The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide [Paperback]

Robert S. Ridgely (Author), Paul J. Greenfield (Author), Frank Gill (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2001

Birds of Ecuador comprehensively treats the nearly 1600 species of birds that can be found in mainland Ecuador. The authors describe Ecuador this way:

"One of the wonders of the natural world. Nowhere else is such incredible avian diversity crammed into such a small country. . . . Birds are, happily, numerous in many parts of Ecuador: even the downtown parks of the big cities such as Quito and Guayaquil host their complement."

Volume I, Status, Distribution, and Taxonomy, contains detailed information on the ecology, status, and distribution of all species. Introductory chapters deal with geography, climate, and vegetation; bird migration in Ecuador; Ecuadorian ornithology; endemic bird areas in Ecuador; and conservation. Individual species accounts treat habitat, distribution, and taxonomy.

Volume II, Field Guide, contains 96 full-color plates and facing pages of descriptive text, a color map of Ecuador, 2 line drawings of bird anatomy, 115 silhouette outlines, and nearly 1600 distribution maps. All species are illustrated in full color, including migrants and vagrants and visually distinctive subspecies. The text focuses on the field identification aspects of each species, including their behavior, vocalizations, and nest appearance.

The two volumes are available separately or may be purchased as a slipcased set.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Eagerly awaited though it was, this work surpasses all expectations. On my own past trips into the phenomenal birdland of Ecuador I have longed for good information, and here it is in a double shot: a superb field guide and a thorough reference volume, both indispensable. Robert S. Ridgely and Paul J. Greenfield have done a brilliant job of making this complicated avifauna accessible and understandable for the rest of us. Ornithology, birding, and conservation all stand to benefit tremendously from this landmark work."--Kenn Kaufman, author of Focus Guide to the Birds of North America

"A monumental work that sets a new standard for South American bird guides, Birds of Ecuador fills a hug information vacuum. These volumes are a fitting tribute to the authors' passion and commitment to pass on their unparalleled knowledge of one of the world's richest avifaunas. Ecuador's nearly 1600 bird species are here made accessible in a user-friendly format. Birders, ornithologists, and conservationists alike will all benefit from this landmark publication."--Steve N. G. Howell, author of A Bird-Finding Guide to Mexico

"Birds of Ecuador is a tremendous and unique resource, not just for people interested in Ecuador, but for anybody interested in the birds of the Andean and Amazonian countries of South America. With its beautiful and accurate plates, fine maps, and detailed habitat descriptions, Volume Two: A Field Guide is full of all that's needed to identify the splendid variety of birds in Ecuador."--Douglas Stotz, The Chicago Field Museum of Natural History

About the Author

Robert S. Ridgely is a world-renowned ornithologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences and the author of Birds of Panama and Birds of South America. Paul J. Greenfield has been studying and painting the birds while residing in Ecuador for 28 years. Frank B. Gill is Senior Vice President of Science for the National Audubon Society, former President of the American Ornithologists' Union, and the author of Ornithology.

Product Details

• Paperback: 772 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801487218
• ISBN-13: 978-0801487217
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > Travel > Latin America > South America > Ecuador & Galapagos Islands
  • #7 in Books > Travel > Specialty Travel > Travel with Pets
  • #15 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Ornithology

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A first-class new South American bird guide, July 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide (Paperback)

This field guide to the birds of Ecuador is the first covering this small country with a staggering 1600 species of birds.

The text, focusing on identification and describing appearance, habitat, habits, and voice, is detailed and incorporates the latest information from the people most knowledgeable about Ecuador's birds. The paintings on the 96 plates are beautiful, among the finest of any field guide anywhere, and seem thoroughly accurate. The birds are painted in standardized poses, which allows a focus on identification. Unlike almost all field guides to countries in the tropics, all are by one artist, with the resulting benefits of consistency. The guide seems to make the identification of difficult families like flycatchers or antbirds or Ecuador's 132 species of hummingbirds easier (well, less impossible) than ever. Unlike other South American guides, all species, including migrants, are illustrated, and all in color.

The 1600 species distribution maps are not at the world-class level of North American maps or even the new India guide, but they are tremendously helpful and, given the state of information in the tropics, a great accomplishment and a major advance. It is convenient that they are right in the text, with altitude information (critical for the Andean region) attached.

Since Ecuador has about half of the species in South America, this book will be valuable for anyone looking at birds in the Amazon basin or northern South America.

Note that the field guide is volume 2 of the set. Volume I has detailed information on taxonomy, status, and especially occurence and distribution within Ecuador, plus general information about Ecuadorian geography and ornithology, which would have made the field guide impossibly large. (It's massive as is.)

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A neotropical must-have, February 22, 2005

By 

Mr. Ratio - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide (Paperback)

I finally ordered this magnificent guide, and now I wish I would have bought it sooner. This should be on every travelling birder's bookshelf. Just glancing through the plates makes me just want to hop aboard the next flight to Quito. Before buying this title, I heard plenty of contrasting opinions on the quality of Greenfield's plates. Being quite picky with artwork, and prefering that of the elite artists (Ian Lewington, Tim Worfolk, etc) I was a bit nervous. But overall I feel that the plates are very good. The colors, in particular, are very bright, and the plates are aesthetically pleasing. In comparison to Guy Tudor's plates (found in the Colombia and Venezuela Guides), I feel Greenfield measures up very well. I'll admit that some birds aren't drawn as well as Tudor's, but many of his plates are better than those in the Colombia guide. I would definitely take the Ecuador guide to Colombia or Peru, along with those countries' respective guides. As for the text, it is very detailed and distribution maps are placed right beside the text so you don't have to keep flipping around. The maps contain elevation information, and show the locations of two principal cities (Quito and Guayaquil-spelling?) for reference. I haven't yet seen volume 1, but I am assuming it is just as impressively done.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Birds of Ecuador - a heavy weight champion?, February 14, 2002

By 

Gabor T Magyar (Hungary) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide (Paperback)

I just returned from a trip from Ecuador where I used extensively Volume II of Ridgely et als' book. Having already some acqaitance with both the birdlife of the Neotropics and the bird books on the region I found the plates and the text still very useful when identifying the birds I and my travel mates saw. The weight and the size of the book is, however, making its use very difficult out in the field. The paperback editions did not hold very well during the three weeks, and publishing the book in 3 rather than two volumes could have helped that a lot. Even though the plates do not live up to the quality of the standard dictated by Guy Tudor in the, yet, two-volume handbook on South american birds, but I still found the pictures very informative. The text on habitat, altitudinal distribution, call, and the range maps often helped to narrow down the number of look-alike-species to a manageable level, especially when identifying hummingbirds or tyrant flycatchers.
All in all (and getting back to the question in the title) I could not call this book a champion in the league of field guides for being overweight (just try to carry it on the 'D' trail near Bellavista), although it truly deserves the four stars for the text and the plates alike. If you use it as a 'hotel' rather than a field guide or need it as a reference work for your home library (or have the plates and the text of Vol. II rebound separetely, as I did) you will appreciate the amount of information gathered in this book.