Customer Reviews

Belize & Northern Guatemala (Travellers' Wildlife Guides)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From Planeta journal:

An impressive first edition, not as much a tourist's guidebook as a naturalist's handbook. Color illustrations document native birds, mammals and reptiles. The author provides a brief eco-history of the region as well as background on environmental threats and conservation. Excellent!

I debated between this book and the "Birds of Belize" field guide for my recent trip to Belize. I went with this one since I thought it would be nice to have a guide for wildlife other than birds and I was glad I chose this one. I used it quite a bit and was able to identify a lot of the wildlife I saw. I used it mostly for birds but I also used it to identify reptiles and some mammals.

The cons: It's a heavy book. About half of the book is text - an ecological background. I didn't read it and I'm sure there is interesting info in it but not what I want in a field guide. Either remove this portion of text and have the book lighter/smaller or replace it with more plates. The plates itself aren't the easiest to follow. The organization could be better. It would also have been good to have more clues on distinguishing features of the animals, especially when you are dealing with similar looking birds. A good bird guide will give you seasonal information. Also, there is no indication of size on any of the animals, which would be extremely useful.

That said, the pictures are good and for the most part, I was easily able to identify the wildlife I saw with a few flips through the book.
Overall, this book is a good purchase for the amateur wildlife enthusiast and it will enhance your experience while travelling through Belize.

I haven't been to Belize yet, but this book is really whetting my appetite. It seems to cover the most common wildlife, and has large, colorful pictures. Beletsky includes general information about the orders and families, plus detailed information about particular birds, snakes, etc. which a traveler is likely to see. The book is packed with fascinating details on natural history, and where one is likely to see a particular animal. I will strongly recommend this book to the students I take to Belize this winter.

This a a great wildlife guide for travelers to Belize. Packable size, it contains pictures and text relating to most of the common flora and fauna. Does not cover EVERY bird, mammal, fish, etc., so the midlevel or advanced naturalist should also carry field guides dedicated to their special interests. (I'd like to see a section added for the butterflies!) The text contains information on the ecology and history of the species listed, and makes good reading while traveling or when holed up for the night.

I actually saw this book while travelling in Belize and wanted it to help me identify all the great animals we were seeing, but it was rather expensive. I got it on Amazon when we got home and it really helped identify some of the things I had taken pictures of. Next time I visit Belize I will be taking it with me. Nice colour photos and descriptions with some interesting information about the natural history.

This book is a real bargain by any stretch of imagination.

Before our first trip to Belize in 2008, I purchased several tour guidebooks, and most of them were very good for the casual tourist or traveler. But this book was purchased as a gift for me by my younger son, and it proved to be not only the most valuable of all the books we had purchased, but also the best and most comprehensive of all nature field guides I have ever owned--and in 68 years of my fascination with the natural world, that is a considerable number, with a considerable scope. As noted by other reviewers, it is a very heavy book, and certainly too large for any pockets I have ever worn: but the more I consider what it has meant to me in my visits to Belize, and in preparing me for recognizing environments, birds, mammals, snakes before encountering them, and in identifying them after they were encountered (and if possible, photographed), the more certain I am that this is the one most valuable book of all I have taken with me in my travels to Belize and (in 2008) into Guatemala, and the one I would most enthusiastically recommend to the serious-minded traveler, even if as I was, he is trying desperately to keep his luggage light. For the photographer, it will also prove indispensable on his return home, as he tries to identify things he may have photographed when the opportunities arose in the field. No, I DON'T recommend carrying this book with you in your camera bag all day! Belize itself--wherever you roam--can be very demanding of your energy.

The illustrations, which take up 104 plates depicting about six to ten species each, filling the second half of the book, are beautiful, clear, and amazingly comprehensive, including creatures both common and rarely seen; very good photographs illustrating the many habitats follow the set of plates for a total of twenty more pictures; descriptive text including common, local, and scientific names for each species depicted, giving districts and habitats where they are found, is printed on pages facing the illustrations, and authoritative essays in the first half of the book extend the information for those who want or need to gain an even deeper understanding. The index is divided into a Species Index and a General Index, which is a great time-saver when one is seeking out a particular species, and the Species Index gives both common and scientific names, with illustration references shown in boldface type.

A very good book. It covers everything so can't be comprehensive in any one subject but is great for the casual observer.

Great book, but where's the picture of the red footed booby?

As a frequent traveler to Belize I found this book a wonderful guide to all the natural beauty of Belize.