Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead.

I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings.

Anything requested and approved will be read and a decent quality review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Yet another great book by Tom Jackson. The pictures in this book was amazing I couldn't get enough of them. I just loved how much detail you see in them. They are really brought to life in these great pictures. Each wonderful picture has a small section of writing giving the important facts about each bird. The layout was great with some of these pictures nearly being a double spread. The birds were separated by the of bird. I loved how at the end of thos book there was a section on the young birds and there nests which was very fascinating for me. Especially the picture of the Eagle nest wow its big. The best section by far was the section on owls they have to be my favourite Especially the barn and snow owls. I really recommend this book if you are looking for a picture based book full of beautiful birds. This book would be great for families or the coffee table so everyone could enjoy it. As always I will eagerly wait Tom's next instalment of fantastic animals.

Many thanks to the author and publishers for creating this fascinating book that we can understand and learn from. 

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog today https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/birds-of-prey-by-tom-jackson-amber-books-4-stars either under my name or ladyreading365

This is a stunning book from Tom Jackson of over 200 photographs of birds of prey.

The photographs show these magnificent birds in their natural habitats. Some are well known and others extremely rare. I watch a lot of natural history programmes and found several birds that were unknown to me.

Each bird is described with details of its habitat, diet, and where it can be found at various times of the year. Fascinating facts are also given, including how one bird is the fastest creature on the planet, reaching speeds of over 200mph.

For anyone interested in the natural world and especially in avian species, this is a superb book to add to your collection and increase your knowledge and awareness of owls, eagles, hawks, and other raptors.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Amber Books Ltd, in return for an honest appraisal.

Beautiful coffee-table book with stunning photography. The book is broken into sections based on species and contains captions and blurbs with pertinent information on each. Perfect for any bird lover.

As always, Amber Books has surpassed themselves. Their books, and this one is no exception, ALWAYS have STUNNING photographs of the topic and very interesting facts coupled with the pictures, so the reader is not just educated and entertain, but is gob-smacked with how amazing the topic being discussed truly is.

The topic of this book, as per the title, is Birds of Prey. And they are STUNNING. MAJESTIC. And TERRIFYING. Seriously, if they were large enough to cart of humans, we would know pretty quickly who was top of the food chain. (Hint: not us).

This is a book I would 100% recommend as a "real" book, if only because I would love to see the pictures of larger and I have yet to master the eReader so I can see a double page picture on one page.

As is always the case with books about the natural world, there are bits where it discusses humans and their stupidity causing these beautiful birds to be endangered and worse. Seriously, humans make me SO ANGRY sometimes. So this book will infuriate when it comes to that. It's not in your face or all anti-human, but it does mention it because it's the truth, uncomfortable and infuriating as it may be.

That being said, this book is a MUST for those of all ages who love nature, especially birds. Some of the facts re: size and speed of the birds is just AMAZING and drives home just how awesome nature is. Good for I would say middle reader on up. Lots of beautiful pictures and fun facts delivered in a gorgeous and easy to digest way.

5, this book and the birds of prey it showcases are amazing, stars!

My thanks to NetGalley and Amber Books Ltd. for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

As any wildlife photographer will attest to, capturing on camera a bird in flight is exceedingly difficult. In this photography book of raptors, there are impressive photos of these majestic birds in mid-air, wings aloft such as the African hawk eagle, booted eagle (India, Sub-Saharan Africa), Rufous-bellied eagle (Asia), white-bellied sea eagle (Indo-Pacific), Cooper's hawk (North America), long-legged buzzard (middle East, N Africa) and Malagasy harrier (Madagascar, Comoro Islands).

Birds of Prey is divided into the following sections: Eagles and Kites, Hawks and Harriers, Vultures, Falcons and Kestrels, Owls and finally, In The Nest. The section on owls was one of my favourite.

The high resolution photos are accompanied by a short illustrative paragraph detailing which geographical areas the birds commonly inhabit, genus, family delineations, their choice of prey, anatomical details, mating habits etc. Readers will learn these fascinating details, a smattering of sample examples include:
- world's biggest eagle by length is the Philippine eagle which eats monkeys (!)
- name bald eagle is derived from an older term 'balde' which means white referring to its head colour
- term for a group of kites is string - a string of kites! 🪁
- tiny hawks hunt hummingbirds and other small birds
- ferruginous hawk, the largest hawk in N America, is sometimes mistakenly identified as an eagle
- Meat-eater honey buzzard has a preference for bees and wasps
- Zone-tailed hawks gets its name from the white and black stripes on its tail
- Crane hawk has its own genus and possesses double-jointed ankle bones, greatly increasing its flexibility and reach into burrows and hollows
- Indian vulture is endangered due to the use of NSAID Diclofenac in livestock, toxic to vultures

Among the shots of eye-catching plumage are: Javan hawk-eagle (Indonesian- Garuda bird-like goddess Hindu myth), red-chested goshawk (West Africa) purple and rusty brown, hen harrier (Europe), secretary bird (Africa) and many more. There are lots to ooh and aah over.

Arresting pictures of raptors catching prey: brown snake eagle (equatorial Africa) with snake in talons, black-winged kite ripping mouse into shreds, snail eagle (Central & South America) snatching a freshwater apple snail from the water and extracting the flesh from the shell, red-backed sea eagle (Indo-Pacific) in flight with a fish gripped securely in both talons, endangered semiplumbeous hawk (Panama) eating a bat, dark chanting goshawk in the process of swallowing a black snake. Other striking photos were the raptors in competition for prey with other birds such as a juvenile African fish eagle in a standoff with a marabou stork over a fish.

Some of the most mesmerizing photographs were those of close-ups of body parts: talons, retinas, feathers eg. red skin of Bataleur eagle.

I wish the photo credits had accompanied each individual photograph instead of being grouped in one page at the end. The majority of the photos are compiled from Dreamstime, Shutterstock, Alamy and Getty Images. For the ebook (if it's ever released in this format), a button to play an audio recording of the calls and whistles and sounds the birds make accompanying the description would be useful.

Recommended for birders and admirers of birds of prey, I am planning to buy this for some birding enthusiast friends as a Christmas gift. 4.5⭐/5

Birds Of Prey releases on 14th September 2021. My sincere thanks to Amber Books for providing an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I love Tom Jackson’s photography and own a few of his books in hardcover - and this one is also amazing ! I love the photos he has captured of these gorgeous birds. Thank you to Amber Books for sharing this book with me !

Lavishly illustrated and such a broad spectrum of birds shown, As a relatively frequent visit to falconry centres and a particular fan of the Hawk Conservancy Trust at Andover, I thought I had seen a great many varieties but this book demonstrates how few species I have seen.
Usefully arranged into different types of bird of prey this book looks at vultures, falcons, eagles and owls etc after a useful introduction setting out what defines a bird of prey or raptor. There are many different types of photograph from those in flight to those perched as well as detailed up close shots.
This book is great for anyone who loves wildlife, it would also be a useful reference book for artists as there is so much to inspire you when going through it. There is a fairly short caption with each bird too, giving enough information, those who want more will be motivated to seek it out. Hopefully when people realise more about the importance of this group of birds they will know they need our protection more than ever.

This is a perfect coffee-table book for lovers of raptors; the captions are shunted to the sides of the page allowing for full impact from the marvellous, hard-to-beat imagery of the birds. In going through all the eagles, hawk-eagles and sea eagles, and then all the kites, and then the hawks and related birds ad infinitum, all the species are presented to us, and we slowly accumulate a bit about how they work, breed, fly and kill. Once again, the production values from this publishing house can blow the mind – fans of these birds will love to unwrap a copy of this (at least until they spot the chunk on vultures...).

Birds of Prey is a coffee table photography book filled with beautiful pictures of birds. I am not a bird person, in fact I have a very healthy fear of them. However this book captures the beauty and athleticism that makes Birds of Prey amazing creatures. The book is divided into the following sections: eagles and kites, hawks and harriers, vultures, falcons and kestrels, owls, and in the next. Each section has a brief overview and then the pages are filled with photos accompanied by brief captions. This book would make a great gift for any animal or bird lover.
Thank you to NetGalley and Amber Books for the ARC.

This is a photography book and it’s is stunning! The photos are beautiful (even the vultures!) and the closeups give great detail to features of the various species from all across the world. Divided into sections on Eagles and kites; hawks and harriers; vultures; falcons and kestrels; owls; and In the nest; each section begins with a couple of paragraphs describing features and habits then lets the photography do the rest.

This book has perfection in every pore! The stellar photographs show minute details and the information is fascinating. Observing birds is one of my favourite things to do and this book has inspired me to learn more about their habitats, anatomy, what they eat and how they behave. Birds of prey are so powerful and magnificent. If they knew how purposefully and meticulously people study them they'd be impressed! The reader learns which has the longest wingspan, weighs the most, the tiniest and which can survive extreme climates (including where I live in Canada with winters of -40C and colder).

Now I know the name of the eagle I saw once in Southern Europe...the booted eagle with its gorgeous pattern, reminiscent of an afghan. The ornate hawk-eagle looks comical! The crowned eagle is large enough to eat monkeys and small hoofed animals. I had no idea that the brown snake eagle's leg skin is tough enough to handle snake bites. Some birds of prey hunt horizontally...very quietly, others swoop down and grab. The snail kite's specialty is prying snails from their shells. Some are fearless of humans such as the Galapagos hawk. One hawk is dextrous enough to walk across ropes!

The king vulture looks like it has a plasticine face and wears a cloak. One falcon has human-like cries which must be disconcerting. I was amazed to discover a few bird species which have been discovered since the year 2000. Owls intrigue me. We often have a resident family of long-eared owls all lined up on a branch in our nearby park. But I hadn't heard of long-whiskered owls which are very cute. I've seen large stork nests but didn't realize how huge bald eagles nests can be. So many aha moments...tomials and tubercles on falcons and kestrels make so much sense.

If you have one iota of interest in birds, especially birds of prey, please do not miss this one. What a happy find!

My sincere thank you to Amber Books and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this remarkable book. It is mostly stunning photography but there is a wealth of information in the text as well.

This book is phenomenal. The photos went way above
my expectations. I watch a lot of documentaries on Raptors
so I was familiar with almost all of them. That said, I would
love to have this book. It's the best book of photos I have
seen out there.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, the writer, the publisher, and
all of the photographers that made this possible for me to
read and review!

Assembled within this book are 240 colour photographs of birds of prey from across the globe. These photos are grouped not by country or habitat, but by genus, with chapters covering eagles and kites, hawks and harries, falcons and kestrels and more. The author includes a short paragraph with each, covering interesting facts around habitat, feeding habits and so forth.

It seems a shame that the name of each photographer does not accompany their work within the book (you’ll need to look at the list of credits at the end of the book instead). Keen photographers may also lament the lack of camera/camera setting details alongside each photograph. Those quibbles aside, there are some truly stunning photographs within this collection, with a head-on picture of a hen harrier being a particular favourite of mine.

A worthy addition to any birder's bookshelf.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amber Books Ltd for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Stunning images of birds of prey from around the world. Close ups and raptors in action. If you have any interest in bird watching at all you will appreciate this book. Highly recommend this one. Would make an excellent gift too.

This book is a work of art, with 200+ photos of over 100 species of birds of prey, divided into eagles and kites, hawks and harriers, vultures, falcons and kestrels, and owls. The close-ups show the amazing detail in their feathers, talons, and beaks. These birds live all over the world, and the text describes how they hunt, care for their young, and have adapted to their environment. Some readers may find the photos of birds clutching their prey a bit gruesome...but readers who pick up a book called "Birds of Prey" probably know what to expect.

Birds of Prey is a beautiful photo or coffee table book. I learned from the opening that there are about 270 species ini total. This book breaks into sections on Eagles & Kites, Hawks & Harriers, Vultures, Falcons & Kestrels, Owls and includes a final section on nesting. It includes 240 photos showing birds in flight, hunting, resting and fighting. I enjoyed the close ups showing differences in wings, talons or beaks. Each section gives a general over view but most of the writing is a photo discretion giving name of the bird, where they live and other information tidbits. This is light on detailed information as the photos are the stars. For lovers of birds or people who want to learn a little about the varieties of birds of prey. Thank you NetGalley and Amber Books for a temporary ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I make no apology I love birds. They're fantastic animals, and I confess I am quite envious at the whole flying business.
This book collects gorgeous photos of hawks, kites, vultures, eagles and owls together. It is gorgeous. The birds are stunning the photos vary from in action shots (a kite stand off for example) to close ups of claws. It is a stunning coffee table reference book for bird fans.

Birds of Prey is an amazing book full of jaw dropping, stunning photography. I was totally mesmerized by this book, and spent ages absorbing the intricate details of the birds. Some of the species I had never seen before and were intriguing. As someone who loves to draw and paint birds in life like detail this book is a dream. I particularly love birds of prey so I will be buying the hardcopy as soon as it is released. I loved the information on each bird too, but most of all the pictures. Just brilliant !!

Stunning photography and comprehensive book on birds of prey. Not very much in the way of text but the photographs are stupendous. Some of these birds I had never heard of but my oh my they are magnificent. I would recommend this book to any artist as a reference book because there are many detailed close ups of eyes, feet and feathers etc.