Birds of Costa Rica (Helm Field Guides)

Product Information

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. Either way I had it does get established and helps fill in that garden, and even if it moves into the lawn, that wouldn't be so bad. In total 834 species are illustrated, so there are around five per plate facing a page of text and maps. Like most field guides, Birds of Costa Rica (2023) opens with a section detailing how to use the book.

Each field guide has built on the success of those that have gone before and as one who has used all of them, I take great satisfaction in now possessing this newest version. Now, when I was in the Marquesas Islands last fall (French Polynesia) I saw many birds, beautiful ones too, but had no idea what they were and did not have a guide book. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.The rest of the book is devoted to species accounts, providing color illustrations and written descriptions for over 800 species with distribution maps for all those that are likely to be encountered on the mainland, inshore islands, or nearby marine waters. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). I also like supporting a local person, who has lived his life an advocate for birds, animals, and conservation and ecology in Costa Rica. While not a page turner, it is filled with excellent information on all things natural in the tropics. Additionally, the pictorial table of contents of the major bird families on the inner cover and first few pages of the book is a clever addition that facilitates quickly finding species in the field.

Therefore, a simple, effective field guide would be an invaluable tool for residents and visitors seeking to observe and identify birds. To the left of most accounts is a thumbnail map of Costa Rica showing the species' range within the country.Costa Rica is a hotspot of avian diversity, and not surprisingly both ecotourists and scientists flock to this small Central American country to observe and study its birds. Further space is saved by not covering 27 pelagic seabirds that you are very unlikely to see anyway. The account begins with the unique field marks to look for that will distinguish each species from similar ones. All in all, I found this to be an extremely good book and for somewhere short of 20 quid, you are really getting value for money.

This is a good and brand new (May 2023) field guide but not necessarily superior to the older (2014) book by other authors that we also recommend for Costa Rica at our “ recommended field guides blog”.

The biogeography section includes brief descriptions of the wide variety of habitats found in Costa Rica along with a collection of 20 color photographs depicting how they appear on the ground. Robert Dean has supplied more than 360 new illustrations, including sixty-four species that are illustrated for the first time in this edition.

This is exactly the focus of The Birds of Costa Rica—to assist with identification in the field—and the book succeeds admirably. Graced with bounteous natural beauty, a stable democratic government, and friendly citizens, Costa Rica has become a popular destination for travelers from all over the world. The shimmering quetzals, gaudy macaws, and comical toucans only begin to hint at the impressive avian diversity to be found throughout this small country.The authors have used all of that knowledge to produce an excellent, lightweight guide that will undoubtedly become the go-to guide for visitors to this wonderful country. The discussion of taxonomic uncertainty and the reasoning behind species labels is forthright and provides readers with a candid understanding of how decisions were made.