gdan

I am travelling to Borneo October 27 - November 4 and am having a hard time locating birding guides for the region here in Hong Kong.

I am especially interested in finding MacKinnon's "A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Bali: The Greater Sunda Islands"

Are there any stores where this or other bird guides might be available in Hong Kong?

Thanks.

Dan Galvin

mistergalvin AT yahoo.ca

tmichael

Hi Dan,

Proabably not actually, I'm afraid.

Hong Kong is not well-provided with shops that sell bird books.

The stocking policy with regard to brd books of otherwise fairly good bookshops like PageOne and Swindon's is unfathomable - they seem to think there's massive demand here for very ordinary books on "Common birds of a North American/British/European Garden", or the like. In fact the books stay on their shelves for months/years, next to the books on dogs, cats etc!

If you need such books you have to get them by mail-order/Internet from overseas. Or look in bookshops in Singapore (the really big one with the long Japanese name, Borders, or the excellent bookshop in the Botanical Gardens there).

Having said all that if you haven't tried Swindon's in TST or Kelly and Walsh in Pacific Place, you might just be lucky there.

Mike Turnbull

sdavid

Hi Dan

I've got that book but unfortunately can't lend it to you as I'll be needed it myself as I'm in Bali the same week - sorry.

However, I ordered mine from Amazon.co.uk  - it came promptly, in about 10 days, with an o/s delivery charge of about 10 english pounds. You may be lucky if you order quickly and get it delivered in time - though sometimes amazon do take longer than they advertise.  Other nhbs.com may be able to deliver from the UK quickly.

Depending on where you're flying into in Bormeo, you may be able to get the book (or one of the simpler photographic guides) in an airport bookshop?  When I was in Brunei, the tourist office did sell the photographic guides along with 'Birds of Borneo' and other natural history books for Borneo.

Sorry I can't be of more help, but it is hard to source field guides out here.

Good luck

Dave

handrew

I tried to order a copy from Amazon and gave up waiting. Perhaps Dave got the last one! I took the Craig Robson S E  Asia guide - ok but not ideal. I also tried to get the book on www.abebooks.com but couldn't. Might be tricky I'm afraid.

gdan

Thanks guys, for your advice.

In the end I've ordered the MacKinnon guide from the UK amazon site with rush delivery - they say 2 to 4 business days.  I had been hoping to avoid the cost of that, but now I'll be well prepared for the trip!

Thanks again.

Dan