This volume of work draws on the technical skills of Geoff Moon’s work and expands his earlier three publications about New Zealand’s native forest birds. Moon spent many years photographing birds in their natural habitat and recording his own notes on their surroundings.
The late Geoff Moon OBE, (1915-2009) Fellow of the Photographic Society of New Zealand and Associate of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, worked as a veterinarian. Today he is remembered as one of New Zealand’s most respected bird photographers, with his own original notes made in the field for every image.
Over 150 images are colourfully arranged in this book. This edition stays true to his original style with informative and well- illustrated text. While there is a lot of text this can be bypassed because the reader can quickly turn to the easily referenced information at the start of each chapter. The material is scientifically factual and is up to date. The reader requires a high level of literacy to read all the text but the glossary is helpful for unpacking the academic vocabulary.
Well-chosen illustrations break up the text and when the book opens to a double page photograph the impact is spectacular. There are approximately thirty species of our best loved birds outlined. Bellbird, Fantail, Kingfisher, Kiwi, Morepork, Saddleback, Tomtit, and Tui are amongst them.
This book is a good size for field work, or a comfortable weight in your hands at a coffee table.
Geoff Moon has given us many offerings about New Zealand Birds and this collection extends our knowledge yet again. Perhaps it summarises those earlier editions. It will make an excellent addition to your bookshelf. This will be a valuable addition to any bookcase.
Reviewer: Sonia Edwards
New Holland Publishers, RRP $34.99