Product Overview
Here is the definitive guide to the birds of Kenya and, indeed, to all of Eastern Africa. For the first time, each of the 1,114 species of the region is described and illustrated. This long-awaited book includes detailed information for every species, including appearance, plumage, vocalization, habits, status, and distribution, as well as detailed treatments of habitats and ranges. The product of more than ten years of development and field testing, Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania renders obsolete all other guides to the area.
The Republic of Kenya is home to more bird species than any other African nation, with the exception of Zaire, which has a land area four times greater than that of Kenya. This book serves as both a handbook and a field guide to this fascinating region--one that will meet the needs of professional ornithologists and amateur birders alike. It is the only guide to this region that is truly comprehensive. In 112 color plates and numerous line drawings, every one of Kenya's 1,080 bird species is illustrated. In addition, 34 species from northern Tanzania are illustrated and described. In all, approximately 90 percent of Tanzania's birds are included, as are more than 85 percent of the birds of Uganda and a majority of all species endemic to the entire area.
In East Africa, where Kenya alone boasts nearly 1,100 species, scarcely more than half are figured in the most widely used field guide. Because there has been so much guesswork by traveling birders about the hundreds of unfigured species, a superb team has finally done something about it and filled the gap. There will be no more guesswork.... The present volume should be hailed not only by birders but by conservationists aware of the urgent need for African governments to establish strong strategies to preserve their rich natural heritage. --From the foreword by Roger Tory Peterson