For the best guidebooks on birds in our southern skies, from the ones in your back yard to more exotic ones in places like the Kruger National Park.
Sasol Birds Southern Africa (5th ed.)
by Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey, et al
Now in its fifth edition, Sasol Birds of Southern Africa has been brought fully up to date by its expert author panel, with additional contributions from two new birding experts. Greatly enhanced, this comprehensive, best-selling guide is sure to maintain its place as one of Africa’s most trusted field guides.
Key features include more than 800 new illustrations, fully revised text (with latest species records), maps and plate annotations and comprehensive coverage of the region’s birds. Plus scan and play bird calls using the free downloadable app.
Ook in Afrikaans beskikbaar as Sasol Voëls van Suider Afrika (5de uitgawe).
Basic Bird ID in Southern Africa
by Peter Ginn
This title focuses on the essence of how to go about identifying birds. Topics covered include size, shape, bill length, and other physical features that provide clues to the birds’ lifestyle and identity. Full colour photographs and simple line drawings support the text.
This title is suitable for beginners of all ages as well as younger birders – in fact, for anyone daunted by the prospect of getting started in the captivating pastime of birding.
Birds of the Kruger National Park
by Warwick Tarboton, Peter Ryan
The Kruger National Park, one of the largest and best-known conservation areas in the world, supports a remarkable diversity of birds. This attractive and handy field guide lists more than 500 species that have been recorded here, and provides full-colour photographs, detailed distribution maps and succinct information on 400 of these – all the species that a visitor is likely to encounter in the park.
An informative introduction describes the park’s underlying geology, vegetation types, climate and rainfall, and how these dictate bird distributions within the area.
Garden Birds of Southern Africa
by Duncan Butchart
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 advice on how to get to know your local species, their feeding, breeding, calls and general behaviour, designing your garden to attract the widest range of birds and other wildlife, the best plants and structures to provide food and shelter for birds, as well as detailed lists of recommended trees, shrubs, climbers, aloes and grasses.
Guide to Seabirds of Southern Africa
by Peter Ryan
Seabirds hold a special place in the hearts of birders, not least because of the challenge of getting to grips with a group of birds that is largely inaccessible, and living in an often hostile habitat. Guide to Seabirds of Southern Africa is the first book focusing exclusively on the nearly 1,000 birds that occur around the southern African coastline and adjacent Southern Ocean.
This book is primarily an identification guide, but the author also includes information about these birds’ fascinating biology and behaviour. The text is richly supported with photographs, as well as distribution maps for all the birds. A detailed introduction covers, among other topics, seabird origins, havens, feeding, breeding and conservation, as well as how best to watch and photograph these enigmatic birds.
Newman's Birds of SA Commemorative Edition
by Kenneth Newman
This edition of Newman's birds of Southern Africa at once updates a classic and pays tribute to one of the region's birding authors, the late Kenneth Newman.
With the support of Faansie Peacock, the author's daughter, Vanessa Newman, has thoroughly revised, updated and expanded this new edition to reflect the latest research, both in terms of text and illustrations. Covering all the birds recorded from the Antarctic to the Zambezi River, its range includes the birds from the southern seas as well as those of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and Mozambique.
The format of Newman's birds has been preserved and subtly modernized. Colour coding of major bird groups and the characteristically bold cross-referencing between text and images have been retained. As always, large, accurate paintings of each species reflect the bird as it is seen in the field, and are now labeled with diagnostic features, in line with top guides round the world.
A revised introductory section takes readers step-by-step through how to use this latest edition of Newman's Birds of Southern Africa in the field.
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