FINCHforum

Hello Fello Finchers,

Well I am glad to report that the first book I have ordered through Amazon.ca, has just arrived.

It's come all the way from England, and even though it's second hand, it appears to be brand new and is beautiful, and cost less (even with shipping) than it would have cost me had I bought it in the store.

I am very pleased.

Thank you w.I. for putting me on to this wonderful and inexpensive source of books

How is it?
I love this series and find most of their books excellent!

Are these the others due to come or have added more:

lovezebs wrote: w.l.

I also ordered a book on Zebras and Parrottlets (a species I would like to learn more about), and the newer version of The Finch Handbook.

w.l.

It's a beautiful little book, packed with pretty pictures and loads of information. Yes, this series is a good one indeed.

I saw another interesting series that I would love to get my hands on, but they want over a thousand dollars for the full series so no, I won't be getting that. It's got something like sixteen or eighteen volumes, all big hardcover tomes, about birds of the world.

Those other books are on their way, and there are several others which I ordered as well.

Caged And Aviary Birds
By: David Alderton

Seed Eating Birds: Their Care and Breeding: Finches and Allied Species-Doves, Quail and Hemimpdes
By: Jeffrey Trollope

Hollistic Care For Birds: A Manual of Wellness and Healing
By: David McCluggage

Encyclopedia of Birds (second Edition)
By: Forshaw

Once all of these arrive, I shall be set for some good reading for a while

Wow, you did get into shopping!

I find Alderton's books pretty basic and would have advised against it.
I think I have an edition of what you ordered, and it's just so silly, it treats different color variations of budgies on separate pages as if they were different species, while info on finches is limited. Beware of buying further books by that author.

A much better general avicultural book is this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/9036614953/re ... L2L2PVYKMR

However, Trollope's book is one of the "Oldie but Goodie" classics!
I like it a lot.

The hyperesxpensive series you mean is the HBW one?
I too, can only dream even of a single volume of it....

http://www.lynxeds.com/catalog/hbw

Good reading for sure!! Does the Finch Handbook have any information about Javas? Do you know who the author is?

wildbird

The Finch Handbook has info on 60 species of estrildid finches, including Javas, of course.
It's translated from German (believe me, that means quality!) and the author is Christina Koepff:

https://www.amazon.com/Finch-Handbook-B ... S53W45T66H

Thank you W.I. It's a book I'd like to have.

Then buy it!

It costs a pittance 2nd hand.
In fact I recommend getting the older edition:

https://www.amazon.com/New-Finch-Handbo ... h+handbook

It has virtually the same text, but much better selected and more logically arranged color photos than the newer edition that has multiple zebras on the cover.

w.l.

The write up about the Alderton book sounded interesting, and it had some good comments about it.... well, you win some, you lose some.

As to the rest, we shall see....

And yes, that's the series : http://www.lynxeds.com/catalog/hbw
I was amazed at just how expensive they are. I wonder if they have many customers for it at those prices.

The Alderton book is a pretty, colorful yet small enough hardcover one which many readers might find nice to casually look through without looking for much info.
Judge for yourself.
And, despite more favourable reviews, definitely stay clear of his book on "finches and softbills" that is so generic it has no info on individual species at all!

The originally Dutch "Cage and Aviary Birds" I recommended below is under $1 on amazon.ca for a Very Good copy though.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/offer-listing/ ... 635&sr=8-1
Maybe add that to your list and compare to Alderton's.

Of the general "encyclopedias", I find this one the most complete:
https://www.amazon.com/Firefly-Encyclop ... a+of+Birds
It's much cheaper on Amazon's US than Canadian site.

The HBW series is mostly bought by institutions, I guess.
Individual buyers must be very rich and/or very keen to buy even a single volume, let alone all 17 for €212 each!

w.l.

I think I'll wait until these other books make their appearance, before I order anymore, but I will definitely keep the Dutch book in mind for the future.

It was actually exciting to have this little book arrive in the mail today. It's been too long since anything other than bills have come through the post, lol.

My second 2 books have arrived today, YAY!

The one about Parrotlets, is in excellent (brand new) condition.
The one about Finches, is showing a bit of it's 33 years since publication, but is still in fair shape.

So now I'll ba able to sit back, and enjoy a couple of hours of reading, and hopefully learn something new .

Both from the Barron series...

That 2nd one is one of my all-time favourites, hope you will like it similarly!
And it's actually the same edition I have, the newer one (which I like less) has zebras on the cover. It surely will have some new things to tell you, and makes a particularly good companion to reading exporters' price lists.

Just found you guys have added quite a few posts since I last checked.

W.l. - I'm getting the impression you have a whole library at home Mine is growing (just like Elana's) and with my collection of books about dogs, orchids and plumeria, I'm glad we have book shelves in the guest room, too.

lovezebs - It looks like you are set for a long, snowy winter. Enjoy! I'm finding myself going back and forth between reading and knitting during our (surprisingly many) rainy days.
Iso

w.l.

So far I've just had a chance to leaf through them and look at some of the pictures, but they do look promising.

Annnd, there are a few more on their way, to arrive in the next few days ( weeks ?) LOL....