Guía Ilustrada de la Avifauna Colombiana (1 Viewer)

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Markus Jais

Well-known member

• Mar 4, 2019

• #1

Hi,
not sure if this has already been posted but the latest field guide to Colombia seems to be available for international order now:

http://selva.org.co/en/2018/04/buy-the-new-illustrated-guide-to-the-birds-of-colombia/

A video about the book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u60JuuRJVOA

I've not yet ordered it but I will try to get it.

The book is written in Spanish but contains the English bird names.

If you do speak some Spanish (and that is definitely recommended if you travel to a Spanish speaking country!) then this will be an easy read.
Event without Spanish it might be very helpful because the plates look good.


Does anybody already have this book?

Markus

 

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cajanuma

Well-known member

• Mar 4, 2019

• #2

Markus Jais said:

Does anybody already have this book?

Markus

Click to expand...

Yes, I picked up a copy in Colombia back in January. It is excellent, the illustrations are quite accurate and even though they have a bit of a 'digital' look to them they work very well. It's important to note that there is no text apart from brief descriptions of each genus, so it's only illustrations and range maps (the ranges are mapped with a rather broad brush, which is understandable given how many parts of Colombia are still poorly explored, but they are very up-to-date), but keeping in mind these limitations I think it is a must-have for anyone planning to bird Colombia.

 

Adun

Well-known member

• Mar 5, 2019

• #3

I have it. It's my first field guide or birding book ever (my wife and I just got started in January).

It has been very useful, we both quite like it.

The right pages of the book feature the drawings of the birds (including female, male, juvenile when appropriate) and the left pages feature maps of Colombia showing where each species (and subspecies) can be found (useful to disambiguate similar birds that don't overlap geographically).

Given what I've seen some birding books go for, it also seemed reasonably priced (around USD$33 + shipping)

 

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MAGood

New member

• Mar 11, 2019

• #4

I've been trying to find a source for this book. I also saw the Selva source--have you gotten it from there yet or looked into it? From what I can find out, it looks like the shipping for this $36 book to the U.S. is about $46. I can't stomach paying that much. Have you or anyone else found differently, or a better source? Much appreciated!

 

Dan Miller

Avicasual Birder

• Mar 11, 2019

• #5

I just ordered it directly from Selva -total cost with shipping to the US was 163,900 Colombian pesos, or $52.53 US dollars. The site was a little confusing because the shipping rates also include the price of the book.

 

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MAGood

New member

• Mar 11, 2019

• #6

Thanks Dan--that's good to know. That's also the cost to the US they gave me (163,900 Colombian pesos, which I incorrectly translated to US$46), but it wasn't at all clear that that included the cost of the book ($36). That's definitely more reasonable.

 

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MAGood

New member

• Mar 11, 2019

• #7

Oh, a last question--you're from the U.S.--do you speak fluent Spanish? I understand the book is in Spanish but with English bird names. Would this guide work for a non-Spanish speaker?

 

Dan Miller

Avicasual Birder

• Mar 11, 2019

• #8

I haven't received the book yet. I do speak and read rudimentary Spanish, though. I do use (and understand most) of the Garrigues and Dean Spanish edition of the Costa Rican bird guide. That said, I still carry my English version in the field.

 

Adun

Well-known member

• Mar 22, 2019

• #9

MAGood said:

Oh, a last question--you're from the U.S.--do you speak fluent Spanish? I understand the book is in Spanish but with English bird names. Would this guide work for a non-Spanish speaker?

Click to expand...

For the use case of identifying birds from visual field marks and location, the book is pretty much language independent (drawings and scientific names + English names).

There is a little text about behavior or nesting for some species, though, but I don't often read that. It's the illustrations + maps that I use mostly, to identify a bird.

I've most been to the author's conference at the Risaralda Bird Festival, and the author is very aware that for any bird there are many local Spanish names in different regions of the country, plus one for each of the aboriginal languages (there are still many Indian / aboriginal tribes with their own living language in Colombia), so the book emphasizes scientific names, not Spanish names.