Helm Identification Guides

In today's article we will delve into the fascinating world of Helm Identification Guides. Since its inception, Helm Identification Guides has been the subject of interest and study, capturing the attention of those seeking to further understand its nuances and complexities. Throughout history, Helm Identification Guides has been the protagonist of countless debates, discussions and reflections, being a topic that encompasses a wide range of perspectives and approaches. With so much to discover and analyze, it is evident that Helm Identification Guides continues to be a topic of relevance today, sparking the interest of academics, enthusiasts and the curious alike. In this article, we will explore the highlights of Helm Identification Guides, diving into its history, evolution, and its impact on various areas of society.

The Helm Identification Guides are a series of books that identify groups of birds. The series include two types of guides, those that are:

  • Taxonomic, dealing with a particular family of birds on a worldwide scale—most early Helm Guides were this type, as well as many more-recent ones, although some later books deal with identification of such groups on a regional scale only (e.g., The Gulls Guide, which covers only species in Europe, Asia, and North America)
  • Geographic, including all bird species in an area (e.g., The Birds of the West Indies)

Early volumes were sometimes published under the Croom Helm or Christopher Helm imprints. In addition, a parallel set of guides, very similar in design, was published by Pica Press in the 1990s (marked Pica in the list below); Pica was later absorbed into A & C Black (now part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc), and these guides are now marketed as a single series. A completely revised version of the initial Seabirds has been published by Lynx Edicions.

Several of the books have won the British Birds Bird Book of the Year award. A list of titles in the series, in chronological order of publication, is as follows:

Works with a taxonomic scope

Note: 'nW' indicates those that do not have worldwide coverage.

1980s

  • Seabirds - an identification guide by Peter Harrison (1983) ISBN 0-7470-1410-8 'obs.'
  • Shorebirds - an identification guide to the waders of the world by John Marchant, A. J. Prater and Peter Hayman (1986) ISBN 0-7470-1403-5
  • The Tanagers : Natural History, Distribution, and Identification by Morton L. Isler and Phyllis R. Isler (1987) ISBN 978-0-87474-552-8 'Smithsonian'
  • Wildfowl - an identification guide to the ducks, geese and swans of the world by Steve Madge and Hilary Burn (1988) ISBN 0-7470-2201-1
  • A Handbook to the Swallows and Martins of the World by Angela Turner, illustrated by Chris Rose (1989) ISBN 0-7136-4206-8

1990–1994

1995–1999

2000–2009

2010–2019

2020–current