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field guide nicaragua / costa rica (1 Viewer)

Geert Custers

Well-known member
When visiting both nicaragua and costa rica would i be needing both the Guide to the Birds of Nicaragua and Garrigues, Birds of Costa Rica?
I do have the costa rica field guide already.
Or would Birds of Mexico and Central America from van Perlo be a better option in order to limit weight?

Best regards,
Geert
 
Personally I'd take both.

Van Perlo covers a big area in a small book so illustrations and text are limited.

Just weighed them, you'd be saving 600g if you only took Van Perlo


A
 
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Thanks Andy,
I don 't have the van Perlo either.
I was more wandering if the Costa rican guide should be enough or that i beter purchase either the van Perlo or the Nicaraguan guide.

Regards,
Geert
 
Thanks Andy,
I don 't have the van Perlo either.
I was more wandering if the Costa rican guide should be enough or that i beter purchase either the van Perlo or the Nicaraguan guide.

Regards,
Geert

Definitely Nicaraguan rather than Van Perlo.

No endemics in Nicaragua but the range of species could be different enoughy to justify another book? I'd compare the species lists maybe and see if there is a big difference?

I downloaded these from Scythebill so the order should be the same, IOC taxonomy

A
 

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If you want an alternative to the Nicaragua guide (which I also feel is option No 1 to pair with the CR guide you already have), then I would like to mention the Fagan and Komar book: Peterson guide to N C America. I used that in Yucatan recently and did reasonably well with it. It covers the next 4 countries north of Nicaragua, and combined with your CR guide you would have every bird depicted, but you would be missing the range maps that I assume the Nicaragua only guide has.

Niels
 
Thanks for the input.
I'll have a look to the checklists and see how many species in Nicaragua are not on the Costa Rican list / guide.

Geert
 
I would like to mention the Fagan and Komar book: Peterson guide to N C America. I used that in Yucatan recently and did reasonably well with it. It covers the next 4 countries north of Nicaragua, and combined with your CR guide you would have every bird depicted, but you would be missing the range maps that I assume the Nicaragua only guide has.

Actually (surprisingly) the Nicaragua guide by Martinez-Sanchez, Chavarria-Duriaux & Munoz does not have range maps. The concise text does outline regional & elevational distribution within Nicaragua and the global breeding range.

Of course you'd have to sort through all the species not found in Nicaragua with the Peterson guide, but the maps in that guide would help you do so.

Gary H
 
Actually (surprisingly) the Nicaragua guide by Martinez-Sanchez, Chavarria-Duriaux & Munoz does not have range maps. The concise text does outline regional & elevational distribution within Nicaragua and the global breeding range.

Of course you'd have to sort through all the species not found in Nicaragua with the Peterson guide, but the maps in that guide would help you do so.

Gary H



1. For some, the descriptive nature of the distribution information, can be more useful than a tiny map where much guesswork has to be employed?

2. That's why I provided species lists (post 4 ) for both countries, for an easy, side by side comparison of the country lists, why would you use books for this?


A
 
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1. For some, the descriptive nature of the distribution information, can be more useful than a tiny map where much guesswork has to be employed?

2. That's why I provided species lists (post 4 ) for both countries, for an easy, side by side comparison of the country lists, why would you use books for this?

I don't dispute the utility of the descriptive information. A preceding post had made reference to the probability of maps in the Nicaragua guide & I was simply correcting that assumption. I also don't dispute the utility of your lists for those who choose to use them.

Gary H
 
I don't dispute the utility of the descriptive information. A preceding post had made reference to the probability of maps in the Nicaragua guide & I was simply correcting that assumption. I also don't dispute the utility of your lists for those who choose to use them.

Gary H


My point regarding the lists, was that it will be much easier than wading through field guides which may even use a different order.


A
 
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