Finding Birds in Estonia by Dave Gosney| 2011 | Easy Birder | DVD ISBN 9781907316302 | Softcover Booklet | ISBN 9781907316296
Regular readers of these reviews know that I am a great fan of Dave’s guides… and I think I have worked out why. It’s because of the way they are presented with a quiet, almost reverential, delight in the birds. Yes they help with ID and location but they also reflect my own enjoyment of birding. I do keep lists and have twitched in my time but I am, essentially, a birder who likes nothing more than to be in the countryside looking at birdlife. I love to travel and see new birds but I also love being just a couple of miles from home scoping common waders or lying back and watching swifts and hobbies, herons or harriers. David’s DVDs always make me think he is showing me the birds of another locality with the same joy and the same respect fro the tranquility of the scene.This DVD shows you what a fantastic place Estonia is for birds, especially in spring when you can enjoy the spectacle of thousands of geese as well as forests, reedbeds and meadows full of bird song. It takes you to most of Estonia’s best birding sites and gives an idea of just how good they are, either for migrants such as geese and seaducks or rare breeding birds such as Citrine Wagtail, White-backed Woodpecker, Great Snipe and Greenish Warbler or a wealth of commoner species such as Wryneck, Icterine Warbler and Red-breasted Flycatcher.
27 of Estonia’s best birding sites are covered including Matsalu Bay, Spithami, Nigula, Sorve and the areas around Tartu. The DVD lets you sit back and enjoy footage of 80 species, including all the species mentioned above, filmed using high-definition digital video cameras. “Estonia was so full of birds that this film is longer than usual”, says Dave Gosney.
The book covers those birding sites with Dave’s idiosyncratic maps and helpful notes. Both bood and DVD give helpful tips – find out more about the sites and their birds, including what to listen for, to help you find species such as Citrine Wagtail, Greenish Warbler and Red-breasted Flycatcher.
FatbirderBuy the dvd from www.nhbs.com