HI Tweeters:
I just picked up a copy of the new Owl Book: Owls:A guide to the Owls of
the World by Claus Konig, Friedhelm Weick (who (no puns please)also did
the plates) and Jan-Hendrik Becking. Yale Univ. Press. $50.00.
It is the same series of books that started with Houghton Mifflin's
SEABIRDS in 1983. So the plates are group together at the beginning with
the text that follows. It is most up-to-date treatment on the World's Owls
available. Although Konig's taxonomy is going to take some getting use to:
e.g. Flammulated Scops Owl, spliting various tropical Screech-Owls and
Pygmy-Owls (Northern Pygmy-Owls into 2 species: Northern and Mountain
Pygmy-Owls).
The only complaints I've about his book is 1) The plate figures appear on
a neutral white background which "white-washes" the illustrations and 2)
The lack of North American references from these European based authors.
This is a problem I have with other volumes in this series.
Over all I liked the book and Owl people will enjoy this book.
Sincerely

Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen
Bainbridge Is., WA, USA
ipaulsen at linknet.kitsap.lib.wa.us
"Rallidae all the way"