Few ecosystem destinations are as abundant in their biodiversity as Costa Rica. Having the right field guides in hand can make all the difference when you're enjoying the country's birdlife. Photo Guide to Birds of Costa Rica, which features 549 excellent photographs, is designed to be equally useful for two distinct sets of readers. First are birders new to birding-or new to birding in Costa Rica-who want a guide to the birds that one is most likely to see, as well as to a few of the rarer species that one would hope to encounter. It treats more than 40 percent (365) of the species known from Costa Rica but is a guide to at least 75 percent of the birds commonly seen in a week or so of birding. The book will also be welcomed by experienced birders in search of a companion volume to The Birds of Costa Rica, second edition, an illustrated guide to all the birds of Costa Rica. The photographs in the species accounts in Photo Guide to Birds of Costa Rica are accompanied by names, measurements, field marks, habitat and behavior, voice, status and distribution, and range maps.
Richard Garrigues is one of the preeminent birding guides in Costa Rica, with more than twenty-five years' experience leading birding and natural history tours.He is the author of The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide, second edition, illustrated by Robert Dean, and Photo Guide to Birds of Costa Rica, both from Cornell.
Introduction Map of Costa Rica Anatomical Features Glossary Species Accounts and Illustrations Tinamous Curassows, Chachalacas, Guans New World Quail Sungrebe Grebes Ducks Cormorants Anhingas Pelicans Frigatebirds Boobies Gulls, Terns, Skimmers Sunbittern Herons, Egrets, Bitterns Ibises, Spoonbills Storks Limpkin Thick-knees Plovers, Lapwings Stilts, Avocets Sandpipers, Allies Jacanas Rails, Crakes, Gallinules New World Vultures Osprey Hawks, Kites, Eagles Falcons, Caracaras Owls Potoos Oilbird Nightjars, Allies Swifts Swallows Hummingbirds Pigeons, Doves Parrots Cuckoos Trogons Motmots Kingfishers Puffbirds Jacamars New World Barbets Toucan-Barbets Toucans Woodpeckers Ovenbirds, Woodcreepers Typical Antbirds Antpittas Antthrushes Tapaculos Tyrant Flycatchers Tityras, Becards, Allies Manakins Cotingas Jays Thrushes, Allies Dippers Mockingbirds Silky-flycatchers Gnatwrens, Gnatcatchers Wrens Vireos New World Warblers Tanagers, Seedeaters, Allies Finches, New World Sparrows, Allies Grosbeaks, Buntings, Allies Blackbirds, Orioles Euphonias Species Index
The photographs are high quality and in many cases stunning. This is certainly a guide well worth purchasing if planning a trip to Costa Rica, and even if you aren't, and just simply want to familiarize yourself with the birds of Central America. (The Wilson Journal of Ornithology)
