Phillipps: Phillipps’ Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo: Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan, Third Edition (2014): I couldn’t find anything in the introduction, but it appears to be generally a combination of traditional (1993) and newer (2009) taxonomy, review here. Way back in the days when blog posts still got a lot of comments, I wrote a piece on why field guides that arrange species in a more or less strict taxonomic order regularly frustrate me. MORE

The Greater Sundas area includes Sumatra, Borneo, Brunei, Java, and Bali, and the Wallacea area includes Sulawesi, the Moluccas and the Lesser Sundas plus all satellite islands. There are two excellent guides to the birds of Borneo: Phillipps’ Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo: Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan , 3rd Edition , by Quentin Phillipps and Karen Phillips, (2014), and Birds of Borneo: Brunei, Sabah, Sarawak, and Kalimantan by Susan Myers (2009). MORE

Reviews book review Borneo Brunei East Timor field guide Indonesia Indonesian Archipelago Malaysia“Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago: Greater Sundas and Wallacea” by James A. Eaton, Bas van Balen, Nick W. Brickle and Frank E. Rheindt is a big book. Or should I say a great book? Or both? MORE

Seven of them are island states, or a part of a larger island (Brunei). The Species per Square Mile Approach. While Colombia may have almost 2000 bird species, it is a huge country with, still, complicated long-distance travel logistics. MORE

This guide describes the 125 best birding sites for both common and rare species, covering Myanmar, Thailand, Laos (officially Lao PDR), Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and Timor Leste. The 125 Best Bird Watching Sites in Southeast Asia, edited by Yong Ding Li & Low Bing Wen. MORE

And the results are indicative, representative and nothing short of surprising: Brunei, The Gambia, Belize, Jamaica, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Panama and Haiti top the list. The beginning of the northern summer is a good time (as any) to dream of some of the most biodiverse places on Earth. No, I am not talking of Brazil or Columbia, they are not just in the tropics but more importantly, they are officially huge. MORE

And the results are indicative, representative and nothing short of surprising: Brunei, The Gambia, Belize, Jamaica, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea and Panama top the list. Summer is normally the vacation season, for ordinary tourists at least. Birders follow different patterns of bird migration and their local activities and travel accordingly. But – where? I discovered this cover-photo map somewhere at the BirdLife International’s website. MORE

So, when Redgannet asked me if I was interested in reviewing Phillipps’ Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo: Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan, Third Edition , by Quentin Phillipps and Karen Phillipps, a book he had acquired at Birdfair, I hesitated. Borneo is the third largest island in the world; politically it is divided amongst three countries–Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), Indonesia (Kalimantan) and the sultanate of Brunei. MORE