| Author |
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|---|---|
| Country | Spain |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Nature |
| Publisher | Lynx Edicions |
| Published | 1992–2013 |
| Media type |
TheHandbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by theSpanish publishing houseLynx Edicions in partnership withBirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species ofbird. The series was edited byJosep del Hoyo,Andrew Elliott,Jordi Sargatal andDavid A. Christie.
All 16 volumes have been published. For the first time an animalclass will have all the species illustrated and treated in detail in a single work. This has not been done before for any other group in theanimal kingdom.
Material in each volume is grouped first by family, with an introductory article on each family; this is followed by individual species accounts (taxonomy, subspecies and distribution, descriptive notes, habitat, food and feeding, breeding, movements, status and conservation, bibliography). In addition, all volumes except the first and second contain an essay on a particular ornithological theme. More than 200 renowned specialists and 35 illustrators (includingToni Llobet,Hilary Burn,Chris Rose andH. Douglas Pratt) from more than 40 countries have contributed to the project up to now, as well as 834 photographers from all over the world.
Since the first volume appeared in 1992, the series has received various international awards. The first volume was selected as Bird Book of the Year by the magazinesBirdwatch andBritish Birds, and the fifth volume was recognised as Outstanding Academic Title byChoice Magazine, theAmerican Library Association magazine. The seventh volume, as well as being named Bird Book of the Year byBirdwatch andBritish Birds, also received the distinction of Best Bird Reference Book in the 2002WorldTwitch Book Awards[1] This same distinction was also awarded to Volume 8 a year later in 2003.[2]
Individual volumes are large, measuring 32 by 25 centimetres (12.6 by 9.8 in), and weighing between 4 and 4.6 kilograms (8.8 and 10.1 lb); it has been commented in a review that "fork-lift truck book" would be a more appropriate title.
As a complement to theHandbook of the Birds of the World and with the ultimate goal of disseminating knowledge about the world's avifauna, in 2002Lynx Edicions started theInternet Bird Collection (IBC). It is a free-access, but not free-licensed, on-line audiovisual library[3] of the world's birds with the aim of posting videos, photos and sound recordings showing a variety of biological aspects (e.g. subspecies, plumages, feeding, breeding, etc.) for every species. It is a non-profit endeavour fuelled by material from more than one hundred contributors from around the world.
In early 2013, Lynx Edicions launched the online databaseHBW Alive, which includes the volume and family introductions and updated species accounts from all 17 published HBW volumes. Since its launch, the taxonomy has been thoroughly revised and updated twice (once for non-passerines and once for passerines), following the publication of the two volumes of theHBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World.
TheHandbook of the Birds of the World Alive site also provides a free access 'Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology'.[4]
An updated two-volume set with taxonomic revisions was released in 2014 as the Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World, and a condensed, single-volume version of the series was published in 2019 as All the Birds of the World.
A list of volumes of theHandbook of the Birds of the World produced to date is as follows:
This volume was published in 1992. Unlike subsequent volumes, it does not have an introductory essay; instead, it has a 38-page overview byEduardo de Juana of the biology of birds and a foreword welcoming the HBW project, byChristoph Imboden. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in 1994. It has a foreword byWalter J. Bock on the organization of information in HBW. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in 1996. It has a foreword byRobert Bateman on "art and nature". Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in 1997. It has an introductory essay "Species Concepts and Species Limits in Ornithology" byJürgen Haffer. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
This volume was published in 1999. It has an introductory essay "Risk Indicators and Status Assessment in Birds" byNigel J. Collar. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in 2001. It has an introductory essay "Avian Bioacoustics" byLuis Baptista andDon Kroodsma. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in 2002. It has an introductory essay "Extinct Birds" byErrol Fuller. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
This volume was published in 2003. It has an introductory essay "A Brief History of Classifying Birds" byMurray Bruce. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in 2004. It has an introductory essay "Ornithological Nomenclature" byRichard Banks. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in 2005. It has an introductory essay "The Ecology and Impact of Non-Indigenous Birds" byDaniel Sol,Tim Blackburn,Phillip Cassey,Richard Duncan andJordi Clavell. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in September 2006. It has an introductory essay "Ecological Significance of Bird Populations" byCagan Sekercioglu with a preface byPaul R. Ehrlich. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in October 2007. It includes an introduction to the fossil birds byKevin J. Kayleigh. This volume covers the following groups:
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This volume was published in October 2008. It includes an introductory essay on bird migration byIan Newton. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in October 2009. It includes the foreword "Birding Past, Present and Future – a Global View" byStephen Moss. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in October 2010. It includes a foreword on bird conservation byStuart Butchart,Nigel Collar,Alison Stattersfield, andLeon Bennun. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in December 2011. It includes a foreword onclimate change and birds byAnders Pape Møller. Groups covered in this volume are as follows:
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This volume was published in July 2013. It includes a comprehensive introduction byJon Fjeldså on changes in bird macrosystematics and a foreword on the history ofBirdLife International. It covers 84 new species published more recently than their corresponding HBW volumes, including 15 scientific descriptions of newly discovered Amazonian birds.
This volume was published in July 2014. It depicts all non-passerines with drawings and maps, including all extinct species since the year 1500.
This volume was published in December 2016. It depicts all passerines with drawings and maps, including all extinct species since the year 1500.
