Sasol Birds of Southern Africa, by Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey, Peter Ryan, Warwick Tarboton and Norman Arlott
Written by the top birders Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey, Peter Ryan, Warwick Tarboton and Norman Arlott, Sasol Birds of Southern Africa, a authoritative and comprehensive identification guide is invaluable to all birders.
Ian Sinclair Peter Ryan Phil Hockey Warwick Tarboton Norman Arlott
Birds of Southern Africa in perspective:
Southern Africa is defined as the area south of the Kunene and Zambezi rivers, encompassing Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland and southern and central Mozambique, as well as oceanic waters within 200 nautical miles of the coast. Mozambique north of the Zambezi River is excluded, as its avifauna has closer lies to that of east Africa than it does to that of the regions further south. Southern Africa covers a land area of approximately 3,5 million square kilometres and has high bird diversity: more species breed here than in the United States and Canada combined. The region's bird list currently Stands at 951 species, of which 144 are endemic (occurring or breeding only in the region) or near-endemic (having ranges which extend only slightly outside the region). The major centre of endemism is in the arid western regions of the Karoo and the Namib Desert. One of the reasons for southern Africa's high bird diversity is the region's climatic and topographical diversity. The climate ranges from cool-temperate in the southwest to hot and tropical in the north. The southwest of the region experiences a winter rainfall regime, the north and east have summer rains and some of the central parts have a seasonal rainfall. Coupled with these seasonal differences, rainfall increases from west to east. Winter snows are regular on the higher mountains, which rise to 3500 metres above sea level. It has long been assumed that the avifauna of southern Africa is well known. However, since the last edition of this book, several new taxa have been described, with most 'splits' relying strongly on molecular data to support them. The splits include Separation of Long-billed Lark into five species, and Clapper Lark into three species. Cape Parrot has been split from Grey-headed Parrot, Damara Hornbill from Red-billed Hornbill, Cape Gull from Kelp Gull and Damara Canary from Black-headed Canary. Black-backed Cisticola has been split into Rufous-winged and Luapula Cisticola and Wandering, Royal, Shy and Yellow-nosed Albatross are now recognised as containing multiple taxa. It is likely that other cryptic species remain to be discovered among the larks, pipits and cisticolas, and perhaps even the hornbills, so southern African ornithology is set on an exciting track for many years to come. Two species have been deleted from the region's list: the Bimaculated lark's single specimen record from Namibia is untraceable, and the Mascarene Shearwater's validity as a full species is presently under review. Aims of the guide Sasol Birds of Southern Africa: Identification skills evolve constantly, and the quest for new knowledge about birds runs a parallel course. In this book, we have tried to keep abreast of these demands: illustrations have been improved and added to, and the maps reflect the most up-to-date information available to us at the time of going to press, greatly assisted by the recently published Atlas of Southern African Birds. Numbers appearing in brackets after species' names are those used in the 6th edition of Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa (1993), the book is geared primarily towards helping birders to identify birds in the field. The plumage and soft-part coloration of many species vary with age and season and we have illustrated this Variation as far as possible. The text highlights the key identification features of each species and concentrates on the Separation of potentially confusing species. The plates are colour-coded for ready reference, annotated for rapid reference to key features, and there are indexed and illustrated quick-reference guides, as well as a checklist. Where species differ considerably in abundance across their ranges, solid colour has been used to indicate where they are most common; hatching indicates where they are scarcer. [...]
This is an excerpt from the guide: Sasol Birds of Southern Africa, by Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey, Peter Ryan and Warwick Tarboton.
Book title: Sasol Birds of Southern Africa
Authors: Ian Sinclair; Phil Hockey; Peter Ryan; Warwick Tarboton; Norman Arlott
Imprint: Travel and Heritage
Publisher: Randomhouse Struik
4th edition. Cape Town, South Africa 2011
ISBN 9781770079250 / ISBN 978-1-77007-925-0
Softcover, 15x21 cm, 464 pages, throughout colour illustrations
Sinclair, Ian und Hockey, Phil und Tarboton, Warwick und Ryan, Peter und Arlott, Norman im Namibiana-Buchangebot
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