Phillipps’ Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan

A new field guide to this extensive area, containing all the species recorded, illustrated with colour paintings, with many age and sex plumages are shown. Good descriptions and distribution maps are also provided. In addition, the beginning of the book has several ‘diorama’ style 2-page spreads illustrating all the most likely species in each of several different habitats, and a guide to birding various sites. The illustrations are prolific, but lacking some of the details and aesthetics that we have become accustomed to recently. In addition to all this the book also contains details of species not yet recorded, but suspected/likely; mini-essays throughout the field guide on a whole range of topics, from The Holistic Benefits of eating Swiftlet Nests to The Peacock’s Tail: Darwin’s Explanation of Sexual Dimorphism; and even full-page additional illustrations of some of the featured species.

Book reviewed by Su Gough