Short description
This up-to-date Official Checklist of Birds in Southern Africa, compiled by BirdLife South Africa, is in alphabetical sequence for ease of use. To assist those familiar with the ‘old’ bird names, there is a conversion table of ‘old’ names to ‘new’ at the back of the checklist. This table also contains species that have been split, for example, Red-billed Hornbill to Damara and Red-billed hornbills.
Long description
The checklist is cross-referenced to relevant pages in Sasol Birds of Southern Africa and also provides endemism status and the level of threat/vulnerability at which particular species have been rated globally.
NOTE:
The common names of birds in southern Africa have been in dispute for some time now. In an effort to standardize names, the Common Names Committee of the International Ornithological Congress has co-ordinated the drive towards a single list of unambiguous common English names for all birds. This checklist reflects all new names of Southern Africa birds and provides cross references to 'old' names.