WOODPECKERS OF EUROPE

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Woodpeckers of Europe
A Study of European Picidae by Gerard Gorman
illustrated by Szabolcs Kokay
Bruce Coleman Books. 2004. L35.
ISBN 1872842054

Order this book at NHBS.

Despite the fact that Europe only supports 10 full species of woodpecker this sub-family account has plenty to say and Gerard Gorman says it in a fluid, not to say chatty, style. Don't for one minute suppose that it is short on science, far from it, but the author never seeks to blind you with it and academics would do well to study how he can say the same things they do without recourse to a scientific thesaurus or that mind numbing professorial lexicon that some species accounts resort to. I emphasise this simply because I get tired of reading 10 words where one will do when those in the know make knowledge esoteric by obfuscation rather than making it appreciated by the non-scientist through clarity and brevity.

In the best tradition of any similar treatise Gerard sets out all eleven accounts in the same way – each account starts with a fulsome description of all forms, ages etc. the gives a series of informative sections of Races, Hybrids, Similar Species, Jizz, Voice, Drumming, Signs, Habitat, Food, Behaviour, Breeding, Holes, Distribution, Movements and status. In other words it is a thoroughly comprehensive account of each which not only gives one a depth of appreciation but a breadth of data too.

This book has the woodland scented air of the birdwatcher about it rather than the musty reek of an ornithologist. We walk the Czech woods with Gerard or stroll the farms of the Hungarian hills sharing his enthusiasm as well as soaking up his lore. Moreover, the first chapters set the scene giving an overview of this almost universally enjoyed genera and the final chapters set the birds in the real world of man, competing taxa and potential predators.

I was lucky to receive this book on a day when the electrician was checking all my house wiring so I could not enslave myself to the computer nor leave the house to find some birds of my own – so rather than my rapid scan and dipping read I had the time to indulge a proper page turning sojourn. Terrific. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to a stroll in the woods with this expert and guide.

Fatbirder. Created: 2nd Sep 2004

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