Birds of Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands

Roger Safford · Adrian Skerrett · Frank Hawkins

Dec 2015 · Bloomsbury Publishing

About this ebook

This major new field guide covers Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands, including the Seychelles, Coromos and Mascarenes (Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues).

The Malagasy region contains one of the most extraordinary concentrations of biodiversity in the world. Its recognition as a zoogeographic region in its own right has recently been confirmed and, all taxa combined, the region was found to hold the second most distinct assemblage of vertebrates in the world after the Australian region, despite being the smallest of them all.

This Helm Field Guide covers the whole of the Malagasy region, which comprises the unique island of Madagascar and the various islands and archipelagos of the Indian Ocean including the Seychelles, Comoros and Mascarenes (Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues). Every resident and migrant species is covered in full detail with a colour distibution map for each.

Vagrants are also treated in detail, but without maps. All species are illustrated on a beautiful series of 124 colour plates, with artwork from John Gale and Brian Small. Conveniently, the plates have been arranged so that all the key species of the various archipelagos are placed together in sections.

This is a major work of reference on the birds of the region and will remain the standard text for many years to come.

Ratings and reviews

Excellent in every way -- high-quality illustrations, maps, species info including sound description, and more. Well-considered organization, in which the species plates are arranged by location as well as taxa, making it very easy to find birds of particular island groups (Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion). Notably excellent front matter focusing on biogeography and endemism. Highly recommended.

good

About the author

Frank Hawkins is a conservation biologist and policy advisor with considerable experience working with governments, civil society and local communities in Africa and around the world. He is currently CEO of IUCN's US office in Washington DC.

Roger Safford is Senior Programme Manager at BirdLife International in Cambridge, UK.

Adrian Skerrett has lived and worked in Seychelles for much of his life.

All three authors have worked extensively in the region for many years, and collectively have an unrivalled knowledge of its avifauna. They have each authored many publications on the birds of the Malagasy region.