Helm Identification Guides

The ''Helm Identification Guides'' are a series of books that identify groups of birds. The series include two types of guides, those that are:
* Taxonomic, dealing with a particular family of birds on a worldwide scale—most early Helm Guides were this type, as well as many more-recent ones, although some later books deal with identification of such groups on a regional scale only (e.g., ''The Gulls Guide,'' which covers only species in Europe, Asia, and North America)
* Geographic, including all bird species in an area (e.g., ''The Birds of the West Indies'')

Early volumes were sometimes published under the Croom Helm or Christopher Helm imprints. In addition, a parallel set of guides, very similar in design, was published by Pica Press in the 1990s (marked ''Pica'' in the list below); Pica was later absorbed into A & C Black (now part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc), and these guides are now marketed as a single series. A completely revised version of the initial ''Seabirds'' has been published by Lynx Edicions.

Several of the books have won the British Birds ''Bird Book of the Year'' award.
A list of titles in the series, in chronological order of publication, is as follows:

Works with a taxonomic scope

Note: 'nW' indicates those that do not have worldwide coverage.

1980s

* ''Seabirds - an identification guide'' by Peter Harrison (1983) 'obs.'
* ''Shorebirds - an identification guide to the waders of the world'' by John Marchant, A. J. Prater and Peter Hayman (1986)
* ''The Tanagers : Natural History, Distribution, and Identification'' by Morton L. Isler and Phyllis R. Isler (1987) 'Smithsonian'
* ''Wildfowl - an identification guide to the ducks, geese and swans of the world'' by Steve Madge and Hilary Burn (1988)
* ''A Handbook to the Swallows and Martins of the World'' by Angela Turner, illustrated by Chris Rose (1989)

1990–1994

* ''Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers - A Handbook'' by C. Hilary Fry and Kathie Fry, illustrated by Alan Harris (1992)
* ''Finches and Sparrows'' by Peter Clement, illustrated by Alan Harris and John Davis (1993)
* ''Crows and Jays - A Guide to the Crows, Jays and Magpies of the World'' by Steve Madge, illustrated by Hilary Burn (1994)
* ''New World Warblers'' by Jon Curson, illustrated by David Quinn and David Beadle (1994)

1995–1999

* ''Woodpeckers'' by Hans Winkler, translated by David Christie, illustrated by David Nurney (1995) 'Pica'
* ''Buntings and Sparrows - A Guide to the Buntings and North American Sparrows'' by Urban Olsson and Jon Curson, illustrated by Clive Byers (1995) 'Pica'
* ''Terns of Europe and North America'' by Klaus Malling Olsen, illustrated by Hans Larsson (1995) 'A & C Black' 'nW'
* ''Swifts - A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World'' by Phil Chantler, illustrated by Gerald Driessens (1995) 'Pica'
* ''Tits, Nuthatches & Treecreepers'' by Simon Harrap, illustrated by David Quinn (1996)
* ''Munias and Mannikins'' by Robin L. Restall (1996)
* ''Pittas, Broadbills and Asities'' by Frank Lambert, illustrated by Martin Woodcock (1996) 'Pica'
* ''Warblers of Europe, Asia and North Africa'' by Kevin Baker (1997) 'nW'
* ''Skuas and Jaegers - a guide to the skuas and jaegers of the world'' by Klaus Malling Olsen, illustrated by Hans Larsson (1997) 'Pica'
* ''Shrikes - A Guide to the Shrikes of the World'', by Norbert Lefranc, illustrated by Tim Worfolk (1997) 'Pica' 'obs.'
* ''Nightjars - A Guide to Nightjars and related Nightbirds'' by Nigel Cleere, illustrated by Dave Nurney (1998) 'Pica'
* ''Parrots - A Guide to the Parrots of the World'' by Tony Juniper and Mike Parr, illustrated by Kim Franklin, Robin Restall, Dan Powell, David Johnston and Carl D'Silva (1998) 'Pica'
* ''Rails - a guide to the rails, crakes, gallinules and coots of the world'' by Barry Taylor, illustrated by Ber van Perlo (1998) 'Pica'
* ''Starlings and Mynas'' by Chris Feare and Adrian Craig, illustrated by Barry Croucher, Chris Shields and Kamol Komolphalin (1998)
* ''Owls - a Guide to the Owls of the World'' by Claus König & Friedhelm Weick and Jan-Hendrik Becking (1999) 'Pica' 'obs.'
* ''New World Blackbirds - the Icterids'' by Alvaro Jaramillo and Peter Burke (1999)
* ''Tanagers'' by Morton L. Isler and Phyllis R. Isler (1999) ''softcover'' (a revision of earlier issue)

2000–2009

* ''Thrushes'' by Peter Clement, illustrated by Ren Hathway (2000)
* ''Shrikes and Bush-shrikes'' by Tony Harris, illustrated by Kim Franklin (2000)
* ''Raptors of the World'' by James Ferguson-Lees and David Christie, illustrated by Kim Franklin, David Mead and Philip Burton (2001)
* ''Pigeons and Doves'' by David Gibbs, illustrated by Eustace Barnes and John Cox (2001)
* ''Sylvia Warblers - identification, taxonomy and phylogeny of the genus Sylvia'', by Hadoram Shirihai, Gabriel Gargallo and Andreas J. Helbig, illustrated by Alan Harris, photographic editor David Cottridge (2001)
* ''Sunbirds - A Guide to the Sunbirds, Flowerpeckers, Spiderhunters and Sugarbirds of the World'' by Robert A. Cheke and Clive F. Mann, illustrated by Richard Allen (2001)
* ''Wrens, Dippers and Thrashers'' by David Brewer, illustrated by Barry Kent MacKay (2001)
* ''Stonechats - A Guide to the Genus Saxicola'' by Ewan Urquhart, illustrated by Adam Bowley (2002)
* ''Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse - a guide to the Pheasants, Partridges, Quails, Grouse, Guineafowl, Buttonquails and Sandgrouse of the World'' by Steve Madge and Phil MacGowan (2002)
* ''Pipits and Wagtails of Europe, Asia and North America'', by Per Alstrom & Krister Mild, illustrated by Bill Zetterstrom (2003) 'nW'
* '' Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America'' by Klaus Malling Olsen, illustrated by Hans Larsson (2003) 'nW'
* ''Owls of the World'' by Claus König & Friedhelm Weick (2008)

2010–2019

* ''Reed and Bush Warblers'' by Peter Kennerley and David Pearson, illustrated by Brian Small (2010)
* ''Cotingas and Manakins'' by Graeme Green and Guy Kirwan (2011)
* ''Cuckoos of the World'' by Johannes Erritzøe, Clive F. Mann, Frederik P. Brammer and Richard A. Fuller, illustrated by Richard Allen, Jan Wilczur, Martin Woodcock and Tim Worfolk (2012)
* ''Robins and Chats'' by Peter Clement, and Chris Rose (2015)
* ''Wildfowl of Europe, Asia and North America'' by Sébastien Reeber (2015) 'nW'
* '' Flight Identification of Raptors of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East'' by Dick Forsman (2016) 'nW'
* ''Antpittas and Gnateaters'' by Harold F. Greeney and David Beadle (2018)
* ''African Raptors'' by William S. Clark and Rob Davies (2018) 'nW'

2020–current

* ''Birds of Paradise and Bowerbirds'' by Phil Gregory and Richard Allen (2020)
* ''Seabirds: The New Identification Guide'' by Peter Harrison, Martin Perrow, and Hans Larsson (2021) 'Lynx'
* ''Shrikes of the World'' by Norbert Lefranc (2022)

External links

Publisher website
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609124109/http://www.acblack.com/ , date=2010-06-09

Bird field guides