The world region AUSTRALASIA (AUS) is bounded in the north-west by a notional line that separates the ASIA world region (to the west) from the AUS world region (to the east). The line is named after the 19^th century naturalist Alfred Wallace, who was the first to observe that west of this line reside Asian animal species, while to the east there is a mixture of Asian and Australasian species. The line is shown in solid red on the left (west) side and top (north) of the map you can see by clicking here.

Starting in the lower left (south-west) corner of the map, the Wallace Line separates the south central Indonesia islands of Bali (Asia) from Lombok (Australasia); heads northwards to divide the Java Sea (Asia) from the Flores Sea (Australasia); and runs through the Makassar Strait between the island of Borneo (Asia) and the north central Indonesia island Sulawesi (Australasia). The northern boundary of the AUS world region then curves north-eastwards through the Celebes Sea, passing south of the southernmost tip of Mindanao in the country of the Philippines (which is in the ASIA world region), and running north of the Talaud Islands (in AUS), which are in the north-east corner of north central Indonesia.

WALLACEA is the name given to the group of islands that form a biogeographical subregion in north-west AUS to the east of the Wallace Line. On the map it is the area within the solid red line. The subregion is separated from the Asian and Australasian continental shelves by deep-water straits, and is home to a diverse collection of birds in 80 families. Apart from two sections of the island of Timor (mostly the eastern part), which make up the country of Timor-Leste (located in the south central part of the region), the whole of Wallacea lies within the country of Indonesia.

712 of the bird species recognized in The IOC World Bird List (see below) are regularly present in the Wallacea region, including 64 species of Pigeons, Doves (Family: Columbidae) and 28 species of Honeyeaters (Family: Meliphagidae). Of these, no fewer than 41 Columbidae species and 26 Meliphagidae species can be found regularly in their native state only in Indonesia or Timor-Leste, many on just a single island!

The details are in these two newly published ATWB titles:

All the World’s Birds 2019: Focus on WALLACEA Volume 1: NON-PASSERINES   

Amazon US     Amazon UK

All the World’s Birds 2019: Focus on WALLACEA Volume 2: PASSERINES

Amazon US     Amazon UK

I am also pleased to announce that an additional 3 titles in the 2019 series of ATWB Interactive Checklists are now complete and available to be downloaded to Kindle reading devices. These cover three important and popular birding destinations within the Wallacea region:

All the World’s Birds 2019: Interactive Checklist  SULAWESI (nc Indonesia)

Amazon US     Amazon UK

All the World’s Birds 2019: Interactive Checklist  MOLUCCAS (ne Indonesia)

Amazon US     Amazon UK

All the World’s Birds 2019: Interactive Checklist  NUSA TENGGARA (sc Indonesia)

Amazon US     Amazon UK

If you are planning a birding trip to Wallacea, or are thinking of visiting the region for its wealth of country and regional endemics, then the above five recently published ATWB titles are a must read before you go, and a handy resource to take with you on your Kindle, tablet or smartphone.

To see all the currently available titles in the ‘All the World’s Birds’ FOCUS ON … series, search in the Books section of your local Amazon site for ATWBFO. Or, click here to see all ATWBFO titles on Amazon US; or here to see all ATWBIC titles on Amazon UK.

For more details about the FOCUS ON … series of ATWB Companion Guides, click here.

To see all the currently available titles in the ‘All the World’s Birds’ series of INTERACTIVE CHECKLISTS, search in the Books section of your local Amazon site for ATWBIC. Or, click here to see all ATWBIC titles on Amazon US; or here to see all ATWBIC titles on Amazon UK.

For more details about the INTERACTIVE CHECKLISTS series of ATWB Companion Guides, click here.

To find links to all available ATWB titles in the All the World’s Birds Companion Guide series, click here.

***************************

Some details …

Each of the ATWB 2019 Companion Guides has a number of important features, including:

– A complete taxonomic listing of bird species

– An indication of where each bird family and species can be found in its native state

– Spotlighted species that have a restricted regional or worldwide range

However, perhaps the key feature of all eBooks in the Companion Guide series is the way you can quickly and simply access relevant, up to date online information about every featured bird species. If your reading device is connected to the internet, a single click will take you to a search results page for a species, from where you can continue to search for additional information to whatever level of detail you desire.

The ‘All the World’s Birds’ series of Companion Guides derives its taxonomy, English names and scientific names from The IOC World Bird List, an open access resource maintained by the International Ornithological Congress (IOC). The IOC bird list is hosted on a dedicated World Bird Names website, which provides access to the list in various different formats. The version of the IOC bird list used in the ‘All the World’s Birds 2019’ series of Companion Guides is Version 8.2, published June 27 2018.

***************************

KEEP IN TOUCH

Sign up to this blog to be informed about releases of new titles in the All the World’s Birds Companion Guide series, and of developments in the IOC bird list.