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Cuba ID guide (1 Viewer)

Birdbox

staringin2thevoid
Which field guide is recommended for Cuba, guys? Garrido's Birds of Cuba or Arlott's Birds of the West Indies or Raffaele's Birds of the West Indies?
I do, however, already have a copy of The birds of the Dominican Republic - would that suffice?

Oh, and what about the butterflies of that region? Any ideas?
 
On my tours we use a combination of Garrido et al and Rafaele et al too. The latter being more useful for the North American migrants we'll encounter. If you can get it, the best butterfly guide is the 1975 Butterflies of the West Indies by Norman Riley. The last time I looked, it was on Bookfinder.com for around £8.

Another book you might find useful is the Endemic Birds of Cuba by Nils Navarro which came out quite recently.

PM me if you require any further info.

Stu
 
Which field guide is recommended for Cuba, guys? Garrido's Birds of Cuba or Arlott's Birds of the West Indies or Raffaele's Birds of the West Indies?

Haven't made my first trip to Cuba yet but do have the Garrido/Kirkconnell guide, and when I do finally get there it will be my primary reference, with the Raffaele West Indies guide close by. The species accounts in the Cuba guide are reasonably informative & the range maps are sure to be more useful (for Cuba) than those from Rafaelle. I'm also assuming that proceeds from sales contribute at least indirectly to Cuban conservation efforts.

Gary H
 
You will want Garrido & Kirkconnell, but I have found the Collins Field Guide: Birds of the West Indies by Norman Arlott to be very handy for carrying in the field. None of the people in my groups (largely from the US) have ever seen it, and I picked it up quite by accident at a remainder shop in Cambridge UK in 2011 - new for about £3 as I recall. The illustrations are surprisingly good (to my eye better than the alternatives), text concise and helpful, and it is solidly built enough to endure abuse in the field.

As Stuart says, Butterflies of the West Indies is standard, though pretty long in the tooth now. Anything by Norman Riley is worth getting. There's a more recent OUP Butterflies of the West Indies, but it is eye-wateringly expensive.
 
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My copy is the 2000 Cornell version, which I picked up in the US when it was published. I imagine the Helm version is the UK imprint. There has been no update since 2000. However, a new BOC checklist (Kirkconnel et al.) is close to publication and provides a really good review of status and distribution. That, in combination with any of the above, should make a solid reference guide.
 
My copy is the 2000 Cornell version, which I picked up in the US when it was published. I imagine the Helm version is the UK imprint. There has been no update since 2000. However, a new BOC checklist (Kirkconnel et al.) is close to publication and provides a really good review of status and distribution. That, in combination with any of the above, should make a solid reference guide.

Thanks Chris.
Do you know when the new checklist is due out...in the next 6 months ?

Tony
 
I'm afraid not, Tony. I was talking to one of the co-authors, Guy Kirwan, yesterday and he thought it would be out next year. It is being edited now. In the meantime, with the boom in US bird tourism brought about by the Obama thaw (dinted somewhat by Trump's rhetoric) you can get a pretty good idea of temporal status and distribution from eBird (e.g. https://ebird.org/barchart?bmo=1&emo=12&r=CU).
 
I'm afraid not, Tony. I was talking to one of the co-authors, Guy Kirwan, yesterday and he thought it would be out next year. It is being edited now. In the meantime, with the boom in US bird tourism brought about by the Obama thaw (dinted somewhat by Trump's rhetoric) you can get a pretty good idea of temporal status and distribution from eBird (e.g. https://ebird.org/barchart?bmo=1&emo=12&r=CU).

Thanks Chris.
 
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