A Field Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Adjacent Areas: Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador (1998)
By Ernest Preston Edwards
Edward Murrell Butler, principal illustrator
University of Texas Press, $18
Only slightly larger than Peterson's Mexican guide and a fraction the size of "A Guide to Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America" by Steve N. G. Howell and Sophie Webb (1995; Oxford University Press), this book has more color illustrations (treating more than 850 species) than either. Although it reflects the latest edition (1998) of the American Ornithologists' Union check-list, some readers may be confused by the organization of the color plates, which do not always follow the A.O.U.'s ordering of species. The brief descriptions of regularly occurring species give English, Spanish, and scientific names and cover identification, habitat, relative abundance, and range. A summary of ecological regions within the four countries, and lists of extreme rarities and of recommended readings, enhance this guide's practicality.
Pocket Guide to the Birds of Britain and North-West Europe (1998)
By Chris Kightley, Steve Madge, and Dave Nurney
Yale University Press, $20
Unlike some of the tomes that are field guides in name only, this guide indeed fits into a pocket, a feat the authors accomplish by limiting their coverage to 385 European species — virtually all the birds that occur in the area embraced by 13 countries: Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. Following a quick overview of field identification, the species accounts weave text and range maps with illustrations. The illustrations, large for a guide of this size, show distinctive plumages and flight profiles; the text touches on field marks, habitat, behavior, voice, seasonal occurrence, population status, and similar species. This no-fuss guide is a good choice for serious or casual birders who travel light and who would rather watch birds than read about them.
Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East (1993)
By Lars Jonsson
Princeton University Press, $30
Written and illustrated by the author, and translated from the original Swedish edition, this lavish work combines all of a field guide's most desired features. Text, illustrations, and range maps are together. Color plates show important plumages, flight patterns, races, and displays. A significant detraction for American readers, however, is that length and wingspan measurements are given in centimeters but not in inches.
The written descriptions give most of the facts but let the author's voice emerge, striking a balance between the stylized precision of Peterson and the dry objectivity of the National Geographic guide. Although packed with information, this paperback is only slightly larger than the average field guide.
The guide opens with a copiously illustrated primer on all the factors that come into play in identification, from bird topography to behavior. This is followed by an illustrated list of bird families, with the page number where each can be found. What's missing here is a large map showing the countries embraced by the guide.
Many of the birds are shown in typical habitat. Some plates, such as the one of black-bellied and pin-tailed sandgrouses, are so striking that you might wish for an enlarged version to hang on the wall. Jonsson's painterly style even makes the rock dove (a.k.a. domestic pigeon) look good, though to many species he imparts a distracting plumpness. He holds his artistic impulses in check, however, recognizing that a field guide's practicality rests on presenting species in a somewhat patternistic way.
In the guide's foreword, Jonsson reminds us that appreciating birds is more than chasing rarities and collecting lists of species."Birds are living creatures," he says. "Their appearance changes not only with age, season and light conditions, but also with our own knowledge and experience. For me it is as enjoyable and exciting to look for subtle differences and characteristics in the seemingly commonplace species as in the more uncommon ones."
With "Birds of Europe" and recently published bird guides to Australia, the Galapagos, India, Kenya and Northern Tanzania, Panama, and the West Indies, Princeton University Press has emerged as a leader on the international front. Oxford University Press has recent guides to Borneo, India, Mexico, and New Zealand, while a new Collins Guide, published in the United Kingdom, covers birds of southern South America and Antarctica.
In 1989, Cornell University Press set the standard for international bird guides with the publication of "A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica," by F. Gary Stiles and Alexander F. Skutch, illustrated by Dana Gardner. This guide remains an authoritative treatment of Costa Rica's extremely rich bird life — about 850 species in a country the size of West Virginia. Because of its neotropical flora and fauna and its relative stability, Costa Rica has long been a popular destination among naturalists and ecotourists. Cornell also publishes a guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago, islands off the northern coast of South America frequently visited by birders.
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