My review -
Never having been to or likely to visit southern Africa, I bought this book purely on the basis of the very handsome artwork examples of which I'd seen online (see
http://faansiepeacock.com/waders-book/). Happily, when it arrived I found that the text and illustrations are surprisingly useful for a birder based in Europe since it covers many of the species we see here. The absentees, however, do include a number of common species (Stone Curlew, Dotterel, Golden Plover, Lapwing & Woodcock) as well as not so common ones (Cream-coloured Courser, Sociable Plover, Spur-winged Plover, White-tailed Lapwing & Slender-billed Curlew). For African birders the notable omissions (apart from any noted above) include Senegal Thick-knee, Grey Pratincole, Egyptian Plover, Somali Courser, Brown-chested and Spot-breasted Plovers. Hence, with another dozen or so species this lovely book would have been useful across the continent and with only a few more Europe too!
The artwork is simply stunning and up there with the likes of Mullarney, Zetterstrom et al. There's not a plate nor an image that doesn't 'ring true'. The images look like lively living birds that, given just a little encouragement, could fly off the page. They're a good size too as the book's 'footprint' is c20% larger than the Collins guide. Most birds are illustrated in tall narrow 'panels' (usually two to a page) with flying birds at the top and three or four larger illustrations of foraging birds interspersed with attractive vignettes of birds in suitable habitat. They make a very aesthetically attractive package. Each plate, as is now the norm, is well annotated with ID features plus a map of distribution in southern Africa, a status 'bar' and a short paragraph about each species. Each plate is also supported by a column of text that starts with a highlighted box of 'key features' and then outlines habitat, status, identification, confusion risks, behaviour and voice. This text is very well written and makes judicious use of 'bold' to stress features. The plates have been set out to allow comparison of similar species so are sometimes four to a double page spread with text on following (or previous pages) but at other times two to a page with the text opposite (at times supplemented by additional text or tables for tricky groups. I found that this arrangement worked very well. The excellence of both text and plates is all the more remarkable as Faansie Peacock prepared both to make this arguably the best artist/author guide on the market. Even more remarkably, he was also responsible for the layout of the book and set up his own publishing company (Pavo Publishing) to produce the book he wanted.
The plates and text noted thus far could easily stand alone and make up a very handy field guide to waders particularly if slightly reduced to fit in a smaller more handy format. The author could well have stopped there and the book would still have been hailed as a great advance but, not content with doing so, the author has added a very interesting introduction to each wader family. These sections are not only absolutely jam-packed with information about general characteristics, taxonomic relationships, origin of names, conservation, migration, biology, etc. but also illustrated by more delightful artwork showing morphological and feather details, young, eggs, feeding methods and much more. This is no dry-as-dust exposition partly because of the author's refreshing style and partly thanks to his keenness to share interesting anecdotes.
Yet another admirable aspect of this fine book is the author's foresight in adding no less than 21 species not yet found in southern Africa but which have been found either on oceanic islands (e.g. the Seychelles & Tristan da Cunha) or further north in Africa and which may yet turn up there as vagrants. Given the relatively scarce coverage afforded to sites in southern Africa compared, say, those in Europe, this seems an excellent policy. The species so covered are dealt with in less, but still more than adequate, detail. This is reflected in the coverage of the various races of Whimbrel, quite the best I've seen anywhere. This includes the mysterious, once thought to be extinct Steppe Whimbrel N. p. alboaxillaris. It is again a remarkable reflection of the writer's efforts that the book contains reference to the subspecies' rediscovery wintering in southern Africa in February 2016. My only (minor) criticism is that the relatively large format makes it an unwieldy companion to take into the field where the illustrations' supreme functionality cry out to be used. As hinted elsewhere a more field friendly version would be a great boon so it's good to read than an e-book version is under active consideration. An enlarged edition to cover more European species would be better still!
This is a superb book which deserves a readership far beyond southern Africa. It is impressively well researched and written with a lightly worn erudition but above all the superior illustrations will be what grabs your attention. They are not only feather-detail accurate but also retain something of each species' character and liveliness. Simply brilliant.