In this autobiographical account of a lifetime spent observing, researching and photographing birds, Peter Steyn shares experiences that span some 70 years.

His story starts and ends in Cape Town, South Africa, but in between we read about:

• the 17 years he spent in Zimbabwe – his most productive in terms of ornithological research
• his worldwide travels in a quest to study birds
• his regular spells as a lecturer on cruise-ship voyages
• trips from the Arctic to the Antarctic, to remote Southern Ocean islands and to several Indian Ocean islands and St Helena
• travels also to the USA, South America, Australia, New Zealand and Ethiopia – all in pursuit of birds

His detailed and fascinating memoir captures the author’s great enthusiasm for birds and their role in his shaping his life and experiences.

Kingdom of Daylight: Memories of a Birdwatcher is well illustrated and features more than 400 photographs taken during Peter’s lifelong journey with birds.

This is the first book dedicated to birding in South Africa’s national parks. The 19 featured national parks are grouped within the four biogeographic regions – northern, arid, frontier and Cape regions. The book offers a concise introduction and summary of birding within each park.

Pertinent and interesting facts about where to find birds, including the top 10 birds of each park and a description of general habitats, are presented in a readable fashion. Over one hundred photographs illustrate some of the special birds found in the parks. Of the 700 regularly seen terrestrial species in South Africa, at least 640 can be found in the 19 national parks, with 13 of the 15 species endemic to South Africa and another 19 of the 20 species endemic to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Bird species commonly found in each park are listed at the back of the book.

Birding In South Africa's National Parks will be a worthy addition to the bookshelves of bird enthusiasts, particularly birders and ecotourists visiting South Africa from across the world.

The definitive photographic guide to the amazing avifauna of South Africa.

South Africa – from the vast savanna of Kruger to the unparalleled richness of the Cape – is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, featuring the highest number of endemics of any African country, as well as rich seabird assemblage and vast numbers of more widespread yet no less spectacular African birds.

The perfect companion for any wildlife-friendly visitor, Birds of South Africa provides photographic coverage of more than 340 species that regularly occur in the region. Concise text for each species includes information on identification, songs and calls, behaviour, distribution and habitat, with each photo having been carefully selected to guide identification. A guide to the best birdwatching sites in South Africa is also included.

Portable yet authoritative, this is the perfect guide for travellers and birdwatchers visiting this spectacular and bird-rich destination.

The definitive field guide to the birds of the Greater Southern African region.

This spectacular field guide includes all resident, breeding and migrant species found in Greater Southern Africa. Comprising South Africa, Lesotho, eSwatini, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, Greater Southern Africa is a vast region and home to a truly extraordinary diversity of avifauna.

The latest in the Helm Field Guides series, Birds of Greater Southern Africa describes all 1,170 regularly occurring species that are likely to be encountered in the region, from the Wandering Albatross to the Pennant-winged Nightjar. Featuring 272 colour plates by three of the world’s leading bird illustrators, this practical guide also includes concise species accounts describing key identification features, status, range, habitat and voice.

Distribution maps for each species are also included. Fully illustrated throughout, this is an essential reference guide for anyone visiting or living in this wildlife-rich area.

VELD Voëls van Suider-Afrika: Die volledige fotogids bring die heel nuutste foto’s, navorsing en verspreidingsdata oor alle voëlspesies wat tot op hede in Suider-Afrika aangeteken is, byeen.

Hierdie omvattende veldgids bevat nagenoeg 2 000 pragtige kleurfoto’s, asook:

• die nuutste inligting oor die 991 voëlspesies in Suider-Afrika
• bondige inskrywings wat fokus op identifikasie, moontlike verwarring, gedrag en habitat, asook verskille in geslag, ouderdom, kleurvariasies en subspesies
• opsommende inligting oor elke voëlspesie se grootte, kos, status en sosialiteit
• bygewerkte, kleurgekodeerde verspreidingskaarte wat elke voël se status en digtheid aandui
• ’n volledige en verkorte register
• ’n toepassing (“app”) met voëlroepe en addisionele foto’s van kleurvariasies.

Of jy buite in die veld of op die rusbank in jou huis is, is hierdie gids ’n onontbeerlike metgesel.

Newman’s Birds by Colour offers beginner birders a quick and simple way to identify southern Africa’s most common birds using colour as a starting point. Now in its fourth edition, this handy illustrated guide has been updated to include the latest common names, expanded habitat information, and up-to-date distribution maps. An informative introduction provides practical tips for identifying birds, and includes information on bird anatomy and classification, and guidance on where to look for birds and what you need to go birding.

In this book, Adrian Koopman describes the complex relationship between birds, the Zulu language and Zulu culture. A number of chapters look at the underlying meaning of bird names, and here we will find that the Zulu name of the Goliath Heron means ‘what gives birth to baby crocodiles’, the dikkop (umbangaqhwa) means ‘what causes frost’, and the African Hoopoe is a party-goer who wears a colourful blanket.

The book goes further than just Zulu names, exploring the underlying meanings of bird names from other South African languages and languages from Central and East Africa. Here we find birds with names that translate as ‘cool-porridge’, ‘kiss-banana-flower’ and ‘waiter-at-the-end-of-the furrow’.

A focus on Zulu traditional oral literature details the roles birds have played in Zulu praise poetry (including the praise poems of certain birds themselves) and in proverbs, riddles and children’s games. Also considered is traditional bird lore, examining the role played by various species as omens and portents, as indicators of bad luck and evil, as forecasters of rain and storm, and as harbingers of the seasons. Here we see that the Bateleur Eagle (ingqungqulu) is linked to war, the Southern Ground Hornbill (insingizi) to thunder and heavy rain, the Red-chested Cuckoo (uphezukokhono) to the start of the ploughing season, and the Jacobin Cuckoo (inkanku) to the start of summer.

Zulu Bird Names and Bird Lore discusses the Zulu Bird Name Project, a series of Zulu bird name workshops held between 2013 and 2017 with Zulu-speaking bird guides designed to confirm (or otherwise) all previously recorded Zulu names for birds, while at the same time devising new names for those without previously recorded names. The result has been a list of species-specific names for all birds in the Zulu-speaking region. Finally, the book turns to the role such new bird names can play in conservation education and in avi-tourism.

I hope you’re ready for a life of adventure! If not, don’t buy this book. Put it down and walk away.

This book will help you identify every single bird in Southern Africa, easily. You’ll also learn fun and funny facts about everything from space to superheroes, plus some bird stuff too.

The updated edition of Faansie’s Bird Book includes information about: birds from four new countries, 120 additional birds and has QR codes hidden on various pages for readers to scan to listen to what the birds sound like.

A must have for bird enthusiasts and novices looking to learn about South Africa’s birds, this is an ideal gift for a loved one, or as a personal handbook.

A pocket-sized safari guide featuring the birds of the Kruger.

Birding is becoming more popular than ever and this book will make it easier for readers to become familiar with the birds that are most often seen on game drives in the Greater Kruger area.

Kruger Birds is a comprehensive guidebook that covers 447 Greater Kruger species.

VELD Birds of Southern Africa: The complete photographic guide incorporates the latest photographs of, and research and atlas information on, all species of birds recorded in southern Africa to date.

This comprehensive field guide contains almost 2 000 beautiful colour photographs, as well as:

• the latest information on all 991 bird species in southern Africa
• concise entries focusing on identification, behaviour, possible confusion and habitat, along with differences in sex, age, colour morphs and subspecies
• at-a-glance information on each species’ size, food, status and sociality
• brand-new, colour-coded distribution maps reflecting each bird’s status and abundance
• full-length and quick indexes
• an app providing bird calls and additional photographs of plumage variations.

An essential companion, whether you’re out in the field or on the couch at home.

This completely revised field guide to one of Africa’s finest birding spots, the Kruger National Park and adjacent Lowveld, is packed with new information on all of the more than 550 species that have been recorded to date.

This includes updated text and distribution maps based on data from the Southern African Bird Atlas Project 2, hundreds of new illustrations, new sections with bird tracks and bird habitats and the latest rarity information.

Incorporating information from literally hundreds of observers and contributors, this field guide sets a new standard for the region’s varied avifauna.

Extraordinarily similar woodpeckers in South America and Africa? And not only woodpeckers: other bird families across a wide range, as well as quintessentially African trees native across South America, from Ecuador to Paraguay. How could this be?

Die vyfde uitgawe van Sasol Voëls van Suider-Afrika is tans volledig bygewerk deur die deskundige skrywerspaneel, met bykomende bydraes van twee nuwe voëldeskundiges. Hierdie omvattende topverkopergids is grootliks verbeter en sal beslis sy plek behou as een van die mees betroubare veldgidse in Afrika.

Belangrike kenmerke van die nuwe uitgawe:

• Meer as 800 nuwe illustrasies
• Skandeer en speel voëlroepe deur die gratis aflaaibare toep te gebruik
• Omvattende hersiening (met mees onlangse spesierekords), verspreidingskaarte en plaatbyskrifte
• Nuwe toevoegings van bydraende skrywers
• Omvattende dekking van die streek se voëls

Die vyfde uitgawe van Sasol Voëls van Suider-Afrika is tans volledig bygewerk deur die deskundige skrywerspaneel, met bykomende bydraes van twee nuwe voëldeskundiges. Hierdie omvattende topverkopergids is grootliks verbeter en sal beslis sy plek behou as een van die mees betroubare veldgidse in Afrika.

Belangrike kenmerke van die nuwe uitgawe:

• Meer as 800 nuwe illustrasies
• Skandeer en speel voëlroepe deur die gratis aflaaibare toep te gebruik
• Omvattende hersiening (met mees onlangse spesierekords), verspreidingskaarte en plaatbyskrifte
• Nuwe toevoegings van bydraende skrywers
• Omvattende dekking van die streek se voëls

This remarkable collection of birding stories, written by some of our most intrepid bird observers, will convert a new generation of South African ornithologists and watchers of wilderness. Birds and their names sing from the pages; owls, Shoebills, sandgrouse, Hooded Pittas, Rhinoceros Hornbills, Brown Kiwis, Rock Doves, Cape Eagle Owls, Greater Flameback woodpeckers, Inaccessible Island Rail, Superb and Beautiful Sunbird, Violet Turaco and the African Crowned Eagle. Contributors include: David Allan, Mark D. Anderson, Mark Brown, Callan Cohen, Susie Cunningham, W. Richard J. Dean, Morne du Plessis, Vernon RL Head, Alan Kemp, David Letsoalo, Rob Little, John Maytham, Adam Riley, Peter Ryan, Claire Spottiswoode, Peter Steyn, Peter Sullivan, Warwick Tarboton, Mel Tripp and Ross Wanless. All author royalties will be donated to the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology to support ongoing ornithological research.

Ek hoop jy's reg vir 'n lewe vol avontuur! Indien nie, moet jy asseblief nie hierdie boek koop nie.

Hierdie boek sal jou help om elke voel in Suider Afrika te identifiseer. Maklik!

Jy sal ook snaakse en interessante feite leer oor alles van sterre tot superhelde, plus so ietsie oor voels ook.

To both the beginner and the experienced birdwatcher, this compact guide will prove as indispensable as binoculars.

Special features:

• Updated with new bird names
• Fits your pocket
• Practical and user-friendly
• Over 400 bird species
• Excellent colour photographs
• Logical grouping of birds
• Concise biological information
• English & Afrikaans names
• Southern African bird numbers
• Distribution maps according to the new bird atlas
• Index

Over 90 000 copies of this book have been sold to avid birders from South Africa and across the world.

Newman se Voëls volgens Kleur bied vir die beginnervoëlkyker ’n vinnige, eenvoudige manier om Suider-Afrika se algemeenste voëls volgens hul kleur te identifiseer. Die vierde uitgawe van dié nuttige geïllustreerde gids is bygewerk met die nuutste gewone voëlname, uitgebreide habitatinligting en die mees onlangse verspreidingkaarte. Die leersame inleiding bevat praktiese wenke oor die uitken van voëls, inligting oor voëlanatomie en -klassifikasie, en raad oor waar om vir voëls te soek en wat jy op só ’n uitstappie moet inpak.

Jim Moir loves birds. His popularity as a painter has soared in recent years and the simplicity and sincerity of his bird paintings have given them cult status among his fans. Now, for the first time, one hundred of these beautiful paintings are gathered together in this exquisite book. It is a book to remind us why we love birds: because of the shapes, movement, colours and sounds they bring into our lives.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, a radical investigation into the bird way of being, and the recent scientific research that is dramatically shifting our understanding of birds -- how they live and how they think. "There is the mammal way and there is the bird way." But the bird way is much more than a unique pattern of brain wiring, and lately, scientists have taken a new look at bird behaviors they have, for years, dismissed as anomalies or mysteries -- What they are finding is upending the traditional view of how birds conduct their lives, how they communicate, forage, court, breed, survive. They are also revealing the remarkable intelligence underlying these activities, abilities we once considered uniquely our own: deception, manipulation, cheating, kidnapping, infanticide, but also ingenious communication between species, cooperation, collaboration, altruism, culture, and play. Some of these extraordinary behaviors are biological conundrums that seem to push the edges of, well, birdness: a mother bird that kills her own infant sons, and another that selflessly tends to the young of other birds as if they were her own; a bird that collaborates in an extraordinary way with one species-ours-but parasitizes another in gruesome fashion; birds that give gifts and birds that steal; birds that dance or drum, that paint their creations or paint themselves; birds that build walls of sound to keep out intruders and birds that summon playmates with a special call-and may hold the secret to our own penchant for playfulness and the evolution of laughter. Drawing on personal observations, the latest science, and her bird-related travel around the world, from the tropical rainforests of eastern Australia and the remote woodlands of northern Japan, to the rolling hills of lower Austria and the islands of Alaska's Kachemak Bay, Jennifer Ackerman shows there is clearly no single bird way of being. In every respect, in plumage, form, song, flight, lifestyle, niche, and behavior, birds vary. It is what we love about them. As E.O Wilson once said, when you have seen one bird, you have not seen them all.

The ultimate reference book for bird enthusiasts – now in its third edition. With expanded text and additional colour illustrations, the third edition of the hugely successful Collins Bird Guide is a must for every birdwatcher. The new edition has an extra 32 pages allowing several groups more space and completely or partly new plates with more detailed text: grouse, loons, several groups of raptors, terns, owls, swifts, woodpeckers, swallows, redstarts and some other relatives to the flycatchers (formerly often called ‘small thrushes’), tits and a few finches and buntings are some of these. More than 50 plates are either new or have been repainted, completely or partly. Apart from this, a few new vignettes have been added. The section with vagrants has been expanded to accommodate more images and longer texts for several species. The entire text and all maps have of course also been revised. The book provides all the information needed to identify any species at any time of the year, covering size, habitat, range, identification and voice. Accompanying every species entry is a distribution map and illustrations showing the species in all the major plumages (male, female, immature, in flight, at rest, feeding: whatever is important). In addition, each group of birds includes an introduction which covers the major problems involved in identifying or observing them: how to organise a sea watching trip, how to separate birds of prey in flight, which duck hybrids can be confused with which main species. These and many other common birdwatching questions are answered. The combination of definitive text, up-to-date distribution maps and superb illustrations, all in a single volume, makes this book the ultimate field guide, essential on every bookshelf and birdwatching trip.

Vir sowel die beginner as die meer ervare voelkyker is die kompakte klein gids die antwoord. Die volgende aspekte maak hierdie boekie onontbeerlik: Pas in jou hempsak; Prakties en gebruikersvriendelik; Meer as 400 voelsoorte; Uitstekende kleurfoto’s; Kleurvariasies aangedui; Logiese indeling van voelgroepe; Bondige biologiese inligting; Afrikaanse en Engelse name; Suider-Afrikaanse voelnommers; Verspreidingskaarte volgens die nuwe voelatlas; Indeks. Die boekie sal beslis sy man staan teenoor die grotes en is vir die natuurliefhebber so noodsaaklik soos ‘n verkyker!

A book of evocative and atmospheric photographs taken by Dick Hawkes to create a representative record of this precious and ecologically unique habitat - before much of it is lost to the many threats it faces. Chalk streams have been described as England's "rainforest". Around 85% of the world's chalk streams are in England. They are beautiful, biologically distinct and amazingly rich in wildlife, but are under threat from man-made issues of abstraction, pollution from chemicals and effluent, development for housing, and climate change. Included in the book are images of typical habitats and species of wildlife found in chalk streams and water meadows, highlighting those that are rare or most under threat.

Waders, or shorebirds, represent only a small percentage of the world's birds, but are unparalleled in popularity among birders. Identifying these seemingly anonymous grey birds, through a combination of shape, plumage and behaviour, is one of the most rewarding challenges in birding and the possibility of finding a rarity is an ever-present drawcard.

Despite their delicate appearance, waders thrive in some of the most inhospitable environments on the planet thanks to remarkable structural and behavioural adaptations, dynamic life cycles and dramatic global migrations. More than two years in the making, this unique, lavishly illustrated book will help you not only to identify waders with confidence, but also to understand and enjoy these inspirational birds.

It is the ultimate resource on the identification and biology of Southern Africa's wader species. However, because of waders' incredible worldwide migrations, most of the species in Chamberlain's Waders will also be familiar with readers from other regions of the world (only 30 of Southern Africa's 80 waders are NOT migratory).

What makes Chamberlain's Waders different from other titles on waders? Firstly, it is written from a Southern Hemisphere perspective, unlike most European and American books. This shift of focus completely changes the picture. Secondly, it explains wader identification based on a background of biology and ecology instead of just listing all the tedious identification details. Thirdly, it is so much more than just a field guide. Some paragraphs really read like a love letter written to waders in celebration of their beauty, adaptability and triumph over seemingly insurmountable challenges.