The World’s Rarest Birds

The World's Rarest Birds is a beautifully illustrated book highlighting the 590 most threatened species from the iconic Ivory-billed Woodpecker and Slender-billed Curlew to the more surprising species such as Velvet Scoter.

Thanks to an international photographic competition organized specifically for this book, stunning photographs of over 500 of these species are featured, for many species this will be the first time images have ever been published.  There are also paintings by Polish artist Tomasz Cofta of the 75 species for which no photos are known to exist, though a little wooden, they nevertheless give a good account of what the species must look like.

The introduction has chapters explaining the threats to birds from activities such as hunting and habitat loss to climate change and invasive species and the ways threat categories are applied.  Divided into seven regional sections--Europe and the Middle East; Africa and Madagascar; Asia; Australasia; Oceanic Islands; North America, Central America, and the Caribbean; and South America, each section includes an illustrated account of the bird species under threat there, and gives a concise description of distribution, key threats, and conservation needs.

It is sad to think that many of the birds depicted in this book may become extinct within our lifetime as a result of human impact and this book deserves a place on many a coffee table as a stark reminder of our influence on this planet.