What are the best field guides?

birds (in general)

This review is from: Encyclopedia of Birds, Second Edition (Natural World) (Hardcover)

This is a fantastic overview of all of the families of birds of the world. The many authors are generally experts in their fields. The birds are placed in evolutionary order. The writers describe the physical characteristics, ecology and behaviour of all the families, and often even down to genus. The text is accompanied by many fantastic colour photographs. And as an Australian, it also good to see so many local authors and bird examples from Australia. I have used this book as a source for the general background information for the bird sections in my own books. Damon Ramsey, author of "Rainforest of tropical Australia"

frogs

Frog field guide for the south east, June 20, 2006 This review is from: A Field Guide to Frogs of Australia (Paperback)

This is a great little book. However, be aware that the title is a little misleading, as this book only covers the frogs of south eastern australia. This is perfectly fine if you live in melbourne or sydney or brisbane, which of course most australians do, however, for a field guide to frogs of australia, look up that name by authors Grigg, Tyler and Barker. Damon Ramsey Author, "Ecosystem Guide to Rainforest of tropical Australia" (ETA - Educational Tours Australia)

mammals (australia)

"best field guide for mammals of australia", June 20, 2006

This review is from: A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia (Paperback) In fact, it is the only real field guide to the mammals of Australia. The Australian museum book is great of course, but is a reference book for home, whereas this is the perfect field guide. The drawings are pretty well spot and capture the look of the animal in the field quite well. Also, very recent. Great book, and good value. Damon Ramsey, Author, "Ecosystem Guides Rainforest of tropical Australia"

rainforest

"Rainforest of tropical Australia"

The "Ecosystem Guides" have been designed as field guides to particular ecosystems. There are large sections at the beginning that look at various aspects of the ecosystem in general, from the geology to the ecology. The 'field guide' section of the book includes the major groups and more common species of plants and animals likely to be seen within that ecosystem.
Good introduction to tropical rainforest, April 29, 2008 This review is from: An Introduction to Tropical Rain Forests (Paperback)

This book is a good general introduction to the tropical rainforest of the world. It includes sections on plants, ecology, convergent evolution, and human use. It has some black and white photographs and 'classic' diagrams and graphs. It's technical level is probably that of early university ecology. (It is obviously good, as someone has knocked my copy off!) Damon Ramsey, author of "Rainforest of tropical Australia"

an overview of humans and the tropical rainforest in australia, April 9, 2008 This review is from: Securing the Wet Tropics - a Retrospective on Managing Australia's Tropical Rainforests (Paperback)

This is a useful book for those who have to look into the history of human interaction with the tropical rainforest of Australia. I used it for some research in my own book on the rainforest. Damon Ramsey, author of "Ecosystem Guides Rainforest of tropical Australia"

Excellent review of the rainforests of the world, June 20, 2006 This review is from: Tropical Rain Forests: An Ecological and Biogeographical Comparison (Hardcover)

This is a brilliant comparative overview of the tropical rainforests of the world. If you have a keen interest in travel and natural history you may enjoy this. It lacks many images, and it might be a little dense and technical for general readers, but if you any biological training you will find it a great read. It is an expensive book, but I bought it twice (I lost the first one in the Daintree - I hope whoever ended up with it, enjoys it!). As the author of a book on the tropical rainforest of Australia, which gets ignored quite a bit on an international scale, it was great to see 'our' forest (along with New Guinea), get a many mentions. Damon Ramsey, Author, "Ecosystem Guides Rainforest of tropical Australia" Comment | Permalink
"Tropical Rainforest of Australia"

southern oceans

The best book for identifcation of the tubenoses, February 24, 2009 This review is from: Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World (Princeton Field Guides) (Paperback)

One of the trickiest groups of birds to identify are the tubenoses; those birds seen mainly at sea, like the albatross, petrels, shearwaters, etc. Add to the that confusion are the recent many taxonmic changes. But this book offers detailed variations of species, the most recent taxonomy, as well as lots of extra info on feeding, behaviour and likely range maps. This book is fairly pricey for it's size if you buy it in NZ or Australia, but worth it if you are spending some time on the southern seas. It definitely helped me out for ID and pointers for these ocean going birds in my "Ocean Surfaces" book. Damon Ramsey, author of "Ocean Surfaces of Australasia"

Excellent readable overview of oceanography, February 24, 2009 This review is from: How the Ocean Works: An Introduction to Oceanography (Hardcover)

This book is a textbook, but it is written in a converstaional, easy, readable style. But for those who want it, it also gets into the technical nitty gritty (or u can just skip the equations if u want). It is also a rare mix (as the author says was his aim in the intro) of physics, chemistry and biology. I wish I had bought it before I started off writing my own Ocean Surfaces book, but I 'll definitely be referencing the author in the next edition! Damon Ramsey, author of "Ecosystem Guides: Ocean Surfaces of Australasia"

wildlife (australia)

Great compact guide to finding australia's wildlife, April 29, 2008 This review is from: Watching Wildlife: Australia (Paperback) This is a great little book. Compact and with great tips of where to see wildlife. Wish I had written it! Damon Ramsey, BSc. author of "Rainforest of tropical Australia"
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