Download or read book Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Snipe to pigeons written by S. Marchant and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1996 with total page 1028 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HANZAB is one of the world's major ornithological projects, and the first two volumes have attracted both critical praise and an international market. Volume 3 covers 129 species - the pratincoles, migratory waders and shore-birds, skuas, gulls and terns, and pigeons and doves. Many of the birds are virtually cosmopolitan in their distribution and are familiar to ornithologists throughout the world; such as the migratory waders which travel thousands of kilometres each year from theirbreeding grounds in the northern hemisphere to spend the southern winter in Australia and New Zealand. Information is presented in sections covering field identification, habitat, distribution and population, movements, food, social organization, social behaviour, voice, breeding, and plumages. Each account has a full list of references and black-and-white illustrations of behavioural postures and plumage features, maps showing breeding and non-breeding distribution, sonograms of calls and songs, and diagrams of timing of breeding and moulting.