Birds of Ireland Paperback – June 6, 2024

Fairly detailed and nice illustrations and pictures

This book is a handy size for a thorough field guide, and it's full of good information. Unfortunately the overall design isn't what I was hoping for.The bird photos are all on colored backgrounds in varying shades of blue, green, and purple. This may work for some, but for me, it's too visually chaotic enough to flip through a section scanning for quick details when my eyes keep having to adjust. Some of the colors also don't seem to offer enough contrast with the photos. The photos themselves show a nice variety of male and female birds, as well as juveniles, in different poses. The photography is well done, but I'm more used to using field guides with illustrations and think I might prefer that.Most of the text uses a very thin typeface that's a strain to read at that size, and the sections with white text on a colored background are nearly illegible to me without pulling the book up close in good lighting. The range maps are stuffed together in the back instead of on each bird's page, which seems inconvenient for trying to narrow down similar looking birds.This seems like it'd be great for someone who birds in Ireland often and wants multiple sources to consult, but the book design makes it less than ideal as a vacation field guide.