Birds of Somalia

Somalia, with seven endemic species, is one of the most important bird areas in Africa; it is also one of the least well-known. Birds of Somalia is a model of its kind and will inspire many other similar volumes. Its essence is to provide an atlas of 654 maps showing the distribution of all the species known from the country; each species account gives where relevant a bird’s preferred habitat, its relative abundance, and details of migration, breeding season and clutch size. Much of the ornithological content of Birds of Somalia is based on personal experience. About 70% of the observations on the maps were provided by the authors and they claim to have seen all but one of the 654 birds on the Somali list. Besides adding over 50 first time records to it, they were also responsible for finding and adding to science one new species and four new subspecies of birds in Somalia.