BIRDER'S GUIDE

October 1998 Table of Contents - Current Issue of The Abaco Journal - Abaco Bahamas' Home Page

BOOK REVIEW
by Betsy Bracey

A BIRDER'S GUIDE TO THE BAHAMA ISLANDS
by Anthony W White
Publisher: American Birding Association 1998

In February of this year the Ministry of Tourism, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Bahamas National Trust, sponsored a four day bird watching training programme in Abaco for Bahamians who wished to become field guides for visitors. (See Abaco Journal April 1998 issue.) The American Birding Association's recent publication of Anthony W White's A Birder's Guide to the Bahama Islands is, therefore, a very timely publication and will be of great interest to many.

I am not an expert birder but my husband, Elwood Bracey MD, is and sharing field experiences throughout Abaco and other countries has encouraged me to plunge into many a birding book. Based on this exposure, I give Mr White's guide high marks.

A Birder's Guide to the Bahama Islands does not follow the typical field format which describes and compares each species in detail, but rather it is a very accurate area book which provides excellent directions to hundreds of locations the author has discovered on many islands as well as their adjacent cays and rocks. The guide is practical and well arranged, indicating exact locations and in which habitat each endemic species is likely to be found.

The majority of the photographs were contributed by Bruce Hallett and add not only colour and beauty to the volume but assist in field identification. The maps are easy to follow and the written directions precise. The book itself is durable. The ringed format design, coupled with the use of heavy duty paper and a water resistant cover, will prove to be extremely practical in the field.

A Birder's Guide to the Bahama Islands completely fills a niche in our local repertoire for locating and identifying endemic species as well as over 100 of the migrant species that visit our islands during the course of a year. We are fortunate to have a volume of this quality available and I encourage local shops to carry it and our readers - whether birders or those who simply find the wonders of our islands fascinating - to buy it and get ready to enjoy many years of discovery in the beautiful Bahamian world of birding.

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