Zhang Cizu

This book offers a general photographic sampling of about 400 (30%) of the 1,300 birds found in China. This is not a field guide, but a larger format book broken into seven categories to display some nice photos and to provide basic information on the birds. Birds are grouped into these sections: water, swamp/mudflats, mountains, grassy shrubs, raptors, forest non-passerines, and forest songbirds.

There are approximately 420 color photos with 1-4 per page. Most of the birds are shown with just a single photo. These photos vary widely in quality. Some, about 40%, are good. The quality of the remaining 60% ranges from acceptable to poor. Many of these photos are small and distant, dark, or slightly blurry. Many of the photos are also taken of captive birds in a natural setting.

A couple of distractions with the photos result from some that have clearly been digitally pasted into a more attractive background (e.g., Wryneck, Black-capped Kingfisher, Blue-winged Pitta). A few others appear to actually be museum specimens posed on branches. These unnatural photos are more prevalent in another photo guide, Atlas of the Beijing Birds by Zhao.

Each bird is accompanied by 1-3 paragraphs of text that offer basic descriptions and natural history information regarding behavior, feeding, and nesting. The distribution of the bird in China is given and a very brief description of the voice is also mentioned.

This book is geared towards the casual birder with an interest to learn about and to see many of China’s birds in color photos.

I’ve listed several related books below…
1) The Birds of Hong Kong and South China by Viney/Phillips
2) A Field Guide to the Birds of China by MacKinnan/Phillipps
3) A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Hong Kong by HKBS (ISBN 9621428947)
4) The Birds of China by de Schauensee
5) Atlas of Birds of China by Qian (ISBN 7534915643)
6) Atlas of the Beijing Birds by Zhao (ISBN 7503822570)
7) The Avifauna of Hong Kong by Carey (ISBN 9627508020)
8) Birds of China by Zhang
9) Les oiseaux de Chine, de Mongolie et de Coree non passereaux by Etchecopar
10) A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-East Asia by Shimba… (plus d'informations)