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Product Description
Product Description
Eastern Africa is becoming an increasingly popular destination for people who want to see first-hand the abundant widlife of this vast continent.
‘Birds of Eastern Africa’ is the only field guide to feature over 450 species found in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia (including Socotra Island).
Including full colour illustrations of each bird, key features on habitat, songs and calls, and distribution maps for each species, this guide contains all the information needed to quickly identify the birds found in this vast region.
Comprehensive and easy-to-use, this book is a must for all those visiting the region.
From the Back Cover
COLLINS ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST
BIRDS OF EASTERN AFRICA
COMPREHENSIVE
EASY TO USE • HIGHLY ILLUSTRATED
• The only field guide to illustrate every bird species you will see in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia and Socotra Island.
• 1487 species are illustrated in colour. For many species the female or juvenile is shown in addition to the adult male. Any races or colour forms have also been included.
• Informative notes on each species are conveniently placed opposite the illustrations. The text describes key identification features, the bird's usual habitat and the sound it makes.
• Each species has a map showing where it can be found and how common it is.
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Customer Reviews
So after 14 years Collins have now decided to reissue this guide and there is an opportunity to update the text, the maps and illustrations and add in any new species that have occurred since the early 1990s. Unfortunately Collins have chosen not to alter any of the 96 plates even though there are a number of errors that have been identified. I find it amazing that they have decided to recognize these errors by referring to them in the text but not by correcting them on the plates! There are around twenty such notes in the updated text. Some are relatively minor errors such as the wrong eye colour (although surely easy to correct?), but others are more significant. For me it is simply not acceptable to reissue a field guide with illustrations that are known to be wrong. Take Grey Apalis Apalis cinerea as an example - the text reads "Upperparts all very dark brown, mantle slightly more grey (no buff-brown plumage parts as wrongly shown on plate)." There are plenty of such examples.
Taxonomy and nomenclature in the first edition followed early volumes of The Birds of Africa (itself sometimes at odds with modern thinking). With this new edition a number of names have been adjusted to reflect recent changes - for example some Serins are now Seedeaters or Canaries. Herring Gull Larus argentatus was listed originally and this has now been changed to Heuglin's Gull Larus heuglini, but is still described as Larus argentatus. It is shown with pink legs rather than green - another error that is mentioned in the text. Also this is still the only book I have that uses the name Sylvietta for what most people call a Crombec.
A number of species have been added to the East African list since the early 1990s but these have not been included. Similarly the discovery of Karamoja Apalis Apalis karamojae in the Masai Mara, Kenya is not mentioned. There are other examples where new information on distribution has been ignored. The first edition overlooked Southern Blue Waxbill Uraeginthus angolensis which breeds in Southern Tanzania. Now it is mentioned in the text but no illustration of it has been added.
For many people the value of the first edition was that it was the only modern field guide to include all the birds found in Ethiopia. Any time now Birds of The Horn of Africa will be published and that will become the book to take to Ethiopia. As a result this Collins guide has lost its uniqueness, and now with heavier guides appearing in softback the advantage of its light weight has been reduced too.
Because of the extra concise nature of this book, i would recommend that its use is supplemented by the larger 'Birds of east Africa' which, in the case of Ethiopia, contains more information on most of the birds found here but would be very difficult to carry when trekking. The book still enabled identification of over 300 species in 2 months of travelling, and is essential to a birder to this country of incredible diversity such as 12 nightjars, 20 starlings, as many doves , 6 endemic serins and 6 hornbills to name but a few!
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