WHAT'S that bird? How often have you said that as you pull into a new destination and spot a bird you're not familiar with? The next step, of course, is to reach for your trusty bird guide. But is it up to date?
Now birders can rejoice with the release of The Australian Bird Guide.
"For a birder, there's something especially exciting about laying your eyes on a bird species never before seen in a country as big as Australia."
Rohan Clarke never ceases to be amazed and excited by birds he spots - and the co-author of The Australian Bird Guide certainly is no stranger to birds of all shapes, sizes and colours.
For Clarke and fellow ecologist Peter Menkhorst, the new guide, due to be released on May 1, has been a 10-year
project.
The rise of "adventure" and "frontier" birdwatching has led to the identification of a large number of new species, creating the need for a new field guide.
As a result, the new must-have for birders identifies more than 900 species with 4500 beautifully painted images.
Some of the "new" species given full coverage in the new guide were recorded during expeditions organised by Clarke to little-visited Australian territories in the Timor Sea including Ashmore Reef, Cocos/Keeling Islands and Browse Island.
Species include migratory songbirds from Eurasia such as willow warbler, eastern crowned warbler, yellow-browed warbler, Siberian blue robin and Mugimaki flycatcher, as well as migratory raptors, waterfowl and bitterns.
Other new species were recorded on boat trips far from land aimed at recording pelagic seabirds.
One team member was on a special charter 100 nautical miles off the south-east Queensland coast to photograph and document the currently undescribed New Caledonian storm-petrel.
"To lay eyes on a small seabird skimming over the surface far out to sea - and to know that this bird is not yet known to science - is a special privilege," he said.
The guide also features the recently "rediscovered" night parrot, and the mysterious desert parrot, the princess parrot, which appeared in large numbers west of Alice Springs in the spring of 2010.
"Restricted to some of the most remote desert areas in Australia, witnessing a major breeding event involving this very special parrot was a highlight during the production of the book," Clarke said.
The guide also reveals new and important insights for some of our more common species.
The distribution maps were a collaborative effort involving literally millions of bird records submitted by dedicated birdwatchers to bird atlas databases over 30 years combined with the expertise of the well-travelled field guide team.
- The Australian Bird Guide by Peter Menkhorst and Rohan Clarke, CSIRO Publishing, RRP $49.95, available from May 1. Online version www.publish.csiro.au/book/6520/
