Birds of Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama
Andrew C. Vallely & Dale Dyer
Princeton University Press | 2018
584 pp. | 16 x 23.5 cm | 260 colour plates, 1261 maps
Softback | £40 / $49.50 | ISBN: 9780691138022
Just finished my review of the superb new guide to the birds of Central America, to be published in
Neotropical Birding 25...
Thanks to
Princeton University Press for providing a review copy.
Published review below, PDF
here.
Until recently, field guides for Central America
were getting rather long in the tooth, although such
masterworks as Howell & Webb (1995), Stiles &
Skutch (1989), and Ridgely & Gwynne (1989) never
become obsolete. The situation was remedied by the
first field guides to Belize (Jones 2003) and Honduras
(Gallardo 2014), followed by pocket guides to Costa
Rica (Garrigues & Dean 2007), Panama (Angehr &
Dean 2010) and Nicaragua (Chavarría-Duriaux
et al.
2018; see review, page 88) published by Zona Tropical/
Comstock Publishing Associates (latterly imprints
of Cornell University Press), and by the Peterson
guide to Northern Central America (Fagan & Komar
2016). The present volume, as the first field guide to
the entire Central American avifauna, fills the gaps
left by El Salvador and Guatemala and brings the
identification literature for the remaining countries up
to date.
A decade in production, the book covers the
1,261 bird species that had been documented in the
political region of Central America as of August
2017, an avifauna comparable in size with that of a
typical South American country – quite a daunting
undertaking. Each of the 1,194 bird species of what
the authors define as the ‘core avifauna’ is accorded
a main species account, while a further 67 ‘marginal,
dubious and hypothetical species’ are relegated to an
annotated appendix.
The region is delimited politically rather than
biogeographically, so Vitelline Warbler
Setophaga
vitellina, a West Indian species found only on the
Swan Islands and (extralimitally) on the Cayman
Islands, is included. Taxonomy and order broadly
follow American Ornithological Society (AOS).
There are some logical departures, such as treating
Audubon’s
Setophaga auduboni and Goldman’s
Warblers
S. goldmani as separate from Yellow-rumped
Warbler S. coronata, or recognising Azuero
Parakeet
Pyrrhura eisenmanni as distinct from South
American Painted Parakeet
P. picta.
The main accounts comprise carefully
distilled, concise identification texts and good-sized
distribution maps (29 x 36 mm) on the left,
with plates on facing spreads. Layout is intuitive,
facilitating cross-referencing to the facing page. For
species that exhibit geographic variation northern/western subspecies appear on the left-hand side
of the plate and eastern/southern subspecies on
the right. Plates are the most realistic of any guide
to this region, accurately capturing the jizz and
plumage of all groups. Birds are usually shown in
profile to facilitate comparison, but the illustrations
have a pleasing three-dimensional quality and the
plates themselves are works of art. The antbirds and
furnariids are spectacular. The figures are large and
fill each plate, leaving minimal blank plate.
Critical groups such as shorebirds, tyrant
flycatchers and warblers are very nicely illustrated, the
latter with both breeding and non-breeding plumages.
There should be no need to carry an additional guide
to the birds of North America. It is no surprise to
learn that both artist and author spent a great deal of
time in museum collections, especially the American
Museum of Natural History, checking and comparing
specimens. The depth of their research is apparent in
the quality of the entire book. It may take a while for
the eye to adapt to the lack of colour saturation of the
plates, particularly for some groups like vireos and
thrushes. However, I find the artwork very pleasing.
In the introduction, the authors set out their
reasons for not labelling figures with subspecies
names; having examined the full range of geographic
variation they
felt that a more
general description
of geographic
variation was more
appropriate. Given
the diligence with
which the authors
examined museum
specimens, I would
have liked to have
seen scientific
names of subspecies
specified, which I
think would have added clarity to accounts of, for
example, Willet
Tringa semipalmata, Short-billed
Dowitcher
Limnodromus griseus, Osprey
Pandion
haliaetus, Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Myiarchus
tuberculifer and Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Stelgidopteryx serripiennis.
Text focuses squarely on the task of identification.
In the interest of brevity, it omits information
on aspects of life history except where they aid
identification. An introductory line on regional
and global status precedes the main identification
text, which is followed by a short section covering
geographic variation where appropriate. Notes on
habits indicate habitat preference, the favoured
habitat stratum (canopy vs understorey, etc.), and
distinctive features of behaviour. The final section
describes vocalisations. The compilation of accurate
distribution maps across seven nations must have
consumed an inordinate amount of time. I could
find no obvious oversights, although unfortunately
Turquoise-browed
Eumomota superciliosa and Blue-throated
Motmot
Aspatha gularis maps have been
transposed during layout. The authors have wisely
treated records on popular online platforms with
caution, which will ensure that the distributional data
provides a solid baseline for future work.
Compressing practical information on the
identification of 1,200 species into one volume
demands a good-sized book. This one is about the
size of old guides such as Stiles & Skutch or Ridgely &
Gwynne, and weighs 1.3 kg. Yes, for those who want
to carry a pocket guide, it is bulky, and also heavy.
And it is likely that many visitors will be inclined to
pass it over in favour of a lighter guide. In my opinion
that would be a mistake. I much prefer to carry a
dependable, authoritative reference and will gladly
have this in a backpack in preference to a smaller
guide. At the very least, for those who will not be
taking it in the field,
it should be an
essential reference
for consultation back
at camp or at the
hotel.
So, an excellent
addition to the
literature on the
birds of Central
America with strong
text and plates. This
new guide becomes
the benchmark for the
region and acts as a worthy geographical complement
to Howell & Webb (1995), with a slight geographic
overlap. The authors deserve the highest praise for a
magnificent achievement.
Christopher J. Sharpe
REFERENCES
Angehr, G. R. & Dean, R. (2010)
The birds of Panama.
Ithaca, NY: Comstock Publishing Associates.
Chavarría-Duriaux, L., Hille, D. C. & Dean, R. (2018)
The birds of Nicaragua: a field guide. Ithaca, NY:
Comstock Publishing Associates.
Fagan, J. & Komar, O. (2016)
Peterson field guide to birds
of northern Central America. New York: Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt.
Gallardo, R. J. (2014)
Guide to the birds of Honduras.
Honduras: Mountain Gem Tours.
Garrigues, R. & Dean, R. (2007)
The birds of Costa Rica:
a field guide. Miami, FL: Zona Tropical.
Howell, S. N. G. & Webb, S. (1995)
A guide to the birds of
Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press.
Jones, H. L. (2003)
Birds of Belize. Austin, TX: University
of Texas Press.
Ridgely, R. S. R. & Gwynne, J. A. (1989)
A guide to the
birds of Panama, with Costa Rica, Nicaragua and
Honduras. 2nd edition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press.
Stiles, F. G. & Skutch, A. F. (1989)
A guide to the birds of
Costa Rica. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Softback | $120,000 COP (apparently unavailable outside Colombia) | ISBN 978-9585461031
