Creative writers describing life on the oceans in fiction or non-fiction can all use a book on their shelf that goes beyond a mere image of a bird or an encyclopedic description of a species to a combined visual and textual categorization of the types of oceanic birds one might find across the world. Bird-watching is a popular pastime on land, so those who enjoy this activity, might also enjoy looking over the images that they cannot encounter on a nature walk. This is also a great art book for those interested in illustrations and photography. The cover advertises it by explaining that the rarely seen oceanic birds: “offer unusual identification challenges—many species look similar and it can be difficult to get good views of fast-flying birds from a moving boat. The first field guide to the world’s oceanic birds in more than two decades… The introduction discusses…” innovations in “seabird taxonomy… Each group and species complex has an introductory overview of its identification challenges, illustrated with clear comparative photos. The text describes flight manner, plumage variation related to age and molt, seasonal occurrence patterns, migration routes, and many other features.” The author is Steve N. G. Howell, “an international bird tour leader with WINGS”, while the photographer is Kirk Zufelt, a physician, who “has spent more than a year at sea over the past decade studying and photographing the world’s seabirds at some of the remotest locations on the planet.” The combination of medical expertise and artistic appreciation, as well as the commercial touring perspectives seem to have been a good combination for this project.
The taxonomy of these birds is divided into: penguins, alcids, diving petrels, petrels, albatrosses, storm-petrels, tropicbirds, frigatebirds, gannets and boobies, skuas and jaegers, gulls and terns, and phalaropes. I have not even heard of most of the categories, so most of these birds look very foreign, unlike the gulls and penguins that are pretty dominant in popular culture. In fact, they are so rare in both scientific and popular discussions that the authors had to invent some of their names: “Few groups of birds have had a more-checkered taxonomic history than seabirds. We have used familiar and established names for the most part, but in some cases we had to coin new names for taxa that lacked them” (8). Abbreviations and terms used are explained in the introductory pages: this is necessary given the complex nature of this topic for the general public (11-2). The text is brief and to-the-point throughout, so that the section on conservation only takes up half-a-page; perhaps such brevity is more convincing than a long lecture, as most college lecturers can attest (29). It appears most of the photographs taken on research missions were turned into paintings, especially since the artist had to create several perspectives of each bird and different ages and sexes, even if they might have only captured a single snapshot from a single perspective on film (90). These paintings are tastefully executed, and are precise in their research, as tiny differentiations between some similar species are stressed. The feeding and other habits are curious to read; for example, the gadfly petrels “Feed by snatching fish and squid near the surface, and by scavenging… Most species nest in burrows and crevices and visit colonies at night…” (92). It is clear the book is written by a team that spent a lot of time actually trying to distinguish these birds at sea, as they describe their distinctions with careful precision. For example, when writing about Wedge-tailed Shearwater birds, they note: “In calm, flight typically unhurried, with wings pressed forward and slightly crooked; wingbeats shallow and easy, interspersed with buoyant glides on arched wings; wheels easily in strong winds, but generally in low arcs, not towering high like heavy-bodied species” (174). Too often writers simplify all birds by describing them flying or their long beaks picking at bits of food, but writers who are more interested in writing a Moby-Dick-sized novel about the sea should find these types of descriptions helpful in learning specific behaviors and characteristics, which can then be utilized in a manner that fits the symbolic or narrative needs of a story.
This is an outstanding book that should be an enjoyable addition for most libraries’ patrons. Anybody with a boat who travels across oceans should also have this guide handy in case they spot a bird and want to figure out what it is, either because they are fishing and its identity might help them figure out what fish might be around, or just to pass the time while learning a bit about their airy neighbors.