<p>This new field guide uses all 147 color plates from Princeton's <i>A Guide to the Birds of Western Africa</i>, with concise, authoritative text on facing pages, to create a compact, lightweight field reference covering all 1,285 species found in the region--from Senegal and southern Mauritania east to Chad and the Central African Republic and south to Congo. It is the first field guide to cover this region exclusively and in such comprehensive depth, and will enable birders to identify any species found in any of the twenty-three countries and territories covered.</p><p> <i>Birds of Western Africa</i> also has an updated color distribution map for each species, conveniently placed on interleaved pages within the color plates. The plates, all original and painted by the same leading illustrator, comprise over 3,000 figures--including a number of new images painted for this field guide--and depict almost all the species described. The entries opposite the plates focus on key identification marks for all main plumages.</p><p> Both authors have gained extensive field experience over many years in western Africa. Their knowledge and expertise shines through in this unprecedented and outstanding field guide to one of the world's most exciting birding regions.</p>