See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/311718395

Roberts Bird Guide, Second Edition

Article  in  Ostrich - Journal of African Ornithology · December 2016

DOI: 10.2989/00306525.2016.1272039

CITATION READS

1 6,480

1 author:

Rob M Little
University of Cape Town
135 PUBLICATIONS   954 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Hi Tshering. I have just published a mongraph on the terresrial gamebirds and snipes of Africa. I am also assisting a student complete her PhD thesis on the breeeding
and dispersal of Souther Ground-Hornbills. Ciao, Rob View project

Birds as keys to biodiversity conservation View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Rob M Little on 28 May 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Ostrich
Journal of African Ornithology

ISSN: 0030-6525 (Print) 1727-947X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tost20

Roberts Bird Guide, Second Edition

Rob M Little

To cite this article: Rob M Little (2016): Roberts Bird Guide, Second Edition, Ostrich, DOI:
10.2989/00306525.2016.1272039

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2016.1272039

Published online: 17 Dec 2016.

Submit your article to this journal

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tost20

Download by: [University of Cape Town Libraries] Date: 05 January 2017, At: 00:17
Ostrich 2016: 1–2
Printed in South Africa — All rights reserved
Roberts Bird Guide, Second Edition
By Hugh Chittenden, Greg Davies and Ingrid Weiersbye
2016, John Voelcker Bird Book Fund; distributed by Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd, 10 Orange Street, Sunnyside, Auckland Park,
2092, South Africa
576 pages, softcover and hardcover, photographs and colour maps
ISBN 978-1-920602-01-7 (softcover), 978-1-920602-02-4 (hardcover)
Ecotourism includes the activity of attracting domestic and
foreign tourists to visit and experience the natural environ-
ments of a country while promoting and supporting the
conservation of its biodiversity. Ecotourism, including
avitourism, has the potential to alleviate poverty by bringing
money into the economy and creating jobs (Sekercioglu
2002; Pritchard 2007; Biggs et al. 2011). Avitourism is
growing in southern Africa with almost half of the interna-
tional respondents to a study conducted on the activities
of avitourists in 2009 indicating that they undertook short
trips to Africa, of which 77% were to within southern Africa
(Anon. 2010).
Southern Africa hosts 971 bird species, of which more
than 10% are endemic to the subregion. Research
conducted in 2009 suggested that the South African
avitourism market involved between 21 000 and 40 000
avitourists annually. Of this, active domestic avitourists
ranged between 13 000 and 24 000, who spent between
R482m and R890m on birding trips, support services and
equipment annually. The number of international avitourists
was between 8 000 and 16 000, and they spent R309m
to R618m annually. Compared to the figures from a
1998 survey, total average annual birding expenditure by
domestic avitourists had at least tripled in the past 11 years
(Anon. 2010).
BirdLife South Africa’s Avitourism Division has developed
high-quality birding routes which provide information and
resources to birders on where to go, what to see and
where to stay while birding (BirdLife South Africa 2016),
and have also contributed to birding-associated job
creation through their training facility for Community Bird
Guides. More than 140 guides have been trained who
have gained an appreciation of the significance of birds,
from an economic and ecological perspective, and this has
benefitted the communities within which they live, as well
as the birds and their habitats.
One of the prominent features of the development of
avitourism in southern Africa is the high-quality bird field
guide books, arguably amongst the best regional guides in
the world. This second edition of the Roberts Bird Guide is
significantly revised, containing almost 1 000 species found
Ostrich is co-published by NISC (Pty) Ltd and Taylor & Francis
Copyright © NISC (Pty) Ltd
OSTRICH
ISSN 0030-6525 EISSN 1727-947X
http://dx.doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2016.1272039
Book Review
in southern Africa, and features new splendid artwork by
Ingrid Weiersbye and six other artists that reflects seasonal,
age and sexual differences in appearance as well as
some birds in flight in almost 240 annotated colour plates.
The quality of the artwork is impressive and it is hard to
believe that there is still room for improvement. Scattered
throughout the book are ad hoc photographs below the text
pages. Some of these may aid identification, such as the
four pages of nightjars and pipits, the two pages of photos
for cryptic warblers and the occasional photo such as that of
a Black-headed Oriole Oriolus larvatus with aloe pollen on
its forehead, but I was left wondering the purpose of many
of the other photographs.
Each species is also accompanied by an updated distri-
bution map, which is coloured according to the resident or
migratory status of the species. Below each map is a useful
calendar bar, which reflects the seasonal occurrence and
breeding months for each species. The concise but inform-
ative species descriptions include helpful descriptions of
characteristic features for the identification of each species
as well as interesting and accurate details of their status,
habitat preferences, diet and characteristic calls.
Although bird common names are generally the currency
of birders, it is worth noting that the authors have explicitly
chosen to use the nomenclature adopted by the International
Ornithological Congress (Dill and Donsker 2016), which
deviates in some cases from the traditional albeit aging,
Roberts – Birds of Southern Africa, 7th edition (Hockey et al.
2005). For instance, in the cases of Ring-necked Dove/Cape
Turtle Dove Streptopelia capicola, Brown-necked Parrot/
Grey-headed Parrot Poicephalus fuscicollis, Black-and-
white Shrike-flycatcher/Vanga Flycatcher Bias musicus,
African Yellow Warbler/Dark-capped Yellow Warbler Iduna
natalensis and Fan-tailed Grassbird/Broad-tailed Warbler
Schoenicola brevirostris.
Apart from this book being a comprehensive reference
to the birds of southern Africa, it is also an invaluable tool
to enhance the appreciation and value of avitourism in the
subregion. However, as a field guide, at over 1 kg, it is
a substantial tool to carry around in the field all day. The
Afrikaans edition will be published in 2017.
2 Little

References
Anon. 2010. The dti Avitourism in South Africa: opportunities and
recommendations. Pretoria: Department of Trade and Industry,
South Africa.
Biggs D, Turpie J, Fabricius C, Spenceley A. 2011. The value of
avitourism for conservation and job creation: an analysis from
South Africa. Conservation and Society 9: 80–90.
BirdLife South Africa. 2016. Birding routes. Available at http://www.
birdlife.org.za/gobirding/birding-routes [accessed 28 October
2016].
Dill F, Donsker D (eds). 2016. IOC World Bird List version 6.4.
Creative Commons. Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
ioc-lists/master-list-2/ [accessed 2 November 2016].
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ, Ryan PG (eds). 2005. Roberts – Birds
of southern Africa (7th edn). Cape Town: Trustees of the John
Voelcker Bird Book Fund.
Pritchard D. 2007. The value of avitourism. Unpublished
e-Newsletter. Johannesburg: Birdlife South Africa.
Sekercioglu CH. 2002. Impacts of birdwatching on human and
avian communities. Environmental Conservation 29: 282–289.

Rob M Little
Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Cape Town,
South Africa
Email: rob.little@uct.ac.za

View publication stats