Field guide to the waders of Europe, Asia and North America.

A complete identification guide to all of the waders found in Europe, Asia and North America.

Waders offer some of the sternest challenges in field birding. This field guide provides the solution – a complete identification reference to all of the sandpipers, plovers, stints and other waders found in Europe, Asia and North America. Superb illustrations show birds at rest and in flight, in every plumage variant likely to be encountered in the region. More than eighty species have been grouped, especially on the flight plates, so that similar species are shown close to each other to avoid confusion.

Facing text concisely summarises key identification pointers including appearance, voice and behaviour to aid quick identification when out and about. Accurate distribution maps are also provided for every species in this field-friendly guide.

A work of great scholarship as well as beauty, this field-friendly book brings the world of these birds of the shoreline to life.

Stephen Message is one of the UK's foremost bird artists as well as an experienced birdwatcher. He studied graphic design, then specialised in natural history illustration at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and has worked as a freelance artist ever since.

Stephen has twice been runner up for the Bird Illustrator of the Year, and he was the Birdwatch Artist of the Year in 2017. He has illustrated many books in his career, including Waders of Europe, Asia and North America, and Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia, and painted the cover artworks for all four editions of the RSPB Handbook of British Birds.