New book: Complete Photographic Field Guide: Birds of Southern Africa

Sinclair, I. & Ryan, P.G. 2009. Complete Photographic Field Guide: Birds of Southern Africa. Struik Nature, Cape Town. 432 pp. (ISBN 978 1 77007 388 3). Also in Afrikaans (ISBN 978 1 77007 589 4)

Peter Ryan has teamed up with well known birding author Ian Sinclair to produce a comprehensive photographic guide to the birds of Southern Africa. Taking advantage of the great improvements in bird photography since the advent of digital SLR cameras, the book boasts more than 2600 images of 875 species in southern Africa and the adjacent Southern Ocean. The concise texts concentrate on identification, but also provide information on habitat, abundance, breeding biology and diet. The accompanying range maps differentiate resident from migrant species, with additional information on seasonality and the timing of in monthly status bars. In addition to writing the text for the book, Peter also contributed more than 400 images. The book, published by Struik Nature, retails for R270.