Cape Verde Islands

Introduction

Birds of the Atlantic Islands covers the Cape Verde Islands.

The western and central parts of Africa now have an excellent guide in the Birds of Western Africa by Borrow and Demey. It is a fantastic reference work and thoroughly recommended. It covers 23 countries south of the Sahara, from Mauritania in the northwest, to Chad and Central African Republic in the east, and Congo Brazzaville in the southeast, including the Cape Verde and Gulf of Guinea Islands. The paperback version is much more portable than the hard cover edition and it is ideal for the field, although there is less detail.

You can purchase these and other books from WildSounds, one of the largest specialist UK mail-order companies, via our book and media sales page. Many birdwatchers are not only interested in birds, so we have added the most useful books for other taxa on this page.

*** Wildsounds donates 5% of each order generated via these links to the ABC Conservation Fund. Please order here, get a good price and support ABC! ***

Books

	Field Guide to the Birds of the Atlantic Islands, Tony Clarke, A&C Black, Softback. The first comprehensive field guide dealing exclusively with the birds of this spectacular region, covering all resident, migrant and vagrant species found in Macaronesia. Over 450 species are illustrated with full details of all plumages and major races likely to be encountered. Concise text describes identification, status, range, habitats, climate, geographical isolation, endemism and conservation. 320 pages.
	Field Guide to the Birds of Western Africa, Nik Borrow & Ron Demey, Helm, Softback. Helm Field Guide. Utilises all the plates from the Helm ID Guide by the same authors, with a concise, authoritative text on facing pages, to create a guide covering all 1,304 species found in the region. The guide also contains an updated colour distribution map for each species and a number of new images have been painted just for this guide. Covers Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Rio Muni, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, part of Mauritania and the islands of Sao Tome, Principe and Bioko (Fernando Po) and Cape Verde. 512 pages.
	Birds of the Cape Verde Islands, Cornelis J Hazevoet, British Ornithologists Union, Hardback. BOU Checklist 13. The first avifauna to be published on this oceanic island group that lies off the West African coast. As with other checklists in the series, initial chapters cover geology, geography, climate, vegetation and bird habitats, as well as breeding, migration, conservation, zoogeography, systematics and history. The main part of the book comprises the Systematic List, giving detailed accounts of every species reliably recorded (some 164). 48 colour plates, tables, maps. 192 pages.
	Field Guide to the Birds of Macaronesia, Eduardo Garcia del Rey, Lynx Editions, Hardback. Covering all the species and subspecies of birds in Macaronesia (the Azores, Madeira, the Savage Islands, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde). 341 pages.
	Multimedia Identification Guide to North Atlantic Seabirds. Storm-petrels & Bulwer's Petrel, FLOOD, B. & FISHER, A. (2011), Pelagic Birds & Birding Multimedia Identification Guides, in association with www.scillypelagics.com. 212 pp. + 2 DVD. The guide covers all the storm petrels present in the North Atlantic, and also Bulwer’s Petrel, with good videos and many high quality photos of all the species.

Other Books & Sounds

	Van PERLO, B. (2002): Collins Illustrated Checklist. Birds of Western & Central Africa. Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. London. 384 pp. This book includes and illustrates all the endemic species of the Cape Verde Islands and several of the subspecies as well as other breeding and migrant species cited for the archipelago up to the time of its publication.
	NAUROIS, R. de (1994): Les Oiseaux de l'Archipel du Cap Vert / As Aves do Arquipélago de Cabo Verde. Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical. Lisboa. XVII + 188 pp.
	BEAMAN, M. & MADGE, S. The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic, published by Christopher Helm, A & C Black, London. This guide covers all the breeding species of the Cape Verde Islands including the endemics which are illustrated.
	ROBB, M. & KILLARNEY, K. (2008) Petrels night and day. A Sound Approach Guide. The Sound Approach, Dorset. 300 pp plus 2 CDs. This guide is useful for any visitor who wishes to find the pelagic seabirds.

Last page update 9th May 2012