Birds of Chile/Aves De Chile: Illustrated in Color [Spiral-bound]

Sharon R. Chester (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 096385111X | ISBN-13: 978-0963851116 | Publication Date: July 1, 1995

Birds of Chile: Illustrated in Color supplements the 1993 field guide by Araya and Chester. It was designed to fit into a binocular case or pocket, and is printed on heavy stock with a plastic cover to withstand field use. Twenty-nine color plates drawn by the author illustrate over three hundred common bird species of mainland Chile. There is a caption next to each species indicating its English, Chilean and scientific name, its domestic range, and average length in centimeters and inches. An outline map of continental Chile gives the political names and numerals of the mainland Regions. The guide also contains a checklist of all Chilean bird species.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 40 pages
• Publisher: Wandering Albatross (July 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096385111X
• ISBN-13: 978-0963851116
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,364,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Nifty but limited supplement of color plates, October 2, 2008

By 

Soleglad (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Birds of Chile/Aves De Chile: Illustrated in Color (Spiral-bound)

Basics: 1997, spiral bound, 41 pages, 29 color plates of 300+ species, no range maps, plates only

This booklet contains nothing other than plates, a checklist of Chile's birds, and a map of Chile naming the 12 states/regions. Except for the bird's name in English, Spanish, and scientific, there is no text. Other descriptive information is located in the earlier field guide.

This spiral-bound booklet was created to be an illustrative supplement to the earlier book "Birds of Chile" by Araya and Chester (1993). The earlier work was a field guide with only black-and-white line drawings. This newer supplement offers 29 color plates containing over 300 species covered in the earlier field guide.

The artwork in this booklet is good, but different. It is very similar to the style used in the book "Las Aves de Chile" painted by Martinez. The birds are painted as more of a quality caricature to accentuate the key color patterns and field marks of the bird. This means realistic detail has been sacrificed. These illustrations will be helpful for identification, but quite limited without showing age or subspecies differences.

One quirk should be noted about the layout of the species. Taxonomically, many birds are jumbled around in the plates. The last plate contains the rhea, tinamous, and seed-snipes. Another plate contains hummingbirds with conebills. The plate before that contains swallows, nightjars, and woodpeckers.

Considering the superior field guides for Chile that are available today, this supplemental work and its companion field guide are probably obsolete.

I've listed several related books below...
1) Birds of Chile by Araya/Chester
2) Birds of Chile by Jaramillo
3) Las Aves de Chile by Martinez and Gonzalez (ISBN 9568426000)
4) Birds of Chile and Adjacent Regions of Argentina, Bolivia and Peru -- Volumes I & II by Johnson et.al.
5) Guia de campo de las aves de Chile by Araya
6) Birds of Patagonia, Tierra Del Fuego and Antarctic Peninsula by Couve
7) Birds of the High Andes by Fjeldsa/Krabbe