Significant books on petrels such as this one are unfortunately few and far between. The book covers various petrels found in the eastern North Atlantic, with a combination of anecdotal accounts by the senior author Magnus Robb (who also made and analysed the sound recordings), detailed field guide–...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.668.3007 http://marineornithology.org/PDF/36_2/36_2_202-203.pdf |
| Summary: | Significant books on petrels such as this one are unfortunately few and far between. The book covers various petrels found in the eastern North Atlantic, with a combination of anecdotal accounts by the senior author Magnus Robb (who also made and analysed the sound recordings), detailed field guide–type illustrations by artist Killian Mullarney, and the calls of these seabirds produced by “Sound Approach ” on two compact discs. The calls cover most of the species and subspecies mentioned in the text and are not simply short edited sequences, but long real-time recordings. Although the book is in A4 landscape format and a bit awkward to handle, it suits the many superb photos of petrels and shearwaters in their breeding colonies and at sea. Petrels are essentially a horizontal species! Artwork by Mullarney enhances the text and sea-watchers in particular will find the plates and photos very useful. The geographic area covered, with one exception, ranges from Iceland in the north to the Cape Verde Islands in the south and includes the Mediterranean islands. Evocative sound recordings of the cackles, squeaks, barks and asthmatic screams of Procellariiformes from these areas bring back vivid memories for those of us fortunate enough to have visited many of these locations. The chapters are thorough and up to date, and deal mostly with breeding birds, with the odd exception where appropriate—for |
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