Bird books ain't bird books - and a tale of three wattlebirds

My best Christmas present this year was a new bird guide. The 2012 (ninth) edition of Pizzey's 'Birds of Australia', no less.

I already had two well thumbed, trusty books at my disposal: the 1981 Pizzey, and Simpson & Day's 'Field Guide to the Birds of Australia' (fourth edition, 1993). So why would I want another?

Well the Simpson & Day had been leading me astray with its wattlebirds. It said there was the Little Wattlebird in WA, the Yellow Wattlebird in Tas, and in Sydney it said we got the Red Wattlebird and the Brush Wattlebird. Yet I kept hearing references to Little Wattlebirds in Sydney. What was going on?


Pizzey had no Brush Wattlebirds gracing its pages. And we got the Little Wattlebird in Sydney. The big disadvantage with my old Pizzey was that the picture pages had all the birds bunched close together, and these, as well as the descriptions and the distribution maps were all in totally different sections of the book, which was a real pain.

All was revealed re the great wattlebird conundrum recently when I heard that the Brush and Little Wattlebirds had now been reclassified as the same species. There's no longer a Brush Wattlebird, and yes, it really is the Little Wattlebird here.

And pages 386 and 387 of my new Pizzey are devoted entirely to the three Australian wattlebirds. Pictures, maps, and descriptions are all there together now. All just as it should be! Good work Mr. Pizzey. (And Mr. Knight, the illustrator.)