The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide (Zona Tropical Publications)

I just returned from a non-birding trip to Costa Rica, and this guide got extensive use. Even without extensive prior study (poor planning on my part) I was able to make a lot more bird IDs than I expected on this trip, in large part because of the ease of use of this guide. Illustrations, text and range maps are all clear and informative. Two features I found particularly helpful were the raptors profiles inside the front cover, and the description of the climate and topography of Costa Rica. I was able to add two IDs just because of the ease of finding this when seeing a bird of prey soar overhead. And compare to many other guides which use this space for a guide to their species accounts or a map of their geographic coverage. My trip was limited to just Guanacaste, but reading about the climate and topography helped me better understand the geography of the country and the distribution of the avifauna, and also has me thinking about plans for future visits. A great little book for anyone visiting Costa Rica with an interest in birds, whether this is their primary purpose for travelling or not.

Garrigues & Dean (along with Cornell's Comstock Publishing) performed a virtual miracle in 2007 with the first edition of this work. Before then, birders in the field in Costa Rica had to use the superb but voluminous guide written by Stiles, Skutch & Gardner (1989), and they often resorted to separating the plates from the text for use in the field. This second edition is not so much revolution as evolution, but it does include illustrations of 64 species not previously covered. In addition, Robert Dean has replaced some species illustrations with portraits he deems improved, and he has added some "supplementary" images (in-flight, alternate plumages, etc.). The authors chose to follow the taxonomic nomenclature of Clements and a modified version of the Clements taxonomic sequence (not surprisingly retaining falcons with other diurnal raptors; inserting pigeons & doves, parrots and cuckoos between hummingbirds and trogons; and (perhaps most interesting of all) depicting the passerine swallows after the non-passerine swifts (also aerial specialists) and before the non-passerine hummingbirds). They believe these departures from taxonomic rigidity promote their goal of producing a guide that is more intuitively useful in the field, and I think they're right. Seabirds seen offshore in Costa Rican pelagic environs have been added to this second edition, as have species associated with Cocos Island (300 miles southwest of the mainland). Novice birders (and others) will appreciate the detailed descriptions & illustrations (six pages) of anatomical features (among the best I've found in any field guide). Birders new to Costa Rica and birders looking to diversify their Costa Rican birding experiences will value the brief chapter on climate and topography, including summaries of six different "life zones" and some of the ornithological features of each. Range maps are now color-coded for seasonality, and have been updated. Species illustrations are at least equal in quality to those of the first edition, and many birders would rate at least a few as improvements. Some of the brighter colors depicted on some species in my first edition seem somewhat more subdued in this new guide, but in most instances the differences are subtle. Inside the front cover (very conveniently) are images of adult vultures and raptors in flight. Congratulations to Richard Garrigues, Robert Dean and the folks at Comstock Publishing responsible for the Zona Tropical series.

I bought this for my trip to Costa Rica and it's been quite handy. It's not a huge book so it's conceivable to carry it with you in the field when you're out, but I have chosen not (it's just big enough that you really have to want to take it out and I'm here conducting research, so I need to be carrying enough other things that it's not worth it to me). I think the pictures are well done and are big enough that you can pick out details. The distribution maps are great. It is a paperback, which is good because it makes it lighter, but also tends to curl up at the edges in the humidity. I don't love the organization of the bird groups, but I'm getting used to it, so that's a minor technicality. Of the bird books I've seen, this one is by far the best for this area and is an outstanding resource.

Good size for field, clear illustrations and identification. Only drawback is that a few species names have changed since this was published, and it isn't the least expensive. I tried a cheaper guide first but wasn't suitable for the field, this is best option of the four guides i have seen. Held up well for two weeks of rough use.

We used this book for our recent 10 day trip to Costa Rica and it had all the birds that we saw in it with fairly good descriptions. Found maybe 2 of the 115 species we identified whose pictures did not match the appearance of the real life bird. Book did get a bit soggy on our trip as it rained most of the days we were there, but I’m not sure there is a book as comprehensive as this that is water proof! Our local guide was using this same book for reference. Good value

This is a great field guide, organized by family groups. Illustrations are provided for each species that well display the field marks. I also love that they give an important piece of info as to whether the species is common, infrequent, rare, only a vagrant, etc... I am currently studying this guide in preparation for a trip to CR and I'm planning to take it with me as it's a light-weight soft cover and is nice and compact in size. Overall: two thumbs up!

The book is extremely complete from a data/info perspective. Gives you all the areas where a bird is normally located in an easy to reference map. Has more birds catalogued than any other guide I have seen. I bought it because the one I normally use has only about 250 species identified so I wanted something more complete. My only buff is that the drawings are not great for relating to the actual bird. We have identified at least a couple so far with characteristics not described in the guide by correlating the actual picture with other similar books. The other problem is that the way the families are organized in the book make it difficult if you don't know what family your bird is from to be able to locate it without having to go thru the whole thing. Maybe is just a guide for more advanced bird watchers.

Used in the field by two birders new to Costa Rica. Was carried in pack and sometimes referred to during observation (when it wasn't raining!) for quick ID. Descriptive text of physical attributes sufficient, would like more behavior and habit info but that would result in an unwieldy book. Illustrations are a good size and clear, some might prefer to have key diagnostic features highlighted. We hired two guides who also used their own copy of this book to show us the bird we saw or were looking for. I would recommend for first time and intermediate birders to region for securing sightings. Binding withstood 2 weeks of being pulled in and out of pack, maybe a waterproof cover would improve its lifespan.

Muy recomendable si vas a Costa Rica y estás interesado en su biodiversidad. Dibujos y texto de gran calidad y muy útiles para la identificación de las diferentes especies. Mapas de distribución actualizados.

This is a great book for checking Costa Rican 🇨🇷 birds. There is lots of detail with maps to see each birds normal location Beautiful pictures. A pleasure to just flick through

El libro está bien, tiene un listado adecuado de las aves de este país y adicionalmente, está muy bien ilustrado. Mi intención al comrarlo fue ir aprendiendo sobre la diversidad de aves de esa región y complementar las guías de Centroamérica y me ha sido de mucha utilidad ya que el listado está actualizado (para el año de edición) y tiene muchos detalles de información que son de utilidad. El tamaño es adecuado para una guía de campo, pues cabe en una bolso de campo sin ningun problema y no es pesado. Para los que tienen otras guías de campo, el tamaño es muy similar a las guias de campo de Peterson. Muy satisfecho con la relación costo-beneficio.

Bought this Field Guide after careful consideration and reading lots of reviews. To be used during an upcoming trip to Costa Rica.

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