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Rating: 
Summary: Too big to fit in pocket, text is good though
Review: I recently returned from one month in Mali, where I took the 1977 Collins guide to the birds of West Africa by Serle and Morel. That book could fit in my pocket, this book by Barlow is too wide.I am new to birdwatching and am used to the Peterson guides with big pictures and pointers to fieldmarks and many illustrations for each species . This book crams 20 or so birds on each page, and puts all the illustrations up at front. It does give a few examples of male/female/immature differences, and it does show raptors overhead. In this it is better than the Collins guide. The pictures seem cartoonish though. The text is quite helpful and I guess the names of the birds are more up to date. I did not buy this book because I was going to Mali, not Senegal or Gambia. But all of the 60 or so birds that I identified in Mali are also found in this book. The Collins guide did not give me enough help identifying the many small weavers I saw, so I used this Barlow book and my field notes when I returned to the US, and this Barlow book is clearly superior in this case at least. The Collins book covers all the birds of West Africa, even though nearly half get less than 10 words and no picture. Still, it has to be my first choice for countries other than Gambia and Senegal, especially since it is more portable.
Rating: 
Summary: Birds of The Gambia and Senegal
Review: The authors and illustrators do a wonderful job on a field guide of the birds of two countries that are not visited very often by birders. Clive Barlow lives in The Gambia and has been the moving force behind the creation of birding conservation efforts in that country. He is the acknowledged living expert of birds of Western Africa. He is also a first-rate field birder. Shortly after the book was published in 1998, my son and I had occasion to visit both Senegal and The Gambia. In Banjul we were most fortunate to meet Clive Barlow and go birding with him for four days. He is one of those rare individuals who has both wonderful identification skills combined with the uncanny ability to locate hard-to-find birds. His obvious love for birds is clearly evident in his handy field guide. The book is well organized and very tastefully presented. The illustrations are superbly drawn and handy maps let you see the bird's expected range. Mr. Barlow is at his peak in the birds of The Gambia and only slightly less knowledgeable about Senegalese birding--perhaps because The Gambia is generally a much better place to observe birds. The book is one of my favorite field guides. It is, of course, a must for anyone birding in those two countries or neighboring regions. I wish every area of the world were covered by a guide of this quality. Its creators are to be commended for a very solid, readable, useful and enjoyable field guide.
Rating:
Summary: Birds of The Gambia and Senegal
Review: The authors and illustrators do a wonderful job on a field guide of the birds of two countries that are not visited very often by birders. Clive Barlow lives in The Gambia and has been the moving force behind the creation of birding conservation efforts in that country. He is the acknowledged living expert of birds of Western Africa. He is also a first-rate field birder. Shortly after the book was published in 1998, my son and I had occasion to visit both Senegal and The Gambia. In Banjul we were most fortunate to meet Clive Barlow and go birding with him for four days. He is one of those rare individuals who has both wonderful identification skills combined with the uncanny ability to locate hard-to-find birds. His obvious love for birds is clearly evident in his handy field guide. The book is well organized and very tastefully presented. The illustrations are superbly drawn and handy maps let you see the bird's expected range. Mr. Barlow is at his peak in the birds of The Gambia and only slightly less knowledgeable about Senegalese birding--perhaps because The Gambia is generally a much better place to observe birds. The book is one of my favorite field guides. It is, of course, a must for anyone birding in those two countries or neighboring regions. I wish every area of the world were covered by a guide of this quality. Its creators are to be commended for a very solid, readable, useful and enjoyable field guide.
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