Complete Guide to the Birds of Europe - Tapa dura

Winner of the 2002 Best Bird Book - Europe and the Middle East, Worldtwitch
"If you want to have only one guide to British and European birds, this is the one to get."--British Wildlife

"As essential as binoculars for those who take birdwatching seriously."--New Scientist

"If you are birding in Europe, you must have this guide. It should be on the shelf of many North American bird watchers. . . . It should also be in the library of anyone who collects field guides, if for no reason other than you can occasionally take it down and be reminded of what is possible when art and design and purpose are treated as equal parts of a final product."--Bird Watcher's Digest

"The richest and the most comprehensive of the current guides."--The London Times

"Sixteen years in the making, it is arguably the best field guide ever produced. It certainly is by far the best I have ever seen, and it now sets a standard that must be met by future guides on both sides of the Atlantic. . . . This is a superb guide, meticulously thought-out, clearly and knowledgeably written, with the most consistently satisfying plates of any guide I have ever used. . . . This book is sheer delight. Get it!"--Clive E. Goodwin, The Canadian Field-Naturalist

"The book is more complete than any of the other books published on European birds."--Choice

The combination of superb and thoughtfully arranged illustrations, definitive text, and up-to-date illustration maps, all in a single volume, has already established the pocket-sized version of this guide, also published by Princeton University Press, as the most essential reference to European bird identification. This sumptuous large-format edition with entirely redesigned text is intended to complement the field guide and permit greater appreciation of the extraordinarily beautiful artwork.

The Complete Guide to the Birds of Europe provides the information needed to identify all European bird species in their normal seasonal and age-related plumage variations. Over 3,500 of the most accurate and attractive illustrations ever painted are accompanied by innovative pointers and captions drawing immediate attention to the key field marks. Particular attention has been paid to the design and arrangement of every page in order to facilitate easy comparison of confusing plumages. Vignettes illustrate typical habitat and characteristic behavior. On each page opposite the illustrations, brilliantly conceived texts detail habitat preferences, status in Europe, important identification features and, of course, voice. No other guide provides as authoritative and comprehensive descriptions of the songs and calls of the continent's birds as The Complete Guide to the Birds of Europe.