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| The Birds of East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi (Princeton Field Guides)
by Terry Stevenson, John Fanshawe
| | List Price: | $35.00 | | Price: | $23.10 | | You Save: | $11.90 (34%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 124508 | | Studio: | Princeton University Press | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 602 | | Publication Date: | January 30, 2006 | | Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Birds of East Africa is the first comprehensive field guide to this spectacular birding region--and one of the best to any region in the world. Covering all resident, migrant, and vagrant birds of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, this small and compact guide describes and illustrates a remarkable 1,388 species in convenient facing-page layout. Featuring 287 new color plates with 3,400 images painstakingly rendered by three experienced artists, the guide illustrates all the plumages and major races likely to be encountered. Set opposite the plates are range maps and concise accounts describing identification, status, range, habits, and voice for each species. Introductory sections provide notes on how to use the species accounts, the nomenclature adopted, conservation issues, where to send records, and maps of protected and other important bird areas. Between them, Terry Stevenson and John Fanshawe have more than 40 years' experience leading bird tours and conducting conservation work in East Africa. The region shelters a remarkable diversity of birds, including many seriously threatened species with small and vulnerable ranges. The region's birds form a constantly colorful, noisy, and highly extroverted part of the landscape. The book is sure to become an indispensable guide for anyone interested in studying or conserving birds in East Africa, as well as the many visitors who simply want to enjoy the sheer beauty of its birds. - First comprehensive field guide to the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi
- Covers 1,388 species, with 3,400 color images on 287 plates
- Concise species accounts facing the plates describe appearance, status, range, habits, and voice
- A color distribution map is given for each species
- Information on habitats, protected areas, and conservation issues
- The essential guide to the birds of this spectacular region
- An overview of East African birds
- East African environment
- Seasonality
- Plumage
- Species accounts
- Common alternative names
- Conservation and threatened species
- The local scene
- Glossary, references, and an index
Key Features: - Small and compact
- Comprehensive species
- All distinctive plumages and races illustrated
- Color plates
- Illustrations
- All species ranges mapped
- Key protected and important bird areas mapped
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CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 17 reviews)
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Best Field Guide to East Africa's Birds 
Confronted by only one serious contender for the distinction of best field guide to the birds of East Africa, the Terry Stevenson/John Fanshawe entry wins by default. In featuring each descriptive summary and range map on a page facing the corresponding species illustration, the organization of the book qualifies it as a true field guide. While the field guide edition of "Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania" by Zimmerman, Turner, & Pearson incorporates several superior attributes, frequently including quality and variety of illustrations, it is essentially a condensation of a larger work and not organized in field-guide format. In covering a wider geographical area, the Stevenson/Fanshawe guide describes nearly 300 more species depicted on over twice as many color plates. Both of these fine books are potentially very useful for birding in Kenya and Tanzania, with the organization of the true field guide more likely to enhance its potential usefulness to those just beginning to appreciate the splendid avian diversity of East Africa.
August 24, 2008 | |
a beautiful book
This book includes all the birds; the birds that also live in California, the amazing colorful birds, the little brown birds. It is a nicely illustrated, organized field guide.
It has the information that one expects from a field guide; maps with the geographic distribution, habitat description, call description, brief information on behavior.
If you consider the cost of a trip to East Africa, the cost of a good bird book is insignificant.
July 14, 2008 | |
Birds of East Africa (Princeton FieldGuides) 
For the SECOND time Amazon sent me the incorrect addition of this book!! What is advertised vs what was shipped is unacceptable!! They shipped an old copyright instead of the newest!! I'm very disappointed in Amazon!!
June 26, 2008 | |
Tanzania Tested
I used this book in northern Tanzania, and found it to be an accurate book with helpful descriptions and maps. It is not too heavy to carry around, but still covers all the birds we every wanted to find or needed help identifying.
April 29, 2008 | |
Usability and illustrations could be improved 
"Birds of East Africa" by Stevenson and Fanshawe is generally a good field guide. The layout is fairly standard, typical of most good field guides for birds.
Some of the colours seemed a little off to me. The yellow wagtails I saw in Uganda were not as yellow as the plates in the guide, although I may have been seeing juveniles (not shown in the guide).
The poses of the birds were mostly a little static and did not show the birds in typical habitats. The illustrations seemed mostly dead, lacking a sense of the live bird in its habitat.
Usability in the field is an important design consideration, and the design of this guide could be improved. To find a bird quickly, you have to flick through a 6-page table of contents, or refer to the comprehensive (but longer) indices of both scientific and common names. Then you have to locate the right page, but the page numbers are quite small.
Newman's "Birds of Southern Africa" uses a much better system. The major bird groups with reference pages are on the inside of the front cover, making for rapid location. Major groups are colour-coded, as are the corresponding pages. Page numbers are large. All these design features make Newman's mush faster and easier to use than "Birds of East Africa".
Stevenson and Fanshawe have written a good guide, but it could have been so much better with more attention to usability and more vivid illustrations.
January 03, 2008 | |
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