Essential Birding, Western South Africa


Book Description

Western South Africa is one of the world's greatest biodiversity hotspots and is famous among international and local birders alike for the remarkable suite of birds that are found here and nowhere else.




Southern African Birdfinder


Book Description

The essential companion to all local bird field guides, this book fills a gap in the market for a comprehensive guide to the region's top birding spots and to finding southern Africa and Madagascar's most desirable birds.




RAPTOR WATCH


Book Description

Raptors, including hawks, eagles, falcons, and owls, are wide-ranging, land-based predators found across a broad range of habitats on six continents. Most raptors undertake seasonal migrations, traveling along topographical corridors by which they orient themselves. Tens of thousands of raptors regularly gather at specific stopover sites, which leaves them vulnerable to habitat destruction and systematic hunting -- but also makes these otherwise widely dispersed birds easy to view in their natural environments. Published with Pennsylvania's Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and bringing together information from more than eight hundred raptor experts, this comprehensive guide provides detailed accounts of 388 globally significant "watchsites". For each site, the contributors document raptor species, migration periods, protection status, land use, and monitoring activities. Organized by continent and illustrated with photographs and maps, Raptor Watch offers an accessible, thoroughly researched guide to the viewing opportunities and conservation efforts provided by raptor watchsites around the world.




Birds of Western and Central Africa


Book Description

This is the only pocket photographic guide to all the birds known to inhabit Western and Central Africa.




Southern African LBJs made simple


Book Description

Now updated and expanded, Southern African LBJs made simple offers a unique method for identifying and distinguishing the cryptic little birds that are known as ‘little brown jobs’. Using a three-stage process, the book guides readers through successive stages, each of which takes them closer to identifying the bird in question. As calls play a critical role in identification of these birds, individual calls and comparative tracks are included. The book features: NEW BIRD CALL ACCESS – instant access to calls using free downloadable call app to scan barcodes on the species pages. Concise text describing key ID criteria (such as size, habitat, habits, call and similar-looking and -sounding birds). Updated distribution maps and carefully labelled illustrations. This enhanced and updated new edition will be an invaluable guide for anyone who wants to be able to tell one LBJ from another. Sales points: invaluable resource for identifying cryptic birds; fully updated, with additional species and refined ID information; scan and play bird calls using free downloadable app.




Garden Birds in Southern Africa


Book Description

This guide profiles 101 garden birds likely to be found in gardens across southern Africa, informing readers about what to look and listen for, and where and when. It is also an inspirational guide to creating a bird-friendly garden that is also a reservoir of biodiversity, wherever you are in the region. With an attractive layout and multiple colour images, it offers the following: Descriptions and photos of 101 garden birds. How to get to know your local species, their feeding, breeding, calls and general behavior. How to design your garden to attract the widest range of birds and other wildlife. The best plants and structures to provide food and shelter for birds. Detailed lists of recommended trees, shrubs, climbers, aloes and grasses.




Birds of Southern Africa


Book Description

Birds of Southern Africa surpasses other field guides to the region by illustrating and describing all 1,250 bird species of South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. In addition, this is the only guide to illustrate the birds of Angola (including Cabinda), whose river basins and rocky hillsides are home to the striking White-headed Robin Chat and the Angolan Cave Chat. The 84 color plates group similar species and subspecies and also depict vagrants and ocean wanderers that appear in this huge region characterized by widely varying habitats, from woodlands and forests to deserts to swamps. The text directly opposite the plates concisely describes each bird's habitat and key physical, behavioral, and vocal characteristics. All the larks are shown perching as well as in flight, and every swallow is pictured in flight from below. The most distinctive immature and nonbreeding plumages are included, and distribution maps show the range and frequency of each species. This is an essential guide for any birder contemplating a trip to southern Africa. The only field guide to illustrate every bird species of South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Angola (including Cabinda) 1,250 species illustrated on 84 color plates Buzzards to bustards, flufftails to flycatchers, penguins to pipits, and many more Informative notes directly opposite illustrations succinctly describe each bird's habitat and key physical, behavioral, and vocal characteristics Female or juvenile shown for many species in addition to adult male Subspecies and color variants included Shaded maps showing range and frequency of each species




Birds of Senegal and The Gambia


Book Description

Birds of Senegal and The Gambia – the definitive field guide to the birds of this magical corner of West Africa – just got even better. This enhanced fixed-format version of the book – featuring songs and calls – is set to change birding, forever. Optimised for iPad, it features the book in crisp, clear high-resolution. Superb, fully zoomable colour plates of the highest detail lie opposite comprehensive identification text and accurate range maps. In addition, this e-book features songs, calls and other sounds from 630 species, placed conveniently next to the accompanying species text. The 1,050 sounds included on this e-book represent more than 95% coverage of species in the region. This epic collection of images and sounds represents a step change in the way birders operate. No more carrying heavy books into the field. No more trying to remember sounds days or weeks after the event, while all other methods for taking sounds into the field are consigned to the dustbin. This field guide can even be downloaded to your iPhone or iPod Touch. This e-book provides a complete field-based ID solution – no birder will want to be without it.




A Comprehensive Illustrated Field Guide


Book Description

Birds of Africa South of the Sahara provides unrivalled coverage of African birds in a single volume, and is the first book to describe and illustrate all of the birds found in Africa south of the Sahara Desert (the Afrotropic Region), including Socotra, Pemba and islands in the Gulf of Guinea. * Some 2,105 species are covered, with an additional 70 vagrants briefly described, and more than 2,000 images assembled on 359 plates. * Illustrations portray most distinctive plumages, as well as diagnostic flight patterns and major geographic variants. * Species descriptions give precise identification features, highlighting differences between similar species, as well as briefly reporting habitat, status and calls. * Distribution maps for each species are based on the latest atlas surveys. * The most up-to-date taxonomy is used, with many new species described and illustrated for the first time. Despite its exceptional coverage, this guide is compact enough to use in the field, and follows the standard field guide format, with texts and range maps appearing opposite the color plates.