Singing praises for a must-have
THE couch society of natural exploration’s Big Debate this week: can a birder, specially a newbie, have too many good bird books/apps?
The answer is no, and we have the proof – in about three hours, I transformed a shiny new copy of Veld Birds of Southern Africa: The Complete Photographic Guide into a well-worn, been-in-a-hide-fordecades version.
Authors Burger and Niel Cillié, Phil Penlington, Trevor Hardaker and Karin Wiesler have not only identified the 991 species recorded in the region, they also tracked down clear photographs – at least two per bird, either male and female, or adult and juvenile. Nearly 2 000 photographs.
To put this into perspective, a distribution map appears for every listing, but some of the birds recorded here are so unusual they appear as a tiny dot. It’s like a spot-the-dot competition.
And yet, they VELD Birds of Southern have the Africa: The Complete photographs. Photographic Guide
A spectacular is jam-packed with achievement. beautiful, clear
The photographs, categorised birds are for easy identification and categorised access to an app for their in groupings calls. of what you are likely to see, most often very briefly: the general shape, outline and behaviour. I was going to get all show-offy and say GISS (general impression, size and shape), but that would be like using the one French word you know and saying “bonjour” and ending up red-faced and spluttering when the person responds in a stream of French.
But anyway: it’s often the LBJs (little brown jobs) that get you, blitzing about inside shrubs, making identifying details hard to see. This is where this guide is fabulous – if you can catch a glimpse of what it is pecking at (eating) you will know the general shape, its favourite food and how it eats; on the wing, back on a perch, in the leaf litter, or on top of a tree. Then you go to the group with those behaviours, find the picture and get good basic information. It’s easy.
Calls are covered by an app – download it, scan the picture in the book and you get the song.
I now have a few apps and a beginner’s book, some with very detailed entries. One I can’t live without, but I have still struggled to identify new birds just by their, um, GISS and habitat (my jungle garden).
Now, with this one as a companion, I am fully armed. Plus I love holding books.
Some sad news. The kids rescued a kitten. Gorgeous, feisty little grey boy who has all the dogs under control and lives with two rescued uncaged starlings who pecked him into his place from the start. But his new mom found a dead bird this week and brought it in to ask what it was – a beautiful crested barbet, subject of many emails from wonderful fellow twitchers helping me learn. I was Very Cross. Little does he know he’s losing his knackers next week. I’m going to be smug, and look for a bell and collar.
The book’s retail price is R695, but I found some online for less.