Hi Murray,
>From a South African birder's perspective, the SASOL field guide by
Sinclair, Hockey and Tarboton is certainly the most popular one. It is
actually currently under revision with a number of new illustrations being
prepared, but it is still going to be quite a while before it is published,
so I am not sure whether it will be ready in time for your trip.
Other popular choices include the Newman's Field Guide (already mentioned by
several people here) as well as the Roberts Bird Guide by Chittenden (as
opposed to the Roberts Birds of Southern Africa which is a reference
handbook).
If you prefer photographic guides, there is a photographic guide to the
birds of SA by Sinclair as well (although this one is a bit dated now) and
then also one called The Bird Guide of Southern Africa by Oberprieler and
Cillie (although this one is not comprehensive as it has omitted most of the
vagrants as well as all of the pelagic species). There is a new photographic
guide due out in June 2009 by Sinclair and Ryan which promises to be a big
improvement on what is currently available, but again, I am not sure of the
timing of your trip, so am not sure whether it will be ready in time.
Some of the popular site guides (SA Birdfinder, Essential Birding - Western
Cape, Birding Gauteng, etc.) have already been mentioned by others, but
there is also a large amount of freely available literature on many of the
popular birding sites on the website www.sabirding.co.za . Check under the
"Birding Spots" section.
This same website also offers a multimedia product (identification texts,
photos, illustrations, bird calls, etc.) both in a format to use on a PC or
a PDA which may be of some use to you and is particularly useful if you have
a PDA that you carry with you in the field to use for bird calls.
I am not sure where exactly you are planning to go in South Africa, so won't
offer any more specific advise than this right now. However, if you want to
start getting a feel for the birds that South Africa has to offer, feel free
to visit my website at www.hardaker.co.za which has a number of photos of
many of the local species. (and mammals, reptiles, etc. if you have a
broader interest than just birds...)
I hope you have a great trip!
Kind regards
Trevor
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TREVOR HARDAKER
Cape Town, South Africa
See my wildlife photos at www.hardaker.co.za
ZEST for BIRDS
Trevor Hardaker and John Graham
Pelagics, rarity photos, listing clubs and more
www.zestforbirds.co.za
SA RARE BIRD NEWS
Get the latest rarity news by joining at:
http://groups.google.co.za/group/sa-rarebirdnews
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