New Costa Rican Bird Book Imminent (1 Viewer)

I'm not precisely sure about the forum rules, so I shall precede this by saying I'm not commercially connected with anything to do with this book in any way. I'm a Canadian who frequently bird-watches in Costa Rica, where I'll spend three months this year, May through July. So my only reason for posting this is to provide useful information to others going that way.

Until now, serious birders used A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica, written by Gary Styles and Alexander Skutch and published in 1989.

There were never any errata of which I'm aware published for that book, but the illustrations contain pitfalls. The text itself was the book's strong point.

Now Richard Garrigues and his friend Robert Dean have completed The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide. I see it is being advertised on the web, so I'll let you Google for it. It is not QUITE out as I write this in April 2007. As far as I know, the book exists as a physical entity and is about to be shipped any day.

If you're going there, and if you are serious about bird-watching, see if you can get the new book. I don't want to sound like I'm advertising it, so let me condense a few pages of advice into this single comment: You will be doing yourself a favour.

Thanks Carson, I can't wait to see it. Stiles and Skutch did a great job of opening up our knowledge of the birds of the region, but such an important country for birds needs an update.

Tom

Yes, Eduardo (Motmot) a friend of Robert Dean (the Illustrator) has seen some of the book including the plates and has recommended it highly to me. I will certainly buy the volume as soon as it comes out (never did get the Stiles & Skutch).

I've had the chance to check out the book and would recommend it to anyone going to Costa Rica. Small but not lacking in quality by any means. Good dist maps, info and illustrations; even for tough to ID species.

Its more of a field guide than Stiles and Skutch. The big advantage is that it has good range maps. The distributions in Stiles and Skutch were very difficult to follow unless you knew all the places they were talking about, so for a visitor, the new book is much easier to use. The other big advantage is that the descriptions face the plates, which makes it much easier when you quickly need to check an unknown bird in the field.
I feel that its a shame for a field guide to a single country to not include every species. They do not include the seabirds or the residents of Cocos Island. Again, this will suit most visiting birders, but for me it feels incomplete.
The plates and descriptions seem pretty good and I have not found any glaring errors, though I have not used it in the field.
They have had to fit a lot of species into a small book, so they have had to keep the information to a minimum and concentrate on identification. For most visitors to Costa Rica, this will give them what they want, though I expect that most birders will also want to have the Stiles and Skutch book with them, even if it is left back in the hotel room for checking on later.
Overall, I feel that this is a good book and it will be the first choice of birders visiting Costa Rica for the first time. What it lacks is easily obtained by taking Stiles and Skutch along as well.

Tom

I fully agree with your view Tom :t: