The first comprehensive coverage of a subject that has fascinated natural historians for centuries.

Shortlisted for the BB/BTO Best Bird Book of the Year 2022.

The first comprehensive coverage of a subject that has fascinated natural historians for centuries.

Avian vagrancy is a phenomenon that has fascinated natural historians for centuries. From Victorian collectors willing to spend fortunes on a rare specimen, to today’s high-octane bird-chasing ‘twitchers’, the enigma of vagrancy has become a source of obsession for countless birders worldwide.

Vagrancy in Birds explores both pattern and process in avian vagrancy, drawing on recent research to answer a suite of fundamental questions concerning the occurrence of rare birds. For each avian family, the book provides an in-depth analysis of recent and historical vagrancy patterns, representing the first comprehensive assessment of vagrancy at a global scale. The accounts are accompanied by hundreds of previously unpublished images featuring many of the most exceptional vagrants on record.

The book synthesises for the first time everything we know about the subject, making the case for vagrancy as a biological phenomenon with far-reaching implications for avian ecology and evolution.

"A fascinating read into the different causes of vagrancy, and the instances of vagrancy in different bird families." - BBC Wildlife

"An exceptional publication ... If you have an interest in migration and vagrancy you should definitely add it to your bookshelf." - Birdwatch Magazine

"Vagrancy in Birds takes you on a journey, following the movement of birds around the world, and showing you why so many end up often in the ‘wrong place’ … The mixture of colour pictures really adds to the text, especially in the excellent species accounts which make up most of the book." - Bird Watching, Book of the Month

"Incredibly rich ... this remarkable, unique book deserves a place on the shelf of every birder." - Neotropical Birding

"This book offers something for all birders and ornithologists, from rarity hunters to conservationists studying habitat loss … one of the most useful titles of the year." - British Birds

"Vagrancy In Birds is a unique book, a scholarly volume of ornithological research that birders will also find fascinating and enjoyable." - Bird Observer

"This is a rarity of a book, technical, but enthralling." - Country Life

"One of the most useful titles of 2022... presents theories and observations in an easily accessible way." - BTO, Best Bird Book of the Year 2022

"For the first time, this book, in no short order, explores the how and the why of bird vagrancy on a global scale, exploring in great detail how birds navigate and the driving forces that find some birds thousands of kilometres from their intended location, and even on different continents from the one they set out for... one of the most interesting things I have read on birds for a long time." - BTO