Animal Books

Stuart, there doesn't seem to be much available out there. I haven't seen anything myself to match some of the excellent handbooks on trees, birds, wildflowers etc. I found: Handbook of Australian Animals - Moffat. (85) 587p H $19.95 but I don't know what it's like. There's an opportunity there for someone to make the images in Fauna of Australia (multi-volume encyc from CSIRO) available in a field guide. Just wait a few years and the field guide will just be few pages of cats, foxes and roos :-(

Westprint Maps have a huge range of books all about Oz. Search under westprint, they have a good website with listings from their bookshop.

Stuart,

Have a couple of field guides:

Birds of Australia - Graham Pizzey ISBN 0 00 219201 2

Aust. Dangerous Snakes - Graeme F. Gow ISBN 0 207 14683 7

Snakes of Australia - Graeme F. Gow ISBN 0 207 14437 0

Not too sure if that bird guide is the best, try a national park ranger, they may have a better choice.

Books are: Readers' Digest Complete Book of Aust. Birds. ISBN 0 909486 50 6

What Animal is That? - Harry Frauca ISBN 0 7301 0120 7

Every Aust Bird Illustrated - Rigby ISBN 0 7270 0009 8

The 3 above are more coffee table books. There's plenty to whet your appetite, and test your wallet. Hooroo...

Stuart,

The Slater Field Guide To Australian Birds - Peter, Pat & Raoul Slater
isbn 0-947116-99-0

Perfect

SK

Stuart
the bird book that i carry is
Simpson & Day
Field Guid to the Birds Of Australia
ISBN 0 670 86305 X
My copy is geting a bit batterd from being on the road the other 2 bird books mentioned above are also good and I Know the Qnpws book shelves have at least one of the three mentioned if not all of them.

If you Are in Brisbane or SE Queensland another good general; book that has reptiles,birds, Worms, Spiders and mamals is.
Wildlife of the Greater Bisbane.
Published by Queensland Museum
ISBN 0 7242 6447 7
Hope this info helps

Regards Bruce

We stock most of the books recommended above in the ExplorOz Adventure Shop. However your message indicates you're looking for a child's book - have you seen the Steve Parish books (available from all Australia Post retail shops)? My 2 year old loves her one that is an alphabet book featuring Australian animals - there are tons of options in the range.Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
--------------------------
Always working, not enough travelling ;-)

Apart from the above, I like these:
- John Bransbury, Where to find birds in Aust - the birdwatcher's bible
- Jim Flegg, Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of Australia - photos give a different perspective to the drawings in Slater/Simpson & Day/Morcombe (we use the photo book and one of the drawings books)

These are a bit sophisticated for young kids. New holland's Green Guide series (mammals, snakes, frogs, etc) more suitable for kids.

A handy compact reference is Lonely Planet's "Watching Wildlife in Australia". Contains info about habitats (e.g. a few pages on the high country environment), particular locations (e.g. a couple of pages on what you might find on Fraser Is) and a wildlife gallery (e.g. a couple of pages on cockatoos). Lots of information, very readable.

Sturat
Bunknow what happend to my reply , it seems to have gone into the ether. I did list a hole bunch of good field guides , not going to do it again . The best for kids is 2 fold out , plastic covered units from the ABC shop . One on birds and one on animals , all aust of course . ERROL.

Just to let you know, the books we have so far:

Field Guide to Australian Birds - Michael Morcombe (published by Steve Parish) - well layed out, and while this book has paintings of birds rather than photographs, it includes pictures of the birds in flight - something the photo based books don't have.

Key Guide - Australian REPTILES and AMPHIBIANS (Leonard Cronin) - easy to follow descriptions, nice detailed paintings of the animals.

Still looking for a Mammals book.

Cheers,
Stuart
- To err is human, to moo bovine -