Handbook of the Birds of the World Vol.3: Hoatzin to Auks

The Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 3 covers an impressive total of 30 bird families, encompassing a wide variety of unique species from diverse habitats. This volume, which begins with a foreword by artist and naturalist Robert Bateman, explores some of the most unusual and fascinating bird families, including those with only one species, such as the Hoatzin, the Limpkin, and the Sunbittern from South America, the Crab Plover from the Middle East, the Ibisbill from Central Asia, the endangered Kagu from New Caledonia, and the Plains-wanderer from Australia.

Additionally, the book covers forest birds, such as Madagascar's mesites and South America's trumpeters, as well as species that thrive in open landscapes, including buttonquails, seriemas, bustards, thick-knees, and tinamous. However, most of the volume focuses on waterbird families, with detailed sections on rails, gallinules, and coots (133 species), sandpipers, snipes, and phalaropes (86 species), skuas (7 species), plovers (67 species), gulls (51 species), terns (44 species), and auks (22 species), among others.

Highlighted Features

• Covers 30 bird families, including the rare Kagu, Hoatzin, and Sunbittern.
• 60 color plates and 384 photographs.
• 577 distribution maps.
• More than 8,000 bibliographic references for further study.

Contents

• Order Opisthocomiformes
• Family Opisthocomidae: 1 genus, 1 species
• Order Gruiformes
• Family Mesithornithidae: 3 genera, 3 species
• Family Turnicidae: 2 genera, 17 species
• Family Gruidae: 2 genera, 15 species
• Family Aramidae: 1 genus, 1 species
• Family Psophiidae: 1 genus, 3 species
• Family Rallidae: 32 genera, 133 species
• Family Heliornithidae: 3 genera, 3 species
• Family Rhynochetidae: 1 genus, 1 species
• Family Eurypygidae: 1 genus, 1 species
• Family Cariamidae: 2 genera, 2 species
• Family Otididae: 9 genera, 26 species
• Order Charadriiformes
• Family Jacanidae: 6 genera, 8 species
• Family Rostratulidae: 2 genera, 3 species
• Family Dromadidae: 1 genus, 1 species
• Family Haematopodidae: 1 genus, 12 species
• Family Ibidorhynchidae: 1 genus, 1 species
• Family Recurvirostridae: 2 genera, 10 species
• Family Burhinidae: 2 genera, 10 species
• Family Glareolidae: 4 genera, 17 species
• Family Charadriidae: 10 genera, 67 species
• Family Scolopacidae: 20 genera, 86 species
• Family Pedionomidae: 1 genus, 1 species
• Family Thinocoridae: 2 genera, 4 species
• Family Chionidae: 1 genus, 2 species
• Family Stercorariidae: 2 genera, 7 species
• Family Laridae: 11 genera, 51 species
• Family Sternidae: 9 genera, 44 species
• Family Rhynchopidae: 1 genus, 3 species
• Family Alcidae: 13 genera, 22 species