Simpson & Day's Field Guide to the Birds of Australia seventh edition is completely revised.
Field guide section gives key points of identification using the latest classification system. 132 superb full-colour plates show all Australian bird species, including 16 new or revised plates.
Revised distribution maps with all subspecies shown and over 900 black and white line illustrations, many new or redrawn.
Extended breeding information and vagrant bird bulletin with 74 species. Updated core library included for beginner birdwatchers.
Changes to the 7th edition
Waterproof endpapers Some additional seabird bills have been drawn. Remember that the surface on which the beaks are printed is waterproof – you can wipe off any undesirable fluids after testing your latest beach-washed seabird.
Map of Australia This has been slightly modified, establishing the area the Field Guide concentrates on.
Introduction Pages have been rearranged and the section 'Believing your eyes', with three new colour illustrations, added to it.
Key to Families All artwork on these ten pages has now been standardised.
Field Information and Plates All consecutive numbering of species has been removed in line with modern practice. The names of all species and many races are now on the colour plates. Eight new plates are presented; twelve others have been modified.
Texts Have all been considered, revised, rewritten and rearranged to offer better sequencing and standardisation. Description of the breeding male is first, followed by that for the adult female, and plumages for any others required, including many races. 'Size', given for birds in each text entry, reflects the accepted measurements in five of the six volumes – from Ostrich to Chats – of HANZAB published to date.
Distribution maps All have been reconsidered. Hundreds have been fully redrawn, or modified. Every single race (subspecies) presently nominated for mainland Australia is shown and named.
Line drawings More than 80 new or redrawn images are scattered through the book.
Vagrant Bird Bulletin This has been renamed and extended radically. 'Rare bird bulletin' was not the best title for it. Nine recently accepted vagrant species for Australia have been added, and for purposes of standardisation, twenty-three species have been transferred to it from the Field Information text pages.
Australian Island Territories Checklists All have been revised and updated by Mike Carter and colleagues. A new composite list is added for Boigu, Dauan and Saibai Islands, which are Queensland islands in far northern Torres Strait, very close to the New Guinea coastline.
Glossary, Core Library, Indices All have been considerably expanded and the references and indices, as always, updated.
The 80-page Family summaries in our old Handbook have been removed, so that this book is a little lighter and therefore a slightly more portable field guide. Only the Breeding bars, but with expanded Breeding information text, have been retained.