08-32: Birding Book Club – Bird Books for the Bird Continent

Birders and books are inseparable. And so from time to time we like to welcome some auspicious bird book enthusiasts for we call the Birding Book Club. This time around a panel consisting of Birding magazine editor Frank Izaguirre and 10,000 Birds book reviewer Donna Schulman tackle the most bird rich continent, which ironically seems to the most bird book depauperate continent, at least until realtively recently. We cover guides to South America and all the tagential discussions that they inspire.

Thanks to our friends at FeatherSnap for sponsoring this episode. Feathersnap is a smart bird feeder with AI bird identification capabilities that send photos of the birds visiting your yard. Capture every moment with FeatherSnap.

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List of Books Discussed on this Episode:

SOUTH AMERICA–GENERAL
Kricher, John & Dana Gardner (drawings), The New Neotropical Companion, PUP, 2017.

Restall, Robin, Clemencia Rodner, & Miguel Lentino, Birds of Northern South America, An Identification Guide, Vol. 1: Species Accounts; Helm, 2006, Yale Univ. Press, 2007.

Restall, Robin, Clemencia Rodner, & Miguel Lentino, Birds of Northern South America, An Identification Guide, Vol. 2: Plates & Maps; Helm, 2006, Yale Univ. Press, 2007.

Ridgely, Robert S. Guy Tudor, The Birds of South America, vol. I: The Oscine Passerines; Univ. of Texas Press, 1989.

Ridgely, Robert S. Guy Tudor, The Birds of South America, vol. II: The Suboscine Passerines; Univ. of Texas Press, 1994.

Ridgely, Robert S. & Guy Tudor, Field Guide to the Songbirds of South America: The Passerines; Univ. of Texas Press, 2009. (a combination of above two books streamlined, with additional species)

Neotropical Birding: The Birding Magazine of the Neotropical Bird Club, 2 issues a year, available from Neotropical Bird Club, https://www.neotropicalbirdclub.org/nbc-publications/neotropical-birding/ [articles on Neotropical birds, hotspots, & book reviews; NCB membership also comes with their annual scholarly journal, Cotinga]

ARGENTINA
Mark Pearman  Juan Ignacio Areta (writers) & Aldo Chiappe, Jorge Rodriguez Mata, Richard Johnson & Alan Harris (illus.), Birds of Argentina and the South-West Atlantic (Princeton Field Guide series); PUP, 2021.

Narosky, Tito & Dario Yzurieta, Birds of Argentina and Uruguay/Aves des Argentina: A Field Guide/ Guía de Identificación, 16 th ed., Vazquez Mazzini Editores, 2011. [This book is bilingual, Spanish language edition was also published, but appears to be out-of-print.]

BOLIVIA
Sebastian K. Herzog, Ryan S. Terrill, et al. Carl C. Tofte, Hector Slongo, et al. (illustrators.), Birds of Bolivia: Field Guide, rev. 1st ed.; Asociación Armonía, distr. in U.S. by Future Generational Univ. Press, 2019.

BRAZIL
Ber Van Perlo, A Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil; Oxford Univ. Press, 2009.

Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil: The Atlantic Forest of Southeast Brazil, incl. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (vol. 2 of series), Robert S. Ridgely(senior author), Guy Tudor (art directory & Illustrator), John A. Gwynne (WCS project director), Martha Argel (project director), Comstock/Cornell Univ.Press, 2015.

Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil: The Pantanal and Cerrado of Central Brazil (vol. 1 of series),Robert S. Ridgely(senior author), Guy Tudor (art directory & Illustrator), John A. Gwynne (WCS project director), Martha Argel (project director); Comstock/Cornell Univ. Press, 2010.

CHILE
Howell, Steve N.G. & Fabrice Schmitt, Birds of Chile, A Photo Guide; PUP, 2018.

Jaramillo, Alvaro, with Peter Burke & David Beadle (illustrators), Birds of Chile (Princeton Field Guides series); PUP, 2003.

Pina, Daniel E. Martinez & Gonzalo E Gonzále Cifuentes., Field Guide to the Birds of Chile, PUP, 2021.

COLOMBIA

Hilty, Steven L. Birds of Colombia; Lynx Nature Books, 2021.

ECUADOR
Robert S. Ridgely & Paul J. Greenfield (illus.), Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide; Comstock/Cornell Univ. Press, 2001.

Ridgely, Robert L. & Paul J. Greenfield (illus.), Birds of Ecuador: Status, Distribution, and Taxonomy; Comstock/Cornell Univ. Press, 2001. [available as a set from Comstock, field guide volume also sold separately; a Spanish language version, Aves del Ecuador, translated by Ilán Greenfield Kalil, has been published by Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco, and though it is not listed on their website, it is listed as available from NHBS, an online bookstore]

Nick Athanas & Paul J. Greenfield, Birds of Western Ecuador: A Photographic Guide; PUP, 2016.

ECUADOR—GALAPAGOS (keep in mind that there have been significant taxonomic changes for endemic birds
after 2015)

Brinkhuizen, Dušan M. & Jonas Nilsson, Birds and Mammals of the Galapagos; Lynx Nature Books, 2020.

Fitter, Julian, Daniel Fitter, & David Hosking, Wildlife of the Galapagos, 2nd ed.; PUP, 2016.

Kricher, John & Kevin Loughlin, Galapagos: A Natural History, 2nd ed; PUP, 2022.

Noboa, Andrés Vásquez & Cervantes Daza, Pablo (photographer), Wildlife of Ecuador: A Photographic Field Guide to Birds, Mammals, Reptiles, and Amphibians, PUP, 2017.

PARAGUAY
Narosky, Tito, Hugo del Castillo, Robert P. Clay (authors) & Dario Yzurieta & Jorge Rodriguez Mata (illustrators), Guía de Identificación de las Aves del Paraguay, 2nd ed., Guyra Paraguay, 2022.

PERU
Schulenberg, Thomas S., Douglas F. Stotz, Daniel F. Lane, John P. O’Neill, Theodore A. Parker, III (authors) & Dale Dyer, Daniel F. Lane, Lawrence B. McQueen, John P. O’Neill, N. John Schmitt (illustrators). Birds of Peru, rev. & updated ed.; PUP, 2007.

SURINAME
Spaans, Arie L., Otte Ottema, & Jan Hein J.M. Ribot (authors) & Ber van Perlo (illustrator), Field Guide to the Birds of Suriname, 2nd ed; Brill, 2018.

Francois Haverschmidt, et al., Birds of Suriname; Vaco Uitgeversmaatschappij, 1994 (new ed. of 1968 title, publ. by Oliver & Boyd).

VENEZUELA

David Ascanio, Gustavo A. Rodriguez & Robin L. Restall (illus.), Birds of Venezuela; Helm, 2021.