you cannot show every ID feature or make it easy to compare confusion species… having said the usual this handy pocket guide does a great job. Most of the photos are sharp and most show enough of the bird to make ID pretty trouble free. There are one or two shots where the birds are half hidden by foliage and others somewhat dim, presumably skulking forest species in less than perfect light. But even those are good enough.
John Beaufoy Books is fairly new to me and I have to say I like these compact, no-nonsense guides and would recommend their catalogue to see their increasing cannon of wildlife and travel guides.
Fatbirder