Birds of East Africa (Helm Field Guides) Paperback – 1 Dec. 2004

Images are pretty and well precise.In some plates, the birds are spread and it seems harder to identify them with the legend. I miss the images with hilghlights of structures that i see on Collins for European birds (for instance, comparing tail lenghts, colors or other details that would help you to distinguish species). Anyway, I found it much better than Collins guide for these same regions (images there are pretty dull), and looks more like a drawing collection than an actual guide.Distribution maps only refer to presence and do not consider wintering or breeding grounds.Overall it seems a very complete book (maybe to heavy/big for pocket or field direct use) and I think it is usefull for general knowledge of species and "at home" post field identification!If you are in doubt, I would definitely go it instead of the Collins'version.

I bought this to accompany me on a safari to Kenya and was not disappointed with my choice. It replaced my previous East African bird book that had finally given up the ghost after many years of loyal service and I was a bit dubious to change to this but my worries lifted as soon as I received it. However, the real joy was using it in the field and it quickly became the "go to" bird book amongst my fellow travellers.The text is crisp and concise and the drawings are beautifully clear.Yes, the book is on the heavy side ( as frequently mentioned in other reviews ) but I found no difficulty packing it along with mammal reference books, camera, binoculars and clothing and still staying within the 15kg allowance for the light aircraft transfers between reserves. Practice in packing makes perfect and this book is as near to perfect as one can reasonably expect from a field guide.

I bought this book for a safari holiday in Tanzania. At first I wasn't sure I had made the right choice. There were a daunting number of species included, and it was a bit big and heavy. I couldn't fit it into a jacket/waistcoat pocket like my usual European guides. But as the holiday developed it became a friend - something to flick through as you sat back after a drive, as well an occasional reference during the drive. Anyway since most of the time we were in a vehicle, the weight didn't matter that much. It had exactly the right balance of detail, and its comprehensiveness was a real asset. The identification notes are brief but very to the point and helpful. One of our drivers - and the keenest on bird identification - used a copy as his main reference..and the book became a resource for our whole group (well those interested in the birds!).Apart from the size (too many species from rainforest, etc, cluttering things up), I had only minor niggles. Sometimes names don't match other usage (it has no "masked weaver" mentioned anywhere, though this bird turns up on bird lists - I think this is an alternative to "lesser masked weaver" in the book). Maps sometimes give too broad a distribution, (eg marking all of Tanzania red, when clearly this could not be the case because of habitat restrictions). Overall very pleased with the purchase.

I purchased the book to identify some birds which I had seen and photographed, whilst on holiday observing Mountain Gorillas in Uganda. This is my second copy, as I sent my first copy to the Lodge where I stayed as the young man who took me on the bird walk had to borrow a copy from a friend. I should have identified these earlier when I had my first copy.

I bought this for my husband for Christmas following a very recent trip in Uganda when we were loaned a copy to use whilst on safari . It is a beautiful book with a wealth of information covering if not every bird then most of them in East Africa. It is beautifully illustrated to help identify the beautiful and amazing bird life - a must if travelling in that area. No apologies for the overuse of the word "beautiful".

Others have already compared this book to the other East African field guides available, and I agree with them. It combines the high standard of illustrations of the old Collins guide (the same artist, Norman Arlott, was involved in both) with an excellent layout. In paperback version at least, it is sufficiently light enough to use in the field. We all seem to have plates that niggle us slightly, for me it is the birds with irridescent plumage, sunbirds and starlings, that don't seem quite right. Having said that, the illustrations are fine for identification which is, after all, the purpose of the book.If you are heading to East Africa to watch birds, this is the book for you.

So many birds to choose from can be bewildering but this guide helps to sort out the confusion: efficient maps; good illustrations; clear descriptions. The only puzzle is how the characterful Speckled Mousebird can be so frequently described as "drab and scruffy" when it is such a fun bird (so many in the gardens of the Outspan Hotel, feeding on the fruit trees).We even got to see the cute Sokoke Scops owl and various other endemics in the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, thanks to our wonderful guide, Jonathan (Turtle Bay Beach Club).

Have just returned from 3 weeks in Uganda. This book is very good indeed, though pretty heavy to carry. But in spite of that I still give it 5 stars. My guide on Bushara Island also had it! The pictures are very good indeed. Of course many birds are not found in each country covered and time spent before a trip marking the birds one might expect to find was worth the effort.

I have a LOT of field guides, for multiple places on the planet, and have been birding for nearly 60 years. All guides have some errors or less-than-perfect illustrations, but some are better than others. In my opinion, a field guide is supposed to be useful in the field, and so there are always tradeoffs in number of illustrations, size of the book, and of course, cost. The more biodiverse an area is, the heavier a guide will be if it's to be of use. In my opinion, Stevenson's book is one of the best guides I've seen primarily because he has chosen to organize the book to be most useful in the field. Other reference books can be used to find out more about the species present in an area, preferably prior to an outing, but sometimes the organization of a guide can make the difference between spending a lot of time identifying the bird, and actually enjoying watching it. What I find particularly useful about Stevenson's guide is that he groups similar species together (sometimes not necessarily by taxonomy) both in the plates and species accounts, with a very useful phrase discussing the group's special features. This goes beyond the typical family description somewhat resembling a biology lesson ('phalarope males take on parental duties' or the like), which again in my opinion belongs in the birder's study of the avifauna prior to the outing. An example of Stevenson's group characteristics, picked at random by opening the book, is the account above Black Flycatchers, noting what viewers should concentrate on (overall color, eye color, etc) and giving page numbers for three other all black birds. Other great examples are the groups of sunbirds ('Large sunbirds with blue-green heads'; 'Sunbirds with maroon or violet breast bands' etc), where the group names greatly help to narrow the focus to key field marks. More field guides should attempt Stevenson's style!Although I bought both Zimmerman et al's Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania, and Stevenson's Birds of East Africa, I prefer Stevenson's book by far for its usefulness. Zimmerman's guide has plates that are far too crowded (and he notes that they do not apologize for the crowded plates), which makes it almost overwhelming to find distinctive marks, especially since the birds are numbered instead of named and the maps are far separate from the plates. Both guides have quality illustrations (acknowledging that some features may be inaccurate--see first disclaimer in this review!). Each treats flying birds somewhat differently. For example, Zimmerman places all flying raptors together, which while super crowded does allow for many to be seen at once, whereas Stevenson places flying raptors next to the perched illustration, and then usefully separates the species with a line. I tend to bring all the guides I have for an area with me to the field (regardless of the weight), and both of these are useful for their respective features. However, if I had to choose one, it would be Stevenson's.

This is THE bird guide for East Africa. It has not dated despite being 15 years old. This is because it is thoroughly modern in layout and very user-friendly. The species descriptions and distributions are placed opposite the illustrations. All the regions182 important bird areas are shown. There is an introductory section on vegetation, topography, and seasonality. The 1388 species are well illustrated. Thankfully Princeton resisted the temptation to condense too many on a single page. Other publishers, please note.

Es perfecto, trae muchas especies, lo único malo es que este en inglés.... Pero como no hay otro.... Pues perfecto.

Amazing book, really concise and distribution is well marked which is the main thing.The plates are user friendly and description is great as well.

Wir hatten für unsere Uganda/Ruanda Reise keinen Field Guide dabei, aber unsere Reiseleiter waren mit diesem Exemplar ausgestattet.Er war permanent in Gebrauch und sah natürlich entsprechend aus. Er hat uns für die Bestimmung vor Ort sehr geholfen und jetzt zu Hause natürlich auch, weil die Fotos müssen beschriftet werden.