Birds of Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands

This book covers all 488 species recorded in Madagascar, Seychelles, Comores, Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues. All are illustrated as are many significant variants (subspecies, morphs and plumages) on 124 plates arranged partly anyway by island group – there are a lot of endemic species covered here!

The texts are based on two of the authors’ Birds of Africa volume 8 (published 2013) although updated and with the texts for vagrants expanded as necessary. The plates are by John Gale and Brian Small and are of a generally very high standard.  Some users will find it annoying that the 32 plates covering the vagrants are placed after those for the regulars necessitating some page turning to get comparisons. A full introduction and a checklist complete the book.

This new guide will certainly invite comparison with the 2013 third edition of the Sinclair & Langrand guide. This latter covers the same area, has 20 fewer plates and considers there to be 14 more species (different taxonomies). A feature of the new Helm guide though is that there are more images of many species thus enabling more different plumages to be illustrated which in turn will make identification particularly of the more variable species easier.

Book reviewed by Peter Lack