Dave Gosney’s Discovering Birds Collection covers principally the Western Palearctic and describes birding in numerous areas of Portugal, Spain, Morocco, France, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and so forth., with some additions, specifically South Texas, The Gambia, and Goa (India). Afterwards, the person web site updates can be found at his web site findingbirds.com.
Discovering Birds in Northern Greece (2015) covers the birdwise easiest northeast of the nation (provinces of Macedonia and Thrace), from the wetland border with Turkey all the way in which to the mountains and lakes on the triple border with Albania and North Macedonia. Based mostly on a go to in spring 2014, this information updates the earlier Discovering Birds in Greece (1993).
Gosney writes: ‘‘Once I revisited northern Greece in 2014 I used to be reminded simply how distinctive it’s for birding. Close by western Turkey might have some additional, extra unique species …, however the birding in Greece is way more pleasant due to the far larger numbers of raptors, warblers, buntings, shrikes and, particularly, waterbirds. The truth that I filmed over 100 species on one 3 week journey (in contrast with 60-80 at each different European space I’ve visited to date) provides you an thought simply how distinctive this space is.”
Discovering Birds in Northern Greece affords data on the way to attain one of the best websites, detailed hand-drawn maps, and notes on what birds you would possibly see when you get there. In 45 (very) concise, no-nonsense pages, this information covers, east to west, the Evros delta, Avas gorge, Dadia forest nationwide park (the most effective areas for raptors in Europe), Thimaria marsh, Lake Ismarida and the close by Porto Lagos (a city surrounded by numerous lagoons), Mandria Seaside marsh, Nestos delta (together with precisely the place to search out the Spur-winged Plover), Nestos gorge (for the birds of rocky habitats), Mount Pangeo (a ski centre with numerous alpine species), Mount Vrontou (related), Lake Kerkini (the most effective birding websites in Europe) and above it, Mount Belles (together with precisely the place to search for Rock Partridge and White-backed Woodpecker), Kalohori lagoon (a shorebirds web site near Thessaloniki), the interconnected Axios, Loudios and Gallikos deltas, Kitros lagoon, Angelohori lagoon (common Slender-billed Gulls) and Epanomi lagoon (little-known wetlands close to Thessaloniki), and the mountainous Prespa Lakes Nationwide Park. Sure, all this in mere 45 pages, half of them depicting maps!
However how are you going to pack a lot in so few pages? Right here is an instance from Bulgaria information: http://www.easybirder.co.uk/Pamporovo_map.html. Okay, this instance hardly has a lot textual content (these printed web site guides have extra detailed textual descriptions, however you’ll be able to see the final format), and the map appears to be like like one thing from these early hippy guides to India, hand-drawn, spotty, troublesome to observe with laborious to learn hand-written particulars.
That is extra of a discovering birds atlas, than a information guide (and I prefer it that manner). I’ve three hen finder books for Greece, the opposite two are thicker and way more detailed, making for a superb studying earlier than the journey. But, regardless of my dislike of Gosney’s maps as they’re (it’s well beyond time to digitalise them), as soon as within the discipline my guide of alternative nonetheless is Gosney’s little atlas: I don’t wish to learn a lot whereas making fast roadside stops whereas driving.
That may be a state of affairs the place I would like an equal of a discipline information, map on the fitting and related brief and straightforward to observe description on the left hand web page: getting there, GPS coordinates to assist me discover the fitting turnings or viewing factors, and marked areas the place explicit birding specialties might be discovered. No extra, no much less. And that’s the reason I like to recommend Dave Gosney’s no nonsense guides.
Final and least, one more reason is likely to be, they’re so low-cost that you needn’t suppose twice. A lot in order that I’m contemplating shopping for three extra Discovering Birds guides.
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