What's that Bird? A starter's guide to birds of southern Africa, by Kenneth Newman

What's that Bird? A starter's guide to birds of southern Africa, by Kenneth Newman. Publisher: Random House Struik. Imprint: Struik Nature. Cape Town, South Africa 2003. ISBN 186872879X / ISBN 1-86-872879-X / ISBN 9781868728794 / ISBN 978-1-86872-879-4

What's that Bird? A starter's guide to birds of southern Africa by Kenneth Newman is the next best thing to one-to-one tuition from the president of Birdlife SA and author of the country's most widely used field guide.

Kenneth Newman  

A word from the author

Anyone wishing to get to know southern Africa's birds may be excused for feeling a little daunted. Our bird books confront the reader with a dazzling but, at first, confusing array of avian creatures - brown ones, green ones, grey ones, yellow ones, many looking very much the same. Making sense of them, and ultimately coming to recognize them all, may at first seem an impossible task. But it need not be, and the key to unlocking the bewildering world of birds lies in What's that Bird? A starter's guide to birds of southern Africa. Individual birds (i.e. species) all belong to larger groups and are part of them because they share common features, be they physical similarities or habitats or territories. By coming to terms with the various groups of birds in this book - a manageable 60 or so - you can easily enter the greater world of birds and begin the task of identifying specific birds by first identifying the group to which they most probably belong. The groups and species described here have been chosen to provide you, the Starter, with easily found and identifiable birds that you can locate without much trouble. Many are birds that you will see (or will already have seen) near your home or in day-to-day travelling. Some, however, live in particular habitats and must be looked for there. For the most part, the groups presented here follow family groupings, but sometimes it has been more useful to group birds that are easily confused with one another, or that share a habitat such as water. Once you are familiar with the more common groups and species in the broad habitat divisions in which they have been arranged here, you will be able to progress with confidence to the more difficult groups (the numerous little brown birds, seabirds, shorebirds and birds of prey), which are handled in a separate section at the end of What's that Bird? A starter's guide to birds of southern Africa. When you reach this point, there will be no holding you back. I strongly recommend using this book in conjunction with a field-guide such as Newman's Birds of Southern Africa or Newman's Birds by Colour. This will help you become familiar with more birds in their various groups and will introduce you at the same time to the fieldguide concept and how it works. Most of us want to become proficient quickly in any new sphere we enter, but when it comes to identifying birds, speed can soon bring on a bout of ornithological indigestion. Birding, at all times, should be pleasurable, relaxing. If it becomes a chore, give it a rest. Eventually, it will take you to new and pleasant places that you didn't know existed. You will make new friends and gain a new purpose in life. It can be an absorbing interest. But don't rush it.

This is an excerpt from What's that Bird? A starter's guide to birds of southern Africa, by Kenneth Newman.

Titel: What's that Bird?
Subtitel: A starter's guide to birds of southern Africa
Author: Kenneth Newman
Publisher: Random House Struik
Imprint: Struik Nature
Cape Town, South Africa 2003
ISBN 186872879X / ISBN 1-86-872879-X
ISBN 9781868728794 / ISBN 978-1-86872-879-4
Softcover, 17 x 25 cm, 140 pages, throughout colour illustrations