This spectacularly illustrated book is the only complete guide to the wildlife and natural history of the vast and beautiful Antarctic region. Covering the Antarctic continent, the southern ocean, and the subantarctic islands, this guide illustrates all of the region's breeding birds and marine mammals with stunning colour photographs. In addition to the colour plates, it features distribution maps and up-to-date species accounts expertly detailing abundance, seasonal status, and conservation prospects. The volume also covers numerous nonbreeding species, migrants, and vagrants. Regional chapters describe all of the subantarctic islands, in addition to most regularly visited sites in Antarctica, and are accompanied by maps of each area and photographs of each locale. These chapters present detailed information on geography, climate, geology, general ecology, and flora. They also address conservation efforts - past, present, and planned. The book concludes with practical information about visiting the area, including details on the best-available landing sites and notes on seasonal weather conditions. This is an indispensable companion for a trip far south, as well as an informative volume for anyone interested in the Antarctic region's remarkable, occasionally strange, and frequently beautiful animals.

THE BRITISH BIRDS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 This unique and spectacular handbook is the most complete and comprehensive photographic guide to the passerines of the Western Palearctic. Written by two of the world's most respected ornithologists, Hadoram Shirihai and Lars Svensson, it contains the most up-to-date information available on bird identification covering all aspects of plumage, moult, ageing and sexing, with sections on voice and other identification criteria, and detailed taxonomic notes. The passerines are divided into two volumes, with the first covering larks, hirundines, pipits and wagtails, bulbuls, accentors, robins, chats, wheatears, thrushes, prinias and cisticolas, and warblers, and the second covering flycatchers, reedlings, tits, nuthatches, orioles and sunbirds, shrikes, corvids, finches and buntings, along with extreme vagrants. The exceptional text is backed up by a remarkable collection of more than 5,000 photographs, featuring a comprehensive range of plumages that illustrate every race and morph of each species in the region. This stunning handbook will be the definitive reference for the region for years to come - no birder's shelf will be complete without it.

Based on phylogenetic research, this complete study of the genus Sylvia describes two new species and establishes identification criteria for all members of the family. A lengthy introduction explains the background to the research and outlines the main features of the genus. The 25 species are then treated in detail, including the African parisomas, which are here included in the Sylva group. The species accounts include sections on every aspect of identification, with colour illustrations showing age, sex and racial differences, distribution maps, sonograms, moult and wing diagrams and tables."

This new field guide is a complete and convenient reference to every species of cetacean, pinniped and sirenian in the world, along with the Marine and Sea Otters and the Polar Bear. Every species is illustrated with magnificent colour paintings and a stunning collection of photographs, chosen to illustrate the key field marks which can be used to separate each species in the field. The author's unique depth of experience and knowledge, coupled with the artist's unrivalled skill, have come together to produce a neat, practical field guide that will enable any observer to quickly identify any mammals they may encounter at sea.