Upon its release, the book was praised for its comprehensiveness, images, and text detail, however, the index and measurements were criticised.

This foreword states that the authors and artists of this book are considered leaders in their field and that the details of species and sub-species is a first for Australian birds.

This is then followed by details on how the guide was constructed by the lead author Peter Menkhorst, co-authors Danny Rogers and Rohan Clarke and illustrators Jeff Davis, Peter Marsack and Kim Franklin, outlining their sources of information and specifically what area and species were covered.

[3] This section was written by Dr Leo Joseph of the Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation).

[7] Reviewing for The Sydney Morning Herald, Sean Dooley praised the book's comprehensiveness, detail, visuals, "aesthetically pleasing yet extremely accurate" images, and writing.

[8] This sentiment was shared by reviewers from Australian Field Ornithology, which also complimented the book's "life-like" illustrations, detailed text, and "scientifically accurate" maps.

Dooley criticised the occasional jargon, the index, and the small size of the distribution maps which was "to the point of illegibility", however, he concluded that the book, despite the "minor quibbles", was an "outstanding achievement".

The reviewers praised the book's "convenient" size, "life-like" illustrations, and decent paper quality, despite criticising the card cover as "thin" and easily damaged.

The review by Firth and valentine concluded "Quibbles and opinions aside, this book succeeds splendidly as a compact aid to bird identification".