Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Terry Stevenson and John Fanshawe,
illustrated by Brian Small, John Gale and Norman Arlott, T&AD Poyser,
拢29.95, ISBN 0856610798
EAST Africa is the world鈥檚 premier birding destination, thanks to its
diversity of species and the ease with which most can be seen. But until now the
quality of the birdwatching has not been matched by the available field
guides.
Zimmerman, Turner and Pearson鈥檚 Birds of Kenya & Northern
Tanzania has been invaluable since it was published in 1996. Compared with
this new work, however, it appears clumsy and old-fashioned鈥攁nd it covers
a smaller area. Terry Stevenson and John Fanshawe have cast their eye over the
whole of Tanzania, as well as Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.
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Squeezed within its stoutly bound covers are 287 plates, with 3400 images of
1388 species. Plate and text face each other so it鈥檚 easy to use in the field.
The artwork is extremely impressive, and is complimented by admirably concise
and informative texts by Stevenson and Fanshawe.
As usual in guides of this kind, the artists have included a few winter
visitors, such as shoveler and great black-headed gull, but they are illustrated
in breeding plumage, unlikely to be seen in the region. Even so, this is a
magnificent work, and as essential as binoculars for anyone visiting East
Africa.