Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World

Rating:
Summary: Definitely worth the wait
Review: I've been waiting for this second edition for over a year, but it was worth the wait. The swifts are considered by many to be among the hardest species to identify, especially in the tropics where the number of possible species is large, and the differences between species are slight. Identification was even trickier because most field guides neglect them, so it's a great help to finally have (almost) all of the subspecies of Vaux's Swift on the same plate. The species accounts are very detailed, and the range maps are superb. Also, the intruductory chapters about swift biology were quite interesting. Hopefully i'll be ready the next time i find an odd looking bird mixed with a flock of band-rumped swifts and add an ashy-tailed swift to my life list.