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The first edition of this book was published in 2008 (Brit. Birds 101: 268) and it was subsequently chosen as the BB/BTO Best Bird Book of the Year (Brit. Birds 102: 98–100), when it was ‘one of the clearest winners for some years’. The book was widely lauded, courtesy of a compelling ornithological subject and it being written by one of the world’s leading authors in terms of the ability to communicate bird-related science and ecology.

Many second editions of successful books involve little more than a reprint of the original with some cosmetic tweaking. That is not the case here. A substantial volume of new research on migration has been published since 2008, a key aspect of that being the development of various tracking technologies. As a consequence, every chapter in this new book has been altered in some way from the original and new material added. There are also three completely new chapters: ‘Seabird movements’, ‘Stopover ecology’ and ‘The East Asian–Australasian and other migration systems’. In addition, the wealth of new research on bird navigation is now presented in two chapters rather than one. There are many new figures and tables, with updates and changes to those that are retained, and masses of new references.

Ian Newton has, however, clearly been hamstrung by the publisher’s requirements. New material could be added to the second edition only by deleting a similar quantity from the original. Hence, much of the original text is condensed, and some of the earlier figures and tables have been removed or reduced. The chapter ‘Vagrancy’ in the first edition has been removed, although parts of it have been incorporated elsewhere. As a result, the page count is down from 976 to 707, while the price is up from £43 to £135. For such an eye-watering price tag, a better solution (although perhaps not for the publisher’s shareholders) would have been a fully expanded second edition, perhaps in a larger format and with more effort at marketing a cheaper digital version. The review copy was provided as a pdf, which in fact made for a convenient way to access the content, whether at a desk, while travelling or in bed, but the high price tag – the same as the hardback – is unlikely to make this any more of an attractive option. Overall, I reckon that most BB readers will not feel that they have been well served by the publisher’s approach to the second edition.

The new chapter on seabird movements exemplifies the way that tracking is redefining the boundaries of what we know about migration. The movements and ecology of pelagic seabirds provide some of the most awe-inspiring stories of migration and there are many examples here of how the inevitably limited data from ring recoveries can give misleading information about the use of foraging areas and migration patterns in general. As our climate continues to warm and global patterns of ocean circulations are disrupted, with inevitable impacts on the entire marine ecosystem, the importance of both a wider appreciation of what we already know about seabird migration and continuing to push back the frontiers of new research cannot be underestimated.

Despite the quibbles above, this is (still) a wonderful book, genuinely one of the great bird books of our time.

Roger Riddington