Product Description

This is the first comprehensive field guide dealing exclusively with the birds of this spetacular region. It covers all resident, migrant and vagrant species found in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Over 1300 species are illustrated with full details all the plumages and major races likely to be encountered. Concise text describes identification, status, range, habits and voice with range maps for each species. This authoritative book will not only be an indispensable guide to the visiting birder, but also a vital tool for those engaged in work to conserve and study the avifauna of this region. East Africa shelters a remarkable diversity of birds, many seriously endangered with small and vulnerable ranges. They form a constantly colourful, noisy and highly extrovert part of the landscape.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #72689 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 640 pages

About the Author
Between them the authors have 40 years of experience leading bird tous and conducting conservation work in the region.

Customer Reviews

The best bird guide to East Africa's avifauna there is
There are four main field guides to East Africa's avifauna. The oldest, the Collins Guide to the Birds of East Africa, is annoyingly spartan with its pictures, forcing the reader to identify birds via the text. In any case, not all of East Africa's birds are illustrated. Bird distribution is described in the text, and not via more simple to use maps. It was with precisely these shortcomings in mind that Van Berlow set out to illustrate every bird in East Africa (in this case, Somalia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania). His volume, The Birds of East Africa, does indeed contain a full set of plates, and provides extensive distribution maps. The pictures, however, are often small and difficult to discern, and the maps, all located in the back of the guide, accessible only via a rather complicated plate and species number system. The third contender, Zimmerman et al.'s excellent Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania falls short of requirement - in this case - because of its limited geographical range (through no fault of its own!). Another concern is the location of its distribution maps all placed in the text, often well away from the illustration of the bird. When standing in the field with a small and unremarkable avian in front of you, having to flick between illustration and distribution map is increadibly annoying, particularly when the bird then flies off.

Stevenson and Fanshaw's new volume is the fourth guidebook to enter this market and is by far the best. The illustrations are clear, distinct and beautifully detailed; distribution maps (covering Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi) are located alongside each illustration, as is a short and succinct description, so no faffing about between illustration and text. The volume's hard cover makes it an excellent companion on tough birding safaris. I could not recommend this volume more warmly.

Accuracy and ease of identification
I've bought several field guides to the birds of this region and this is by far and away the easiest to use for identifying your encounters on travels in East Africa. The plates are clear, with illustrations of male/female and immature variants. Also the description/narrative lies on the page facing the illustrations - this may sound obvious - but it isn't obvious to those who designed the page layout of the Collins field guide. The Collins has the plates on the centre pages and the narratives at the front and back of the book - this layout makes flicking through in the space of time your bird will sit still quite a challenge! Most of us don't have that kind of time, and would prefer to focus on the bird through our "bins", rather than keep our head in the book looking up several different page references.

I only have one criticism of this Stevenson & Fanshawe guide and that is that the goshawk illustrations somehow show the bird with v short legs, when the long legs are one of the key features you notice when you stumble across one.

I know this guide is more expensive than some of its competitors, but it is worth it.

A great leap forward
This field guide is superb and an enormous improvement on the other guides of the area that fall short with poor illustrations, less extensive geographical coverage and/or inadequate text. Critically it brings together in one place excellent illustrations, good maps and most importantly very detailed text. I found the text carefully crafted enabling even members of some of the more difficult groups (e.g. bulbuls and allies) to be relatively easily identified with clear notes to key field marks. It is a pleasure to use for extended periods in the field. My only suggestion for improvement would be to add a few more reference points to the maps.