ABG covers roughly 922 species including residents, migrants, introduced species, and vagrants found on the Australian mainland, Tasmania, and Australia’s endemic-filled islands. The Pocket Guide covers 708 species found on the mainland, Tasmania, and the near seas, but it only covers a few island species (so, no Christmas Island Swiftlet or Lord Howe Woodhen). It also limits subspecies coverage to distinctive subspecies, like the three morphological groups of Crimson Rosella.

Both guides organize bird families by three broad habitats: “Marine and Coastal Birds,” “Freshwater Birds,” and “Land Birds.” Within these groupings, species are largely in IOC classification order. The Pocket Guide uses a later version (v.11.1, 2021), so it’s more up-to-date, taxonomically. The habitat organization makes it easy to locate species accounts for unfamiliar birds, especially when you use the handy dandy “Visual quick reference to bird groups” on the inside front cover.

Species accounts are concise and rely on two to five captioned images for plumage information. The text succinctly describes habitat, behavioral traits, flight style, and common vocalizations. Many species accounts show juvenile and female plumage in addition to default adult plumage. Depictions of the bird in flight, closeups of key facial traits, and delightful drawings of behavior, such as Victoria’s Riflebirds displaying and Banded Stilts foraging, enrich many accounts. Range maps are as small as they are in the ABG. Maps and illustrations have been updated where necessary. There is also a “likelihood of encounter score,” a symbol that tells you how easy or difficult it is to find the bird in its area of distribution.

The editors have done an excellent job designing the species accounts to fit the small pages by utilizing tools like fonts, colors, and unobtrusive dividers to present a lot of information without a crowded feeling. There’s even room for “quick guides,” comparative plates on five bird groups: tube noses, terns, raptors, shorebirds, and aerial insectivores. The Pocket Guide also offers excellent tools to help locate unfamiliar species, including the previously cited “visual quick reference to bird groups,” color coded tabs, an alphabetical index to bird groups, and an index to English and scientific names.

Pocket Guide to Birds of Australia is an amazing accomplishment. Yes, a lot of material from the ABG has been left out—the plumage descriptions in that book alone are longer than this review! I also miss the extensive introductory material, which includes material on the evolution and classification of Australia’s birds. But we don’t need all this information for identification in most cases. We need a field guide that offers significant identification facts and images with user-friendly finding aids.

The two guides work best when used together—The Australian Bird Guide for preparatory study at home and the flexibound Pocket Guide to Birds of Australia for identification in the field. Of course, if you plan to bird Australia’s outer islands or if you have an intense interest in subspecies, you should consider packing both guides. But I think most birders will find the Pocket Guide to Birds of Australia to be the only efficient, beautifully illustrated field guide you will need, whether you’re in the outback near Alice Springs or birding Sydney’s Royal Park. And you’ll still have room in your suitcase for clothes.

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Donna L. Schulman is a retired labor relations librarian and professor and a New York City birder. She has reviewed over 220 books, initially fiction and women’s studies, now birds and nature, including monthly posts at the 10,000 Birds blog. Donna contributes to the annual “Best Bird Books of the Year” episode of the American Birding Podcast.