Can anyone recommend the best book to purchase on Australian Bird Identification ?

The "bible" is HANZAB - the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds - a seven volume (nine books) collection which is now out of print. Second-hand volumes are soemtimes available, at a cost of several hundred dollars each. Given that's likely to be an unrealistic recommendation, the next best thing is "The Australian Bird Guide", by Menkhorst et al, published by CSIRO Publishing. The first edition (2017) had some errors, so make sure you get the revised edition (2019). It costs around $40.

Rob

The five most common bird guides are outlined on this web page: https://bestbirdphotos.com.au/best-5-australian-bird-field-guides/

I agree that the Australian Bird Guide is generally considered to be the gold standard, although there is nothing particularly wrong with any of the others. I use the ABG for general work but it is not particularly portable. Morcombe used to have a pocket sized guide which serves well for basic identification in the field; I bought mine several years ago, and I am not sure if it is still printed. It lives permanently in the glove box of the car!

There are also phone apps available which include bird calls, often useful in identification if you have a good ear for that sort of thing. I don't use Australian apps but I use apps in other countries, with the Audubon iPad app particularly useful in the US. Note that we don't support call playback to attract birds.

No book is perfect so it often pays to have more than one available. They differ in purpose and style, as well as organisation of material, indexing etc. Some maps of distribution are better than others. In particular, some people prefer the illustrations in one book over the other. It is generally better (in my view) to use books with drawn images rather than photographs, as photos can be deceptive in terms of presenting details and colours, if not very carefully prepared and edited for the purposes of identification (rather than just the art of photography). Skilled artists can better illustrate key identification features. Apps may use photographs and often include multiple photos to try and show different features (which is not really possible in field guides to keep the size of the book in control).

Always try and get the latest version in print. Later versions (a) correct mistakes in text and drawings, (b) can provide updated species lists and names (these change from time to time for example the 'Rainbow Lorikeet' and 'Crimson Rosella' have become subdivided as researchers get better information on things like genetics), and (c) can have updated rare vagrant records.

Simon

I would like to add my support to the previous bloggers on this topic. You can never have too many bird/field guides. Each in its own right contains that little bit of additional information.

The gold standard of course is HANZAB, but even I don't have the full set, mainly because they are no longer readily available and even if they were readily available, these volumes are incredibly expensive. I would be delighted if Birdlife would make a digital edition but this would require a philanthropist to step forward.

I know I have been beating the ABG drum ever since its publication release and I will be forthright in saying that you are not a serious birder if you don't own a copy. There is up-to-date information in this volume that you will not find elsewhere, some of the information post-dates HANZAB.

So what do i have in my reference collection: Slater, Pizzey & Knight, Australian Bird Guide ( Menkhorst etal) , Birds of Prey of Australia (Debus), 3 HANZAB volumes.
For the mobile I use Pizzey & Knight and Morcombe's Australian Birds. For field work these apps are excellent. The only thing I would add to these apps, is that when bird calls are played at high volume the user receives a painful and repetitive electric shock!.....or perhaps the phone immediate shuts down. I make no apology for being an ethical scientist.
Cheers Graham

And if you get really lazy (I would still recommend getting a book and looking through this first, it is the best way to learn) or really stuck look for an app called Merlin by Cornell University (eBird). It has some great AI to help identify birds. It is free. And don't forget our site as well.