Sunbirds

Sunbirds is the first book since the 19th Century to cover in detail all the world's sunbirds and spiderhunters - the Nectarinidae. It also includes the allied families of flowerpeckers and sugarbirds; a total of 176 species is described and illustrated. The book has been designed to help readers identify all of these species and also their various subspecies, the most distinctive of which are illustrated as well as described. Each species account provides a distribution map, a summary of identification criteria and a description of how the species differs from similar ones. The calls and songs, habitat, geographical distribution, status, movements, food (including a list of known food plants), habits, and breeding biology are also described. Finally, a full description of the species and salient features of each subspecies is given, together with measurements and references. Sunbirds not only aids identification, it provides a wealth of information on the ecology and behaviour of these birds. The authors have carried out extensive fieldwork in Asia and Africa. They have also studied skins, nests and eggs held by museums, analysed tape recordings and critically reviewed the vast amount of material contained in books and scientific journals. The superb plates would not have been possible without the exhaustive study of specimens which, together with the use of photographs of living birds, has resulted in the artist, Richard Allen, capturing the essence of the birds, their 'jizz', and accurately portraying the beautiful, bright, often iridescent, plumages of these spectacular families.

Curious little Annabeth finds an injured little sunbird in a park that was once a lovely forest. 10 year old author Mahdiyyah uses her imagination to describe Annabeths kind, resourceful and responsible behaviour in helping the sunbird. What does Annabeth do to help this threatened species? Did deforestation lead to the birds fate and will she be able to fly again? A book worth keeping in all libraries to inspire children around the world to write, at the same time creating awareness about birdlife conservation. The message is to simply be kind, responsible and resourceful! Khadija Ismail, Crescent Montessori School, Polokwane, South Africa

In Wilbur Smith's The Sunbird, Dr. Ben Kazin is a brilliant archeologist. Louren Sturvesant is rich, impulsive, and physically imposing, everything Ben is not. Now, the two men--friends, competitors and partners--are searching for the legendary lost city of Opet, built by an Egyptian culture that reached Africa two thousand years ago, then vanished completely. For Ben, the expedition is a chance to prove a controversial thesis. For Louren, it is a chance to spend millions--and make it all back in gold and glory. But what awaits them is an astounding discovery, a siege of terror, and an act of betrayal that will tear the two men apart and bind them together forever... Hidden beneath water, jungle, and blood-red cliffs is a lost world where two men and a beautiful woman were caught in a furious battle of passions two thousands years ago, but which has begun once again....

Winner of the 2011 Costa First Novel Award When their mother catches their father with another woman, twelve year-old Blessing and her fourteen-year-old brother, Ezikiel, are forced to leave their comfortable home in Lagos for a village in the Niger Delta, to live with their mother’s family. Without running water or electricity, Warri is at first a nightmare for Blessing. Her mother is gone all day and works suspiciously late into the night to pay the children’s school fees. Her brother, once a promising student, seems to be falling increasingly under the influence of the local group of violent teenage boys calling themselves Freedom Fighters. Her grandfather, a kind if misguided man, is trying on Islam as his new religion of choice, and is even considering the possibility of bringing in a second wife. But Blessing’s grandmother, wise and practical, soon becomes a beloved mentor, teaching Blessing the ways of the midwife in rural Nigeria. Blessing is exposed to the horrors of genital mutilation and the devastation wrought on the environment by British and American oil companies. As Warri comes to feel like home, Blessing becomes increasingly aware of the threats to its safety, both from its unshakable but dangerous traditions and the relentless carelessness of the modern world. Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away is the witty and beautifully written story of one family’s attempt to survive a new life they could never have imagined, struggling to find a deeper sense of identity along the way.

Universally recognised as by far the most authoritative work ever published on the subject, The Birds of Africa is a superb multi-contributor reference work, with encyclopaedic species texts, stunning paintings of all species and numerous subspecies, hundreds of informative line drawings, detailed range maps, and extensive bibliographies. Each volume contains an Introduction that brings the reader up to date with the latest developments in African ornithology, including the evolution and biogeography of African birds. Diagnoses of the families and genera, often with superspecies maps, are followed by the comprehensive species accounts themselves. These include descriptions of range and status, field characters, voice, general habits, food, and breeding habits. Full bibliographies, acoustic references, and indexes complete this scholarly work of reference. This fourth volume in the series deals comprehensively with broadbills, pittas, larks, swallows and martins, wagtails, pipits and longclaws, cuckoo-shrikes, bulbuls, waxwings, dippers, wrens, accentors, and chats. The editors and artists have worked closely with other authors - all acknowledged experts in their field - to produce a superb reference in which comprehensive texts on every species are complemented by accurate and detailed paintings and drawings of the birds themselves.

This is the first comprehensive guide since the 19th century to these closely related families, which occur throughout Africa and much of Asia. The book covers a total of 176 species, many of which are spectacularly colourful. It describes the appearance, ecology, behaviour and geographic diversity of each species.