This guide is aimed directly at the field identification of the birds of prey of Southern, Central and East Africa. Where males differ from females, photographs have been included to show the different plumages, as well as those of juveniles. Colour illustrations depict the underwing and upperwing patterns of the birds in various plumages. Silhouettes help the reader locate the correct bird and for each species a map shows the bird's distribution.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A pocket-size guide easy to use, ideal to carry along,
By A Customer
This review is from: A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Prey of Southern, Central and East Africa (Paperback)
This attractive pocket-size guide is an ideal travel companion reliable and full of information despite its light weight and small format. It is easy to use even for non specialists : texts and photographs are clear and thumbnail color outlines of family group allow for a quick identification of birds. However this guide is not meant to be exhaustive : some species are left-out and you won't learn everything about the birds described. But unless you are a true bird specialist you probably won't mind since the 88 species descibed are the most typical of the 102 occuring in the vast region covered (12 countries south of a line running from Kenya and Uganda to Namibia) and you are not likely to meet the remaining 14 species. For each species described the guide provides clear color photographs selected to show the variations associated with age, sex and color form along with illustrations showing birds in flight, distribution maps and an authoritative text describing key identification features. The text also provides some basic background on the birds habitat range, feeding or breeding habits. Ideally this guide could be used in combination with another pocket-size guide dealing with birds in general such as Ian Sinclair's "Photographic guide to birds of southern Africa".
4.0 out of 5 stars
Useful guide with good photos and text,
By Soleglad (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Prey of Southern, Central and East Africa (Paperback)
Basics: 1996, softcover, 144 pages, color photographs of 88 species, range maps
Of the many books in this series of compact photographic guides, I believe this is the better one of them all. The five reasons are (1) most of the species (88 of 115, 75%) are included; (2) multiple photos are offered for each bird; (3) larger photos are supplied; (4) multiple in-flight illustrations are provided for most of the falcons, kites, and eagles; and (5) the text is longer with greater emphasis on description and identification. Nearly all birds are shown with 2-3 good photos. A few of the birds are shown with only one photo. These photos are clear, well lit, and usually of good size. A few small inset photos are sometimes added to display the bird soaring. The quality illustrations are a very welcome touch. These color paintings provide in-flight images that provide good information for identification. Each bird receives at least one long paragraph. Most of this is dedicated to describing the various plumages of the bird along with notes on subspecies and comparisons to similar species. A few additional lines are usually given for habitat, range, and behavior. The information is very useful and is definitely more in-depth than in any of the other photographic guides in this series. The range map is small (2.5 x 1.5cm) and covers the entire southern half of the African continent. This means the ranges are generalized, but still useful. As a small note, the title of this book says "Central and East". According to the range outlined in the book, this is not quite accurate. Instead, the book covers southern Africa (Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, etc.) and southeastern Africa (coastal countries from Mozambique north to only Kenya). This little guide is more useful and more detailed than I had expected. It will certainly be of use and easy to carry in the field. I've listed several related books below... 1) Southern African Birds of Prey by Tarboton 2) Birds of Prey of Southern Africa by Steyn 3) Raptors of the World by Ferguson-Lees 4) Birds of Africa South of the Sahara by Sinclair/Ryan 5) Newman's Birds of Southern Africa by Newman 6) Larger Illustrated Guide to Birds of Southern Africa by Arlott 7) Southern African Birds: A Photographic Guide by Sinclair/Davidson (ISBN 1868257851)
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