Bird in the Hand

BIH - Intro

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In 1974, ABSA published a guide to ageing and sexing birds called "Bird in the Hand". This described, for a number of species, what to look for when banding the bird and reporting its status.

We have decided to publish this on-line, and the complete species' accounts can be accessed by clicking the links below. They follow the order of the book pages, and are pdf files of the original publication, which will open in a new window when clicked.

A later account was published by Danny Rogers in 19XX, called "Bander's Aid". We will endeavour to re-publish that next year as well.

An attempt to publish further species accounts, and up-dates of those here presented, failed on the realisation that measurements to enable sexing were more variable across regions that had been previously thought. The first edition is therefore presented with a warning that measurements may not always give accurate diagnoses of sex. However, there is a wealth of other information in the book that will be of use to any bander.

"Cover page, Preface, Authors and Contents pages."pp 1-3

"Topography, Colours and Measurements" pp 4-7

"Quails and Quail-like birds" pp 8-14

"The Small Grebes" pp 15-16

"The Larger Shearwaters" pp 17-20

"Giant Petrels" pp 21-24

"Prions" pp 25-30

"Four Medium Sized Terns" pp 31-32

"Little and Fairy Terns" pp 33-34

"Dominican Gull" pp 35-38

"Brown Goshawk" pp39-40

"Collared Sparrowhawk" pp 41-42