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Field Guide for SE Brazil (1 Viewer)

J

johnraven

Well-known member
Another quick question:

Which field guide(s) would you recommend for SE Brazil?

I've read the 'All the Birds of Brazil' book is not the best. I have the Southern South America Checklist book.

Is it worth getting the Ridgely and Tudor books on SA birds? Seems quite big and expensive.

Also, is the new book "Birds of the Atlantic Forest", Endrigo, any good?

Any advice would be most welcome!

John
 
Serra dos Tucanos have produced a pretty good little guide to the birds that you see around there and in the area they cover. They make it available to people staying there but at, I think, $50 which is a lot for what it is. You might find one somewhere - I baulked at buying one and tried using the southern South America thing that you mention, which was little use as none of the endemics were in it, nor a lot of other stuff.

steve
 
The Serra dos Tucanos book was very useful in the field, although it's still a bit lacking for stuff like tricky Tyrants. I think it would be less useful outside of Rio de Janeiro state as well. It's small, which is good in some ways because it's easy to carry around and flick through, and the text is brief but generally useful. The illustrations are by Ber van Perlo and are usable and of a much higher standard than Souza.

There are a number of field guides to Brazil 'on the horizon' but I don't know which, if any, are likely to be out soon.
 
Books I'd recommend:

- "Birds of Greater São Paulo" (or "Aves da Grande São Paulo"), by Endrigo and Develey. I always recomend this guide when it's about SE Brazil. It is small-sized and covering a very especific area (São Paulo city, in this case), which makes it perfect for me, São Paulo inhabitant. Even covering only São Paulo area, it can be very useful to other locations in SE Brazil. If you go to São Paulo outskirts (there are some good birding places there: Serra da Cantareira State Park, Tietê Ecological Park etc.), this one is indispensable in my opinion.

- "Birds of Brazil - An Artistic View" (or "Aves do Brasil - Uma Visão Artística"), by Sigrist. Although this is not a field guide at all, it can be good to give a look in a silent place, like in the (hotel) room or in a place you are able to look up what you want. Certainly not suitable for carrying in the field, but if you don't mind carrying a 3,5 kg and 32 x 23 cm size book in your baggage, I'd also recommend this one. The drawings are quite good and the texts at the end of the book (about behaviour especially) are very useful.

Endrigo's new "Birds of Atlantic Forest" is quite beautiful (I mean the photos, layout etc.), but it's not much of a field guide. I don't think you'd like to carry it with you in your walks. You may use the photos to help with the IDs, but I don't think this is the aim of it, more of an artistic book.

About October, a field guide by Sigrist and Brettas is going to be published. It will cover basically non-Amazonian area. Being pocket-sized, it may be useful in the field. A nice feature is that the main field marks are going to be pointed out in drawings, which I think will be perfect for IDs. Another one covering Amazonian area also will be published. When are you planning to travel? If after October, maybe you can get it before your trip, I mean, if there is no delay on the publishment.

Hope this helps

Cheers
 
João
Thank you for the advice. The Sao Paulo book is certainly of interest.
I am planning on going in August, so October is no good. But I feel confident now that I can put together enough sources to not be held back by lack of data!
John
 
Have you got it already, Octavio? I've received it this morning, and I'd highly recommend for those interested in Brazilian avifauna. Great drawings, preferred habitats, ocurrence maps, main field marks indicated, status (threatened or not) and, something that positively surprised me, there is a nice notebook for notes about birds you see. But it's not just a simple notebook, it is strictly made for this, having gaps for location, species name, altitud, biotope, habitat (for choosing between the options), date, a mini-drawing of a clock, where you indicate the time, weather conditions (for choosing among sunny, cloudy and rainy), way of recording (for choosing among photograph, audio recording, and videotaping) and, of course, two sheets to draw and make the notes.

Highly recommended, once again!
 
It covers S, SE, NE, C and a small part of N brazil. I think the only way you can purchase it is by Avis Brasilis (see Aracari's link).
 
jocateme said:
I think the only way you can purchase it is by Avis Brasilis (see Aracari's link).
Click to expand...
This seems to be true at the moment. The $67 price is reasonable but the nearly $40 shipping charge to the UK really bumps up the price for me. And they only accept MasterCard or Diners, not Visa as far as I can see.

It looks a good guide though, with nice clear illustrations. It feels quality. I've just returned from a visit to Andy Foster's lodge at Serra dos Tucanos near Rio and they had a copy there.

Amazon seem to sell other Avis Brasilis books though so hopefully it will be possible before too long to buy it from other suppliers.
 
Last edited:
They do accept Visa, but unfortunately only for purchases in Brazil. For international ones looks like MasterCard and Diners are the only possibilities.
 
Alf King said:
Has anyone seen the Birds of Eastern Brazil book by Sigrist?

Good, bad or indifferent?
Click to expand...

I think there's a thread somewhere with a few comments on it. I've got a copy and it's an improvement on Souza but it's not 'the one' as far as Brazil goes. The illustrations by Sigrist are okay but probably not clear enough for IDs on difficult groups like tyrants. The ones by Brettas are very decent but there aren't that many of them. He does the antbirds and most of the raptors. It should be added that there's basically no text, which is very disappointing.

My impression is that this is a book that's been rushed out to cash in on a window of opportunity before the Zimmer and Whittaker book arrives. That said, if you're heading to eastern Brazil it's still worth getting.
 
Arbu said:
I'm planning a trip to Rio in March next year, intending to spend a few days in the Atlantic Rainforest somewhere, maybe Serra dos Tucanos.

It seems that the Zimmer and Whittaker book has now been postponed until 2010 - http://www.nhbs.com/birds_of_brazil_tefno_146277.html. Would the Sigrist or Serra dos Tucanos book still be the recommendation?
Click to expand...

I think they'd be the best books despite their limitations, and the guide to South American non-passerines is useful as well. Some photocopies from HBW and Ridgely and Tudor would also be helpful, although places like Serra dos Tucanos or Regua will have copies of these anyway. Hope you have a good trip!
 
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