Birds of the Middle East by Richard Porter & Simon Aspinall. Second edition published 2010. As reviewed and pictured: Softcover, 384 pages.
This new title from Princeton Field Guides covers over 800 species found in the Middle East (defined for this book as the Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran). I've never been birding in this region, but since there's a lot of species overlap between this region and Europe and northern Africa, I see a lot of familiar species when paging through this guide. I was interested to note at least 8 non-native species of weaver and bishop that have established populations in the region.
The color illustrations, drawn by three different artists using a similar style, are fantastic. The birds are presented on a plain white background, naturally perched on branches or standing on a sandy surface. The plates are well-arranged throughout the guide so the white background isn't boring.
The descriptive texts and rang maps for the birds are presented opposite the color plates, which is always handy. The most important identification clues are printed in bold text. Notes following many of the bird texts indicate abundance, additional range details, or other helpful sighting information.
The bulk of the book is your standard, working field guide, but larophobes like me might especially appreciate plate 72, devoted to identifying large white-headed gulls (shiver). This plate is accompanied by a handy chart comparing features of several gull species, including moulting dates!
Birds of the Middle East is another fine field guide from publisher Princeton Field Guides. I give Birds of the Middle East 4.5 Goldfinches out of 5.
Disclosure: This is my own original, honest review of Birds of the Middle East, a copy of which was provided to me free of charge by the publisher.
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