New English Language Field Guide - Princeton's Birds of China
Review by Sid Francis
Previously, China’s avifauna had only been covered by one modern, comprehensive English Language field guide, so Princeton’s Birds of China by Liu Yang and Chen Shuihua, comes as an eagerly awaited and important arrival. Now with two reference works – the other being the newly updated Oxford field guide by Mackinnon and Phillips (MacKinnon et. al. 2022) – the old question over what guide is there for China shifts towards one of choice; which of these two, rather similar and bulky volumes, can be considered most authoritative, and which is best to take on a China trip. The arrival of this book also invites discussion over objective criteria that define best in a modern field guide, their purpose and direction and how vital a piece of travel kit are they when the China bound world-birder can utilise online identification resources? In this context, Princeton’s Birds of China should be considered an accurate and valuable reference work, especially regarding its plates, which takes the illustration of many cryptic and previously badly drawn Chinese species to a new level of excellence. But have Princeton missed the chance of producing a convenient tool every travelling birder craves, a handy portable field guide that easily slips into a smaller space rather than a large, weighty shall I take it or leave it in the bookshelf item?
Princeton’s Birds of China is a translated version of a Chinese language field guide, the CNG Guide to the Birds of China (Yang & Shuihua 2021), written and edited by the same authors. Published in 2021, a year before the revised Mackinnon, Phillips, it was the first field guide to utilize a modern taxonomical layout, illustrations and species descriptions of splits not included in other field guides and accurate plates of species badly drawn in previous publications – a large comprehensive guide designed for the growing army of Chinese birders. Such was its quality, especially the plates, that some form of translation was an obvious next step and Princeton chose to produce an almost exact, in size, layout, content and design, English language clone, which added up to 672 very informative pages but weighing in at a chunky 1.7kg. In comparison the new Mackinnon, Phillip’s, itself a bit of a bulky tome, tackles the same 1,500 species range, with 560 pages, at just under a kilogram – not much of a problem if your book lives in a bookshelf, but that extra volume hardly makes the Princeton book handy travel or field equipment. Thus, the obvious question is posed, is that inconvenience in size made up for by the book’s excellence?
As a resident China birder, I’ve been using the plates in Birds of China since its 2021 Chinese language publication. The heart of any field guide must lie with the accuracy of those illustrations, where book form convenience is never matched by online resources – especially in China where internet restrictions can make accessing certain sites a challenge. And this is where I believe Birds of China, despite its bulk, can be considered the most useful current China guide, especially for those less experienced with the region’s avifauna. It presents a collection of well painted plates, and although a product of various artists, they maintain a general level of accurate morphology and plumage patterns, that, also includes distinct subspecies and non-breeding variation. Generously spaced drawings, in high quality print of sufficient size and detail, that are further enhanced by annotation points that highlight key identification features. Plates that that give a strong impression the illustrators are experienced with live versions of their subjects. It introduces representations of obscure, sought after species, like Rufous-tailed Babbler and Przevalski’s Pinktail, badly drawn in previous guides, in a quality that they look like the bird you will see in the field. For easy to identify species these plates are all most experienced birders will need, but It also makes an excellent stab at some of China’s more cryptic and confusing families, such as the leaf warblers, bush warblers, rosefinches, for whom plates are often never quite enough, but here are represented by reliable illustrations that help narrow the field, being good pointers, together with the books texts and distribution maps, to other identification resources – such as online calls, photos and more detailed distribution data found at sites like Ebird. The plates found in Birds of China have become among my “go to” references when reviewing difficult to identify photo subjects, and those I use as pre-trip revision material, when preparing for visits to sites outside my normal birding areas.
Paradoxically it’s the plates that cause the book’s major problem – at least in terms of it being a field guide for use in the field. So generously spaced and extensive, taking up so much space, resulting in most of its bulk. In a perfect field guide publishing world, where expense was an irrelevance, Princeton would have redesigned a large reference book intended for a home market into a smaller travel handy guide for the visitor – compress the layout, more species per page, get rid of excessive print-free space. How handy this book would be, if somehow it was slimmed down to half size!
As one might expect, when dealing with 1,500 species through 4,000 illustrations the species description texts and distribution maps are very concise, but accurately written and edited by those who obviously have first-hand field knowledge of the birds being described. The texts are made up of short notes on habitat, behaviour, distribution and voice. However, there are no written descriptions of plumages, which are left to the illustrations, where the annotations act as texted pointers to the most obvious identification features. For me this works quite well, but for those that like to read lengthier descriptions, rather than just rely on a plate and rudimentary notes, it could be included as one of the book’s weaknesses. Another is the omission of alternative common names, with the book just choosing single current versions, as found on Ebird, which has taken up the elimination of eponymous nomenclature. Here confusion could occur when looking through older trip reports – Kessler’s Thrush is now White-backed Thrush, Sukatschev’s Laughingthrush is Snowy-cheeked – but it’s a small annoyance and one that’s easily rectified by referring to scientific names.
The text backs up the distribution maps, which are standard colour coded for migrant/resident/passage status, by naming the provinces and regions where species are found. However, being squeezed into limited page space, the actual maps omit province borders, which can be annoying for those not well acquainted with the layout of China. With increasing numbers of Chinese birders submitting various survey, census and trip reports to local ornithological organisations the accuracy of the book’s distribution information is something that, with its Chinese editorial roots, can be assumed to be up to date, reliable and, with future editions, accurately updated.
Included in the voice section are onomatopoetic representations of bird calls, something that doesn’t always work for me as useful identification aids. The Chinese version of Birds of China and new MacKinnon books get over this handicap by giving QR codes that link to online recordings of many species. The MacKinnon linking up with the Xeno-Canto (Xeno-Canto 2005), while the Chinese version links to a handy Chinese database that quickly uploads and avoids some of the hassle when dealing with non-Chinese websites in China. It would be good if future editions of the Princeton book could also include QR codes – but, when in China, with all the limitations of internet for visiting birders these online identification tools can be difficult to use, especially in the field.
Lastly, plates and descriptions work best with a good index and Birds of China doesn’t fault in that respect, with two separate and clear common and scientific name indices – often the most used part of any field guide.
My conclusion – this book is no doubt a great thing for all birders interested in China, even for those not planning to visit it’s a handsome and enlightening addition to any world field guide collection. For Chinese ornithologists it’s a thing of pride, a literary flagship giving evidence to the rise of birdwatching as an ever growing, mainstream national pastime. For foreign birders planning to visit, its quality of plates makes it at least an essential pre- and post-trip tool – out of what is available, these, in my opinion, represent the best drawn representations of Chinese species. Extremely useful when “boning up” on what might be seen and so handy when checking through photos or observation notes when trying to identify difficult or badly seen species. Saying that, I don’t rate the book as being hugely superior to its main rival from MacKinnon and Phillips, a book which is slightly smaller and features those vocalisation links to Xeno-canto – another field guide that suitably copes with the regions avifauna and quite sufficient for the needs of the experienced birder. However, with both being sold at around the same price, it’s the plates that make Princeton’s Birds of China my winner – they might be the reason for its bulk, but they take illustrations of Chinese bird species to a whole new level. .
On the subject of the future of field guides it could be argued that Princeton missed a chance with this book to produce something extremely useful, a handy, compact, travel-friendly field guide. But publishing is a business. It costs to redesign books and, undoubtably, the relatively small numbers of visiting birders that actually make it to China doesn’t justify the expense and trouble of producing such a specialist edition. Likewise, the competition presented by online resources – identification apps, that also can be found for Chinese bird species – must be making field guides even more of a niche product and some visiting birders might no longer think they’re a vital component of their trip. Maybe the days of paper and print indentification tools are slowly drawing to a close, but at the very least, with Princeton’s Birds of China we have a book that compliments, and for the sheer practicality of being able to quickly flick through pages and nail that hard to identify species, outmatches anything the web can throw up in the way of Chinese avifauna – thoroughly recommended.
Older Reviews
Two new Chinese field guides have recently been published that more than compliment the rather dated MacKinnon and Phillipp’s English language field guide.
What is important with these two guides is that they include current splits, have excellent plates, include common English Language/scientific names with the plates, species are arranged in current common taxonomical order and, last but not least, both contain an English language index. What they don’t have are English language descriptions of plumage, habitat and distribution. However, both have small range maps, with one of the books having maps that show province borders, which are very useful when trying to orientate to a China bird trip route.
Both books are as bulky as the Mackinnon guide – you’re not going to get a small handy field guide when working with China list of over 1,400 species – and both come at a far cheaper price.
China National Geographic (CNG) Birds of China
Out of the two new books this is the most outstanding. A work fully up to the standards of western field guides it fully deserves an English language edition. But even as a Chinese language book the quality of the plates makes it an almost have to have edition for any visiting birder. The plates are so good that they actually become a bit of frustration since distinguishing identification features are arrowed, but the written explanation of those details are all in Chinese. However, the arrow is still of use when the feature is obvious such as leg colour or easy to spot plumage variation, but a little cryptic with more subtle variations. The index section is also very easy to use – three indexes: Chinese, English and scientific. The main drawbacks are arrangement of text to plate – species description on left-hand pages with the plates on the right. The English name is only given with the description the species names with the plates are only in Chinese. It would have been great if English names were also included with the plate or there had been some sort of numbering system so finding the English name on the relevant description would be easier. However, descriptions match the placement of the species on the plates – in most cases both are arranged in two columns so the top left-hand description matches up to the top left hand plate and so forth. Another annoyance is lack of province borders on the distribution maps – borders make it far easier to orientate with regard to trip routes.
The other great thing about this book is price – at 128CNY, under £15/US$20, its bargain basement stuff!
Handbook of Chinese Bird Identification by Nie Yan Qiu
This is a monumental piece of photographic work – every Chinese species photographed, mostly by Nie Yan Qiu. The photographs have then been edited and filtered, so that birds, cut out from the photo background, and filtered/edited so as to produce similar lighting effects, resemble traditional plate illustrations. The effect gives very reliable identification illustrations that in most cases fully capture a species’ “jizz.” However, the drawn illustration of CNG have that advantage that the bird can be shown in position that best displays an identification characteristic. But both books are far more effective at illustrating species than the MacKinnon plates – especially when it comes to the Leaf Warblers and the Rosefinches. The Illustrations in this book are together with the English name so no problem regarding putting the two together. The other great things are distribution maps with provinces and another very usable English index. The price of this book is 298CNY - around £33 or US$46.
To get a copies of either book please contact Sichuanbirding at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Mackinnon Guide
The Oxford University Press, A Field Guide to the Birds of China by John MacKinnon and Karen Phillips used to be the only field guide that solely covers China - and is the only English language field guide. Although a paperback It’s big, heavy, expensive and outdated (many of the species have now been split) – some of the illustrations are of questionable (obviously painted from specimens rather than field experience – and a few new splits have no plate). But it’s still a masterwork, since it fills a total void!!!!! This book is near essential because the decriptions of the species are generally excellent, with many of the splits being mentioned as subspecies. When used in tandem with one of the two new Chinese guides it makes a formidable identification tool.
Heres’s a link to the Wildsounds listing for this book
For those who want just the plates from this book there’s a much cheaper Chinese version that has an identical plate section – where the names are in English and Chinese. The rest of the book is in mandarin – so the idea with getting one of these versions is that you can cut it in half and just take the plates out birding (when you feel the weight of the complete book you’ll realize the sense in this suggestion). Since the price is around a fifth of the western version – this is not an expensive project - but I’m afraid you’ll have to use us or another Chinese contact to get your hands on a copy!!!!!.
Another book of interest is the Helm Field Guide, Birds of East Asia by Mark Brazil.
This book covers a lot of birds found in Sichuan – and has good plates that can give Sichuan birders some useful help. For example the plates on Phylloscopus Warblers are larger and clearer than Mackinnon – and even though these also can contain mistakes – they nudge you in the correct direction. But the problem of missing species can be a pain – since those Warbler plates lack birds like Emei Leaf, Plain-tailed and Grey-crowned.
The other big minus for Sichuan use is the distribution section doesn’t handle on Central china or Sichuan distribution. The only real way to use this book is in tandem to MacKinnon
Here’s a link to the Wildsound’s listing for this book
Another very useful reference guide are internet images at OB images (Oriental Birding Club). Although this resource isn’t always a practical tool when out on a trip, it makes for a useful reference when, back home, particularly if you’ve taken bird photos.
There are two website that have brilliant collections of calls and songs – Xeno-canto and AVoCet Avian Vocalizations Center.
Xeno-canto is the biggest site – and you’ll find most of your Sichuan calls in here.
At AVoCet the recordings are often of great quality – another brilliant site
For mammals the one major illustrated reference work is – Princedown Press, A Guide to the Mammals of China by Smith and Yan Xie. Another big expensive book – it looks very nice – but omits illustrations of some important species (only 1 Goral out 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!) – but again it’s the only book out there and a good one。