Best bird guides by region...Central and South America (2 Viewers)

[pbjosh]

Howell + Webb is terrific, but it’s dated, has the maps in the back, and doesn’t include all the migrants in the plates.

I would use either Birds of Belize or Birds of N Central America. Birds of Central America (Vallely and Dyer) is terrific but is larger, heavier, and has a lot more extraneous species.

 

[njlarsen]

I would use either Birds of Belize or Birds of N Central America. Birds of Central America (Vallely and Dyer) is terrific but is larger, heavier, and has a lot more extraneous species.

As I said, if you are aware of the problem with not including about 10 endemics from the north end of the peninsula/Cozumel, and the subspecies that looks different on Cozumel, using those two can work.

I have multiple times lamented that Fagan and Komar did not include Yucatan in their target area. Adding those 10 species would have increased the value of the book a lot.
Niels

 

[THE_FERN]

Neither Vallely & Dyer nor Howell & Webb (together) have materially added to the weight of my phone: the latter almost certainly weighs less than either in their paper forms

 

[THE_FERN]

What are the Merlin omissions for Yucatan?

 

[pbjosh]

I have multiple times lamented that Fagan and Komar did not include Yucatan in their target area. Adding those 10 species would have increased the value of the book a lot.
Niels

I agree completely… Yucatan and Chiapas are arguably more Central America than they are Mexico, as the larger biogeographic break is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec…

 

[Sangahyando]

What are the Merlin omissions for Yucatan?

For example Jabiru, all three bitterns, all gulls except Laughing Gull, and some species from the border area around Calakmul and Tikal. Probably quite a few more considering the compilation only has 367 species. By comparison, the Belize edition has over 500 species.
FWIW, the sound recording function of the Merlin app seems to work pretty well, if the appropriate location/region is put in.

 

[THE_FERN]

For example Jabiru, all three bitterns, all gulls except Laughing Gull, and some species from the border area around Calakmul and Tikal. Probably quite a few more considering the compilation only has 367 species. By comparison, the Belize edition has over 500 species.
FWIW, the sound recording function of the Merlin app seems to work pretty well, if the appropriate location/region is put in.

Interesting. I've deleted it but I my vague memory of yucatan is that bitterns were there.

Ebird "yucatan" says currently 443 species. Strange the merlin pack lags so much. But I don't know how they compile these things. It ought to be quite simple in that once you've created the ebird website page for a species you have all the modules for a pack. The only difference is that merlin has additional static maps. But I assume those hail from BoW and so again it should be possible to generate them "on demand". So assembling the merlin pack can then be done programmatically and it should be simple to generate it afresh as new ebird records come in.

 

[jurek]

Could somebody give a list of these ca 10 species regular in Yucatan and not found in the Belize guide?

There was a discussion on another thread which new bird guides would be welcome. Surely there is a market for a new bird guide to Yucatan Mexico which is very popular among tourists.

 

[James Lowther]

Could somebody give a list of these ca 10 species regular in Yucatan and not found in the Belize guide?

Following species (a few more than 10) are not illustrated in my copy of Birds of Belize and appear at least as occasional in a checklist for the Yucatan peninsula I have

White-faced Ibis
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Canvasback
Redhead
Ruddy Duck
Red-shouldered Hawk
Northern Bobwhite
Virginia Rail
Double-striped Thick-knee
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Kelp Gull
Zenaida Dove
Lesser Roadrunner
Spot-tailed Nightjar
Cozumel Emerald
Mexican Sheartail
Turquoise-browed Motmot
Cozumel Vireo
Yucatan Wren
White-lored Gnatcatcher
Cozumel Thrasher (extinct)
Western Spindalis

Cheers
James

 

[njlarsen]

The Gnatcatcher should probably be changed to this one:

Yucatan Gnatcatcher - BirdForum Opus

www.birdforum.net

Niels

 

[njlarsen]

There is also the possibility of a couple of local, current subspecies that I do not know if they are mentioned in the Belize book such as the local form of N Rough-winged Swallow ....
Niels

 

[THE_FERN]

Following species (a few more than 10) are not illustrated in my copy of Birds of Belize and appear at least as occasional in a checklist for the Yucatan peninsula I have

White-faced Ibis
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Canvasback
Redhead
Ruddy Duck
Red-shouldered Hawk
Northern Bobwhite
Virginia Rail
Double-striped Thick-knee
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Kelp Gull
Zenaida Dove
Lesser Roadrunner
Spot-tailed Nightjar
Cozumel Emerald
Mexican Sheartail
Turquoise-browed Motmot
Cozumel Vireo
Yucatan Wren
White-lored Gnatcatcher
Cozumel Thrasher (extinct)
Western Spindalis

Cheers
James

Some of these ought to occur in Belize since they're right on the border (like the motmot)

 

[James Lowther]

There is also the possibility of a couple of local, current subspecies that I do not know if they are mentioned in the Belize book such as the local form of N Rough-winged Swallow ....
Niels

Ridgway’s rough-winged swallow is in the Belize book, but there may be other subspecies e.g. Cozumel endemics that aren’t covered.
James

 

[James Lowther]

So, turns out the Birds of Belize book linked in this thread (Howell and Dyer) is totally different from the book I own (Jones and Gardner). Also a lot newer (2023 vs 2003).
There’s a possibility that some of the Yucatan species missing from my book are in the new book and vice versa, but should be approximately the same.
Cheers
James

 

[jurek]

BTW, what is your opinion of Howell's Birdfinding guide to Mexico book in Yucatan? My concern is that it is ca 25 years old, and lists only 2 sites.

 

[THE_FERN]

BTW, what is your opinion of Howell's Birdfinding guide to Mexico book in Yucatan? My concern is that it is ca 25 years old, and lists only 2 sites.

Lots of others now. Check e.g. ebird, even my entries in opus

 

[pbjosh]

BTW, what is your opinion of Howell's Birdfinding guide to Mexico book in Yucatan? My concern is that it is ca 25 years old, and lists only 2 sites.

Not really necessary any more though it was great 15 yrs ago before eBird and Cloudbirders. I still like bird finding guides a lot for concise offline info with directions and logistical info, they can be amazing. But they go out of date so quickly, and in this case it’s not too hard to find the info elsewhere.

 

[njlarsen]

The vacation trip report section here in BF has several good threads on Yucatan. This section of Birdforum likewise:

Mexico

www.birdforum.net

Niels

 

[Larry Sweetland]

What's the best USA field guide these days please? I think my ancient Nat Geog one might need an upgrade for my pending trip! Thanks in advance

 

[Butty]

Sibley.