Pocket Guide: Birds of Southern Africa

The book certainly doesn't have all the birds in Southern Africa, but it had almost all the ones I saw. I downloaded the Roberts app and, between that resource and this book, I was able to prepare for my trip beforehand and to identify every bird I saw while I was there. The book is small and light-weight. It travels well in the pocket of a backpack. Another good feature was that I was able to use the book to show my non-birding travel companions pictures of what they were looking at or for.

This field guide is the right size (7 1/4" x 4 1/4", x1/2' thick) to be able to carry into the field when birding in southern Africa. I will be birding in southern Africa for the first time next month and will take this guide with me. The guide has over 500 species, and appears to cover all the major categories (shorebirds, woodland birds, ducks, doves, sunbirds, weavers, etc. etc). Each bird has a description, map of what countries/areas found, and a color photograph of the bird in its habitat. There is only 1 photo for each bird, which saves space. One photo alone might not show all the morphologies if there are differences between male and female, or regional differences. But that is the trade-off for the convenient "pocket" size. I think it will satisfy a first-time birder of the region.

I needed a bird guide book for a recent trip to Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. The photographs and descriptions were really helpful. We saw over 100 different species of birds, and I photographed most of them. I was able to identify the birds and label all my photographs with this little gem. It is small enough to carry easily in your day pack.

This proved to be useful on a recent safari in Botswana. Its small size but good pictures and detail made it useful enough to take out on trips in the Range Rover, really beneficial in identifying many of the large number of species we encountered in the Linyanti, Chobe, and Okovango areas.

In previous years I carried a full (heavy) Newman's bird book when I was out on safari but this is far more convenient, especially when you're on foot. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of information and quality photos in such a small book - so you can ID birds when you are out in the field and then do more research in a complete Bird book when you're back in camp. I used it extensively during my month in the bush last year.

I definitely agree this book is not sufficient for serious birders, but as the title states... it's a "pocket guide" and it's a great pocket guide. It's small and fit nicely in my camera bag. It was the perfect companion to the more comprehensive bird books carried in our safari trucks and allowed me to keep track of what we had seen. I think we only identified 5 or so species not included in there (out of probably 150 species we identified on our trip).

For a "pocket guide," it is more comprehensive than expected, as "pocket guides" are by definition abbreviated versions of what a regular field giude would be. This guide includes a bit over half of the bird species found in the region; as the author points out, he has focused on those most likely to be encountered. I have found really only two shortcomings: first, the inherent limitations of photographs, which are subject to the vicissitudes of lighting and the bird's posture; I always find Peterson-style illustrations more useful. However, photography is the current trend in field guides, and most users seem to like it. The other shortcoming -- which again, most users might not find troublesome -- is that he omits the birds' scientific names. This matters to me as a scientist, but for the amateur birder, it may not be a problem. On the positive side, besides including range maps for each species, Sinclair also includes descriptions of where the bird is likely to be seen (e.g., some are stated to be essentially confined to Reserves), and an indicator of which months of the year the bird is present in the region (since some migrate to Europe).I would therefore recommend this book to someone who is starting out in observing birds in Southern Africa, as a good preliminary guide. As the user advances in birding in the region, other books will become useful.

I have not been to Africa yet, but I bought this in anticipation of a trip we are planning. I have already used it to help a friend identify the birds in his pictures taken on an Africa trip. It's well-organized with excellent pictures, and the book is small enough to pack it for a trip.

This was fantastic! The photos are very helpful and the book is very easy to use. I flicked through it to help with my SA bird IDs hundreds of times in about 2 weeks.

Used this to tick off all the birds I saw while travelling. Loved it so much I bought the mammal book too

Good

Un livre trés bien fait, avec les cartes et les mois de l'année où l'oiseau est présent. Sur il fera partie du voyage :)

The book is great, with clear photos and descriptions. Compact size but let down by not having scientific names.