Literature for Birds of Japan and Asia

• A field guide to the birds of Japan. Kodansha/WSBJ, 1982. (ISBN 0-87011-746-7) [Seems to be out of print.]

  This is the english translation of the first edition of the modern fieldguide of the Wild Bird Society of Japan. Birdwatching in Japan got a boost when this fieldguide appeared. As a result the second Japanese edition (ISBN 4-931150-13-6) of this guide contains more species than the first. Unfortunately this book seems to be out of print.

• The songs & calls of 333 birds in Japan. Kabaya Tsuruhiko and Matsuda Michio. Shogakukan Inc., Tokyo. 1996. Volume 1: Non-songbirds. (ISBN 4-09-480071-9) [Contains 3 CD's] Volume 2: Songbirds. (ISBN 4-09-480072-7)[Contains 3 CD's]

  High quality introduction to the birdsounds in Japan. Very useful, not only if one is new to the avifauna of Japan. Names of birds in japanese, english and latin. Text in Japanese. +81-3-3230-5738 is the telephone (I guess also fax) number of the selling office of the publisher.

• A guide for bird lovers. English subtitle for a japanese field guide. The Japanese Society for Preservation of Birds, 1988.

  Very good and thorough guide, with insightful world distribution maps. Quality of the pictures is high: here one finds the details necessary to recognize the various snipes, for instance. The other strong point of this fieldguide is the big number of species it shows. I bought my copy in the Observation lodge at Yatsu-tidal flat in Tokyo on a weekend in April 1997.

• A field guide to the water birds of Asia. Wild Bird Society of Japan, 1993. (ISBN 4-931150-17-9)

  Small but very nicely drawn and highly detailed drawings of the waterbirds of Asia. Plus text and maps showing the distribution in Asia. Very useful.

• 550 Birds of Japan. (Two volumes) Masashi Kirihara, Norio Yamagata, Toshiyuki Yoshino & Himaru Iozawa. 2000. Published by: Bun-ichi Sogo Shuppan Kawakami Bldg.,2-5, Nishi-Gokencho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0812 Tel: 03-3235-7341 Fax: 03-3269-1402 URL: http://www.bun-ichi.co.jp/ E-mail: bunichi@vinet.or.jp (ISBN 4-8299-0163-1/2)

  Pocket book size photographic fieldguides. An incredible rich source of hiqgh quality photographs covering almost all species occurring in Japan, often showing of the various poses/plumages/subspecies... Price 2x3200 Yen. Text is in Japanese, but Latin and English names are also given.

• Wild Birds of Japan. Takuya KANOUCHI, Naoya ABE and Hideo UEDA. 1998. Published by YAMA-KEI Publishers Co., Ltd. 1-1-3, Shiba-daimon, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan. Telephone 03-3436-4020.1998. (ISBN 4-635-07007-7)

  Two slightly larger than pocket book size photographic fieldguides. An incredible rich source of photographs covering almost all species, often showing of the various poses/plumages/subspecies... Price 3000 Yen. Text is in Japanese, but Latin and English names are also given. Maps show the world distribution of the various species. Independent of the book CD's with bird sounds are sold. The book contains a folder how to order these. The price is about 9000 yen.

• Kamome shinpetsu(?) Gaido, Birder supesharu. Special issue of Birder. November 19, 1992. (ISBN 4-8299-3018-7).

  A detailed japanese guide for the gulls in Japan. Very useful drawings of gulls in the various plumages, 80 pages. I bought my copy in the Yaesu bookshop just SE of Tokyo station.

• Birds of Prey in Japan, second edition. Teruaki Morioka. 1998. Published byt Bun-ichi Sogo Shuppan Co. Ltd, Bun-ichi Sogo Shuppan Co. Ltd. Phone 081-3-3235-7341, Fax 0081-3-3269-1402. (ISBN 4-8299-2125-0)

  A thorough and authorative looking book. Many photographs and concise english explanations.

• The Birds of China. Rudolphe Meyer de Schauensee. Oxford University Press, 1984. Reprint 1992. (ISBN 0-87474-363-X)

  I bought my copy in Librairie Rene Thomas, 28 rue des Fosses-Saint Bernard 75005, Paris. A good book: a compendium of all birds found in China. It includes the history of ornithology in China, species accounts, and brief family descriptions, black and white drawings and 38 color plates.

• A field guide to the Birds in China. Wei-she Hui et al.. Jade Bird Ltd, 22 Si Dong Road, Taipei, Taiwan. Distributor Nature and Wilderness Bookstore, tel: (02) 363-4943. Published in or after 1995. (ISBN 957-99238-0-9)

  I could by this book in the bookshop of the Abiko city museum of birds. An impressive fieldguide describing 1253 species. Text faces pictures. Language chinese, but latin and english name are provided. Maps show distribution of species inside China and Taiwan. I cannot guarentee that the transcription of title and the other information of the book is correct.

• A field guide to Birds of Russia and Adjacent Territories. V.E. Flint, R.L. Boehme, Y.K. Kostin, A.A. Kutznetsov. Princeton University Press. 1984. Reprint 1989. (ISBN 0-691-02430-8)

• A field guide to the birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. H. Douglass Pratt, Phillip L. Bruner and Delwyn G. Berret. Princeton University Press. 1987. (ISBN 0-691-08402-5)

  I like in particular the drawings of the seabirds.

• Birds of South-East Asia. Ben King, Martin Woodcock and E. C. Dickinson. Collins Field guide. 1975. Reprint 1993. (ISBN 0-00-219207-1)

  A monumental book. The shere number of species described in the book makes it neccesary to become familiar with the book before you actually start using it in the field, as I found out the hard way in Malaysia.

• The birds of Japan. Mark A. Brazil. Illustrated by Masayuki Yabuuchi. Hardcover, 466 pages. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991. (ISBN 1-56098-030-3)

  An absolute bible. Species accounts, distribution maps, history of birdwatching in Japan, background information like geography, climate and habitats, description of good birdwatching sites etcetera etcetera.

• A birdwatcher's guide to Japan. Mark Brazil. Kodansha/Wild Bird Society of Japan, 1987. (ISBN 0-87011-849-8 (U.S.))

  Detailed descriptions of numerous good birdwatching sites in Japan. Ten years old, yet still surpisingly accurate. Maps, advice on transportation and where to stay are given.

• A check-list of the birds of Okinawa prefecture with notes on recent status including hypothetical records Douglas W. Mc Whirter, Hiroshi Ikenaga, Himaru Iozawa, Mamoru Shoyama and Kenji Takehara. Bulletin of Okinawa Prefectural Museum, Vol. 22, p. 33-152, 1996.

  An on-line version by courtesy of Ikenaga-san, as the paper version is out of print. The checklist contains many additions to the avifauna of Japan since the appearence of Mark Brazil's Birds of Japan.

• Strix: Journal of the Wild Bird Society of Japan research center

  Abstracts of articles of recent issues of the research journal of the Wild Bird Society of Japan.

• Where to watch birds in Asia. Nigel Wheatley. Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey, 1996. (ISBN 0-691-01214-8)

  Where to go for which species. Lots of advice on the best birdwatching spots in the various asian countries, as well as advice on the places where to watch the rare endemics. Plus useful little maps, and advice where to stay. Review by Daily Yomiuri.