The new edition is definitely worth a look into. Updated and color-coded range maps, hundreds more illustrations, and descriptions for all of the country's species make it a valuable and much-needed update from the 2007 guide.
Having recently received my copy, I concur. Well-done second edition; the authors & publishers are to be congratulated. Follows Clements nomenclature and a modified version of Clements sequence (departures inspired somewhat by a 2009 article in
Birding by Howell); notably, falcons are retained among the other diurnal raptors; pigeons & doves, parrots and cuckoos are placed between the hummers & trogons; and perhaps most interestingly the passerine swallows are placed after the non-passerine swifts (also aerial foragers) and before the non-passerine hummers.
The three species relegated to an "additional species" page in the first edition have been inserted according to taxonomic affinities in the new edition; there are ten pages devoted to 56 "rarities". Note also that four pages are devoted to eight Cocos Island specialties not included in the main body of the guide.
Pelagic species have been added.
The "Anatomical Features" pages of the first edition are among the best I've seen in a guide, and I think they're even better in the new edition. New is a section on climate and topography, with interesting descriptions of six regions. Especially of value to birders visiting Costa Rica for the first time and birders looking to diversify their CR experience.
According to the preface, Dean supplied 360 new illustrations for this edition, replacing some from the first edition, supplementing primary illustrations, and depicting 64 species not originally illustrated. To my eye some of the brighter colors of the first edition are more subdued this time, though in most instances the differences are subtle (see Tawny-chested Flycatcher for one instance in which the differences are less so).
A good guide has been made better without sacrificing the essential virtue of compactness.
Gary H
