A Photographic Guide to Birds of China and Hong Kong [antikvár]

Introduction China is one of die largest countries in the world, with a total area of ten million square kilometres, or 7% of the land surface of the planet. It is a huge country of great extremes, from the world's highest peak of Everest at 8848m to one of the world's lowest land points, at -155m in the Turpan basin, and from the permafrost of the extreme north to the tropical seas of the extreme south. Habitats include forests, grasslands, deserts and wetlands. This great diversity of habitats, together with China's large size, gives rise to a great richness of biological diversity. China is ranked third richest country in the world in terms of its species - a remarkable state for a largely temperate land mass. In terms of birds, this richness is shown in over 1,300 species recorded from the country, including some of the most spectacular and fascinating birds in the world. China also, however, has a huge human population of over one billion, mostly in the eastern half of the country, and pressure on natural habitats is very severe. Many wild species are threatened with extinction, while others are rare or restricted to very small distributions. Conservation of the remaining habitats of these species is urgent, but difficult. The Chinese government is, however, well aware of the importance of the task and has set aside over 600 areas as nature reserves, with more planned. There are still a lot of gaps to be filled in our knowledge of the distributions of Chinese birds, and we hope that this modest book may help in encouraging more people to join in the work of documentation that is needed. The challenge is great, but rewards are also there. China is a wonderful place in which to get off the beaten track with a purpose. There are many new finds to be made, and even the humdrum is strange and new to most visitors. A book of this size cannot be a complete or exhaustive guide to the birds of China. It does, however, serve as a broad introduction to the families of birds in China and gives descriptions and photos of both the most familiar or common birds of China as well as some of the species and endemic birds that are not so common but which the visiting birdwatcher may want to track down. Wide-ranging groups such as seabirds, shorebirds and birds of prey are given only minimal coverage, whilst truly Chinese groups such as babblers, pheasants and waterbirds are covered rather more fully. Many look-alike species are referred to in the text with their distinguishing characters, but are not formally illustrated or described. Since China is one of the less well-known parts of the ornithological world, and the book contains some species never previously illustrated photographically, the book should be of interest to both the novice and the experienced birdwatcher.