Page 22 - The Villager January 2021

Birding

evolutioN

of bird

booKs

1936 - 2020

By JaMEs CLaRkE aNd MaRy BROadLEy

The Larger Illustrated
Guide to Birds of
Southern Africa
– a revolutionary new

bird book

n my day, (as people over 60 tend
to say), we birders would walk for
Ihours carrying heavy binoculars
and an equally heavy bird book to
identify different birds.
for years, i carried the 871-page
Roberts’ Birds of South Africa. if, on an
outing, we found ourselves differing
over a bird’s identification, we’d start
frantically rifling through our field
guides. frantically? well, after the bird
had flown, somebody might well have
asked about the colour of its legs.
“Red!” somebody would assert.
“Black, definitely!” somebody else
would say. become more fascinating and are although, as a beginner, i found them
“Legs?” i might say. being noted as indicators in various fine. within the space of a single page,
Bird books took a battering. this led fields of scientific importance such as Gill managed to squeeze 30 species as
to heavier gauge paper being used and climate change and crop management. diverse as the hamerkop, the herons,
stronger covers so that instead of field the growing number of birders now ibises, ducks and geese.
guides becoming lighter, the opposite forms an auxiliary arm to the science of four years later, another former
was happening. ornithology. director of the Museum, austin
when i started birding, there were i became involved in the birding Roberts, produced Birds of Southern
just over 900 species in our region that world when somebody gave me a Africa. it was (and still is) published
stretched to the Zambezi. Now that slim cloth-bound book, First Guide to by the John Voelcker Bird Book trust
eight countries are involved and new South African Birds by Leonard Gill, fund and it became the standard
species are being spotted creeping in one-time director of the south african reference for many years. it was a
from Central africa or from the sea, our Museum. it was first published in 1936 huge improvement on Gill’s and it
region now lists almost 1 000 birds. – a bold attempt at being a field guide. introduced distribution maps, one for
Birding dynamics in general have the illustrations look quaint nowadays each species.

20 • Issue 1 2021 • The Villager