A Photographic Guide to Birds of Borneo [antikvár]

Introduction Few books specifically deal with the birds of Borneo. By far the best known is Smythies's The Birds of Borneo, a comprehensive treatment based upon his earlier checklist, and first published in 1960. The colour plates from that book have subsequently been used to illustrate a pocket guide. More likely to attract the birdwatcher today is the new Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. These books are illustrated by paintings, covering a vnde variety of species (see Further Reading, page 140). This guide covers those Borneo birds most likely to be encountered by birdwatchers. Nearly all the photographs were taken in the field in Borneo, without the benefit of a hide, using a shoulder-held 500mm lens, sometimes wdth a x 2 converter, at a range of up to 20 metres. Most birdwatching has been done in the northern third of Borneo. Although there has been a recent improvement in this geographical bias, the birds of the southern two-thirds of the island are still seriously under-studied. Interesting discoveries and re-discoveries are certain to await the enterprising traveller. Just over 580 species of birds have been found in the area covered by this book. The political terms used to define this area are used repeatedly in the text, and require some explanation. Borneo is the third largest island in the world, covering nearly 740,000 sq km. It extends firom about 7°N to 4°S, and about 60% of the island is north of the equator. Borneo is split between three countries. The smallest is oil-rich Brunei Darus-salam, formerly known simply as Brunei, the only country located entirely within Borneo and occupying a small part of the north-west coast. Sabah to the north-east and Sarawak to the west of Brunei are two of the 13 states of Malaysia (the other 11 states lying in Peninsular Malaysia which is treated in a companion guide in this series). Together Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak occupy the northern third of Borneo. All the rest of Borneo is knovra as Kalimantan, and belongs to Indonesia. Kalimantan is divided administratively into East, West, South and Central Kalimantan, each being a large and varied territory. This book describes and illustrates 252 of the 580 species of birds foxmd in Borneo. They are generally speaking the commoner and more conspicuous birds to be found in each of a wdde range of habitats, fi-om mangroves along the coast to forest in the mountains. They also include, however, a variety of spectacular and interesting birds which have been covered because they characterize the bird fauna of the area and give a fuller flavour of the region's biological composition. These 252 species therefore cover nearly all of the bird families or groups that can be found here. By familiarizing yourself with the pictures, you should be able to identify a range of birds B4