860 
THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol. 123, No. 4. December 2011 
use maps, both very useful for understanding the 
text and maps within the species accounts. It was 
a pleasure to see drawings of birds, many by the 
state’s birders, in the first atlas, and we now enjoy 
seeing photographs by many of the state’s most 
active birders in the second. This volume is a 
credit to the large team responsible for it and in 
particular to its watchful editor. Walter Ellison. 
The raw data are available in electronic form from 
the MOS for researchers wanting to draw on still 
more detail than the book offers. 
The only unfulfilled desideratum in the atlas is 
perhaps unreasonable; the reader would relish 
information on the avifauna of much earlier 
periods and also on the additional 230 or so bird 
species documented in Maryland and the District 
of Columbia but not known to breed there. A few 
recent volumes (such as San Diego County Bird 
Atlas of 2004) have included such material, 
allowing readers to consult a single reference for 
status and distribution of all bird species. We are 
assured that Maryland birders have already em¬ 
barked on a massive electronic data base that will 
include essentially all reliable bird records that 
have associated geographic data. If the teamwork 
and urbanity evident in their atlases are any 
indication, we anticipate outstandingly polished 
and rich results.—EDWARD S. BRINKLEY, 
124 Peach Street, Cape Charles, VA 23310, 
USA; e-mail: thalassoica@gmail.com 
SHOREBIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA, EU¬ 
ROPE. AND ASIA. A PHOTOGRAPHIC GUIDE. 
By Richard Chandler. Princeton University Press, 
Princeton. New Jersey. USA. 2009: 448 pages, 
850+ color photographs, and 134 color maps. 
ISBN: 13-978-0-691-14281-4. $35.00 (paper).— 
There is perhaps no other group of birds that has 
had so many books published that consider 
identification as the shorebirds. This is certainly 
no surprise as they can be difficult to identify in 
some cases, but in other situations they are vibrant 
and colorful. They are interestingly complex with 
regards to field separation, but yet attractive and 
charismatic. One of the classic volumes on this 
group was Richard Chandler’s North Atlantic 
Shorebirds published in 1989. It was one of the 
first books to attempt to simplify the identification 
of this group of birds through use of high quality 
photographs, in particular using standardized poses 
that were as comparable and easy to use as field 
guide paintings. Furthermore it included many 
amazing photographs of shorebirds in flight, a 
rarity in that day. Many books have come since 
then, including some with rather innovative and 
varied use of imagery. Some of these have 
attempted to achieve a feel for the shape and form, 
as well as how shorebirds look in the context of 
habitat, not simply comparative in terms of 
plumage. Thus, it was with great interest that I 
received Chandler’s new book Shorebirds of North 
America , Europe, and Asia: a photographic guide 
(Shorebirds henceforth) to review. The field of 
photographic guides to shorebirds is more crowded 
now, and certainly a question is if this new book 
fills a need or niche for researchers and shorebird 
observers. 
In the introduction Chandler notes this book 
grew out of his original North Atlantic Shorebirds 
and the similarities in structure are clear. Chandler 
also indicates his goal is to illustrate, photograph¬ 
ically, identification and age criteria, focusing on 
features that arc usable in the field with in-hand 
features not considered for the most part. It is 
interesting to compare the new volume with its 
progenitor as it clarifies how much has changed in 
the intervening years, including how much more 
we know about identifying these birds, but also 
that the quality of visual material today is so much 
better than even the classics such as Chandler's 
earlier book. For example, today photographic 
reproduction is of higher quality, and less 
expensive color reproduction allows for a much 
more visually stunning volume using over 850 
photographs. Shorebirds includes most of the 
species in the northern hemisphere as described in 
loose zoogeographical terms rather than all the 
area north of the equator. This definition allows 
for inclusion of 134 species; however, if their 
range extends to regions outside the northern 
hemisphere, it is also mapped, which is quite 
helpful. 
The book’s introduction of 30 pages is nicely 
illustrated. It includes some standard sections such 
as the topography of a shorebird. explanation on 
how to use the maps, and accounts as well as two 
major subsections. These are Plumages and Molts, 
and Shorebird Behavior. The latter describes 
primarily various aspects of foraging, and is 
lavishly illustrated. What is missing here is any 
information on territorial or sexual displays by 
shorebirds, and this may be because these are 
seldom seen where most observers live or 
observe. Reproductive displays are of such 
complexity and interest that they deserve at least 
