There are several good guides for South Africa. "Birds of Southern
Africa" by Sinclair, Hockey & Tarboton has served us well in the
southernmost countries on two trips. This title is published by
different companies around the world with different covers.
The locals in South Africa are often very loyal to the latest edition
of Roberts by Hockey, Dean & Ryan. You can find both books readily in
full-service bookshops - and many more. (I haven't seen the one you
mention.)
Unusually, there's a very good photographic guide to the region called
"Complete Photographic Field Guide Birds of Southern Africa" by
Sinclair & Ryan. (As you may have noticed, the same author has had a
hand in more than one of these books.) I picked up the photographic
guide on the way out so I haven't field tested it yet. It's
well-regarded by the locals and I can see from giving it a look that
it would be a real help on some of the more confusing groups.
There are a variety of DVD and other electronic resources available as
well if, for example, you want to watch videos of the birds before
setting off. This is actually pretty useful as the terrestrial birds
of southern Africa are pretty much 0% related to the birds here on a
species level and are also very different on a family level, much of
the time.
There's an excellent SASOL guide to the birds of prey for the
continent that's well worth having, if it's of interest.
There are a variety of guide site-finding guides as well, depending on
where you're heading. If you provide more details about your trip, I
can at least let you know if any of the books I've got would be worth
considering.
Southern Africa is amazing and, depending on where you're doing, very
easy to travel in...it's very like Australia in some respects. Have a
great time!
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
