This book is based on the Macmillan Field Guide to Bird Identification, which was first published in 1989. The original book was born out of a meeting in 1985 between Laurel Tucker and Dr Tim Sharrock, the latter in his capacity as natural history consultant to Macmillan. The idea was to produce a book that would tackle in depth the problems of identifying ‘difficult birds’. It was felt that the standard field guides, mainly because of lack of space and, in some cases, poor illustrations, could not do justice to the problem of separating similar species. The result was, in essence, a series of well-illustrated ‘mini’ identification papers. The original book proved to be an enormous success but, unfortunately, it has been out of print for many years. Choosing the original subjects was problematical, but it was decided to include mainly those regularly occurring British species that present a problem for the ‘average birder’ and to include only those rarities that are frequently confused with something more common.
In this new version, we have expanded the range of species included. The taxonomy generally follows Mitchell & Vinicombe (2011). Most of the additions simply reflect the remarkable changes in the status of many species over the last 20 years, coupled with changes in taxonomy, partly brought about by advances in the study of DNA. As with the original book, inconsistencies have been inevitable, the most difficult problem being ‘species creep’. For example, it is difficult to discuss the identification of the regularly occurring Melodious and Icterine Warblers without dealing with Olivaceous Warbler (now split into Eastern and Western) and, in turn, Booted Warbler, which in itself leads to the unavoidable discussion of the recently split Sykes’s Warbler. In other cases, discussion has been confined to the commoner species, as to have gone into detail on the extreme rarities would have been beyond the scope of the book. Although in recent years there has been a marked trend towards the almost forensic examination of minute feather detail, this book offers advice on how to identify birds in the field, when the instinctive evaluation of shape, flight, behaviour and call is just as important – this overall impression that a bird gives is often termed its jizz. It is hoped that, as with the original, the end result will appeal not only to relative beginners but also to those more seasoned observers with gaps in their knowledge.