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Birding Honduras; a Checklist and Guide (1 Viewer)

Yes, this is an excellent book. It covers loads of sites in the country and a detailed checklist of the birds, which brings the state of the country's ornithology up to date. It is not a field guide, but is very useful for planning a trip and for sorting out what records are important to report. This is something that was very difficult to determine previously, because Howell and Webb, which is by far the best field guide to the region, is not very accurate in its status for birds in Northern Central America.
I'm not sure where to get it in Britain, but you can can order it through the website that was set up to go with the book (birdinghonduras.com).
Good luck in Honduras. There is some great birding to be had there. Check out my website for some more info.
Tom
 
cheers, do you know of a field guide that covers this country? it's a pity that the lesser known central american countries such as El Salvador don't seem to have a guide...
 
My website has a review of all the main books that are revelant to the region. Howell and Webb is by far the best guide to the region. However, it only goes as far as western Honduras, which means that if you visit the eastern parts of the country you will need to use the Costa Rica guide by Stiles and Skutch. Personally, I consider these the best guides to use, but some people may prefer Ridgely's guide to Panama, which includes Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, whilst some people prefer might prefer Peterson or Edwards, which are both really aimed at Mexico.
Unfortunately, most birders just visit the western parts of the country, where they only need Howell and Webb. Travel is far easier here and the birds are better known. Further east there is a very real chance of finding something important - on one of my recent visits I saw what could possibly be a new species of Wren and I have found several new species for the country in the past year or so. If you are planning some serious birding, I recommend that you take both of the above guides. If you are unfamilar with the migrants, you may also want a North American guide. That's a lot to carry if you don't have your own transport, but they could be very useful if you find something important.
Feel free to contact me directly if you need any information. I am regularly in Honduras and may even be there when you are - trying to net a wren.
Tom
 
i'm not sure where i'm going in Honduras, i'm going on a schoo trip on an Operation Wallacea trip, so we have a pretty tight itinery, i know we'll be doing some scuba diving on the pacific side, and visiting some island that have an endemic species of boa on them, the rosy boa i think.
 
Sounds like a great trip. We never did anything that adventurous when I was at school. If you are diving, it is most likely that you will be on the Caribbean side, as the Bay Islands are famous for it. I was diving there a couple of weeks ago and it was really great; so was the birding.
Tom
 
yes your right, it is the bay islands, are they in the east or west? with operation wallacea we go out into the wild and put up mist nets and pit fall traps etc to find new species, they found a new species of snake a few years back, so i'll hopefully be holding some of the birds in my hands, the best way for identification.
 
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Mistnetting sounds great. I would really like to know who is organising it, as I don't have any contacts with mistnetters in Honduras and I need to get permission to capture this wren. I also have a big request. I would love to have some photos of any birds you catch, for use on my website. I am trying to build up a photo collection of all the birds in the region and still need about 300 species. The small birds are often very hard to get shots of and netting is often the best way. I have been able to get in-the-hand photos of most of the Pacific coast birds, but still need lots of the Honduran ones. This would be a great help to me and of course the photographer would be given credit for any placed on the site.
Tom
 
i'm almost sure there is mist netting, there was a picture from last years trip of some species of sicklebill in someones hand, and i can only assume it was netted, i'll send you my e-mail address and i'll try my best to get you some photos, the people who organise the trip are Operation Wallacea, they also do work in Sulawesi, (indonesia). Where are the Cayo Cochinos islands, they are the ones we are visiting, not the bay islands.

here is their homepage: http://www.opwall.com/
 
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Thanks for the link to their site. I was recently in Cusuco National Park, near the border with Guatemala, where the park guards were telling me some people had recently been mist-netting, but they didn't have their names. I see from this site that it was part of Operation Wallacea. I will try to contact them to see if they can give me some advice on getting permission to use nets.
Cayos Cochinos are a string of small islands that lie just east of the Bay Islands. I have not come across any reports of bird from the area, so I would be very interested in what you see. I think they are much smaller than the Bay Islands and with less vegetation. This could make it good for seabirds. I presume the sicklebill was netted somewhere else, like Costa Rica, as they are not know as far north as Honduras.

Tom
 
i'm sure it was a sicklebill, but it could have been another genus of hummingbird, i seem to remember it had a curved bill, i'll go and find out for you and i'll try my best to get it scanned so you can use it on your website, i'll also give you a full report of the bird species i find on the islands if you like.
 
The ISBN number is: 99926 - 30 - 95 - 7

I got mine through the publishers (see the website mentioned above). However, they are a small company and cannot accept credit cards. I checked with buteo books, who do have copies. Although they are in the states, you can buy it over the internet and have them mail it to you.

Tom
 
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