Sasol Birds of Southern Africa

Book excerpt: First published in 1993, Sasol Birds of Southern Africa is one of the best-selling field guides on the African continent. This fourth edition has been rewritten and greatly improved, ensuring it remains the region’s most comprehensively illustrated and trusted field guide. In this fourth edition: species accounts have been rewritten and now include group introductions; plates have been newly designed for ease of use and comparison; more than 380 new improved illustrations replace earlier ones; illustrations have simplified labels, pinpointing key differentiating features; distribution maps have been updated, showing the relative abundance of a species in the region, and also indicating resident or migrant status. Other features include calendar bars that show species’ occurrence and breeding periods, a section on ‘how to use this book’, as well as sonograms depicting the calls of difficult-to-distinguish birds that have distinctive calls.