Art Print – Birds of Africa – Now Available

Over the years, I have created hundreds of small watercolour illustrations of birds and other wildlife. Sometime last year, I had the idea to bring a selection of them together in a meaningful way by creating a large A1 design that celebrates the splendid diversity of Africa’s birds.

This project proved to be a much larger undertaking than I had anticipated as I needed to create completely new illustrations of many species, and each individual artwork had to be deep-etched, scaled and placed in an appropriate part of the continent.  Then, as I neared completion of the whole design, I had to decide how I was going to produce and market it.

Printed on deluxe 170gsm art paper (rolled in a tube, for framing or mounting) @ ZAR250.00.

Great care has been taken to place each of the 338 featured birds in a locality where it is known to occur, so the design is scientifically accurate. To allow the identification of every bird, each art print is provided with a numbered key chart.

At least one member of Africa’s 142 bird families is featured, but some ended up with better representation than others – the turacos, bee-eaters, barbets, hornbills, kingfishers, owls, eagles and vultures are among my favourite birds! The design also represents Africa’s ‘associated islands’ all of which are important breeding sites for albatrosses, frigatebirds, terns or other marine species. Due to format limitations, Mauritius (some way east of Madagascar) could not be included.

North Africa falls within the so-called Palearctic zoogeographical region so it may come as a surprise to many people that several typically European species such as the European Robin, Eurasian Wren and Blue Tit can be found in Morocco. In addition, millions of migrant birds from Europe and Asia move in and out of Africa each year, some crossing the vast Sahara Desert which is an ecological barrier to resident species. No political boundaries are shown on the underlying map – birds take no heed of these arbitrary lines.

To place an ORDER for this unique art print please email me directly  – duncan@dbnatureworks.com. Once we have established the delivery options (local or overseas, courier or post), I will then send you an invoice with banking details and – upon receipt of payment – the print will signed, packaged and dispatched.

* Actual size = A1 is 60 x 84 cm . .  24 x 33 inches.

Duncan Butchart, Hermanus, South Africa