Birds of Peru: Revised and Updated Edition (Princeton Field Guides) [Paperback]

Thomas S. Schulenberg (Author), Douglas F. Stotz (Author), Daniel F. Lane (Author), John P. O'Neill (Author), Theodore A. Parker (Author), Antonio Brack Egg (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2010 | Series: Princeton Field Guides

Birds of Peru is the most complete and authoritative field guide to this diverse, neotropical landscape. It features every one of Peru's 1,817 bird species and shows the distinct plumages of each in 307 superb, high-quality color plates. Concise descriptions and color distribution maps are located opposite the plates, making this book much easier to use in the field than standard neotropical field guides. This fully revised paperback edition includes twenty-five additional species.

• A comprehensive guide to all 1,817 species found in Peru--one fifth of the world's birds--with subspecies, sexes, age classes, and morphs fully illustrated
• Designed especially for field use, with vivid descriptive information and helpful identification tips opposite color plates
• Detailed species accounts, including a full-color distribution map
• Includes 25 additional species not covered in the first edition
• Features 3 entirely new plates and more than 25 additional illustrations

Editorial Reviews

Review

A major accomplishment (Birder's World)

[T]he guide against which all others for the New World tropics will be judged. (Don Stap Audubon)

Rarely in the history of tropical ornithology have so many waited so long and so eagerly for a field guide to appear. . . . The end result of this long process is a spectacular addition to the literature on South American birds. The plates are superb, the guide is easy to use in the field, the range maps are informative and accurate, and the text is concise while still including essential information. (Scott K. Robinson Auk)

Part of the excellent Princeton University Press field guide series, the book describes and illustrates 1,817 species of birds to be found in Peru. It's concise (at 664 pages!), well-designed, and worth a look (just take it off the store shelf and page through it) because it demonstrates the extraordinary variety of the bird world. (Jim Williams Minnesota Star Tribune)

Be assured that when I make my journey to Peru this summer . . . that I will be toting a copy of Birds of Peru at all times. (John E. Riutta blog)

[A] worthy successor to the original edition. . . . The plates are amazingly thorough, again considering the extent of the task involved in covering more than 1,800 species. Each facing page has a species account and map. The text for each species is limited to about one-sixth of the page, and the maps are small, but these features make this 664-page volume a real 'use-in-the-field' book. It's quite an accomplishment. Highly recommended for anyone venturing to this part of the world--how will they top this? (Bluebird's Laugh blog)

Birds of Peru will be a great addition to any birder's library. You never know if buying this field guide is the gentle nudge that you need to purchase a plane ticket to Lima. I hope someday that my copy is battered and stained from an epic birding trip to Peru. (Radd Icenoggle Radleyice blog)

Birds of Peru provides a complete and awesome guide to identify Peruvian birds. (Birdwatching Binoculars)

This is definitely a book I want to put to good use someday when I hopefully get to travel to Peru to see some of these birds. This guide is also highly recommended . . . for its great illustrations, range maps and easy to use layout. (Drew and Alex Lamoreaux Nemesis Bird)

About the Author

Thomas S. Schulenberg is a research associate at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Douglas F. Stotz is an ornithologist and conservation ecologist at the Field Museum in Chicago. Daniel F. Lane and John P. O'Neill are illustrators and field ornithologists, and both are research associates at the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science. Lane also leads Field Guides birding tours. Theodore A. Parker III, who worked throughout Peru before his death in 1993, was the premier neotropical field ornithologist of his time.

Product Details

• Paperback: 664 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; Rev Upd edition (May 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 069113023X
• ISBN-13: 978-0691130231
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Ornithology

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars May 2010 NEW UPDATED VERSION IN PAPERBACK May 28, 2010

By S. Paci

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The new updated paperback version of this book arrived recently and I have had a chance to look it over in preparation for a trip to Manu this summer. Yes, there are three new plates with 25 new birds, but other than this, it does not appear that too many other updates (some much needed) have been made. I did notice changes on several of the range maps and one plate adds an additional hummingbird illustration (to these authors a subspecies, though Clements and others consider it a full species). My original hardcover copy is full of notes re: subspecies, reclassifications, etc. and it looks like most of these notes will have to be transferred to the new paperback, something I was hoping to avoid.

That said, if you are going birding in Peru this book is an absolute must. And it is great to have it in a slightly lighter (though not as much lighter as you would think) paperback edition. I give the original effort of the authors five stars. I am giving the revised paperback edition four stars because I had hoped that more updates would have been made. Any field guide to a country like Peru is a monumental undertaking, not in the least because the situation is constantly in flux. I have already read about the discovery of a new barbet species that is not in this updated edition!

UPDATE TO MY REVIEW:
I had a chance to do a little more work with this book over the weekend and I did find a number of taxonomic updates/splits for an additional nine species have been made, making the book fairly essential even to those serious birders who already have the first edition.... Page 42: Yellow Billed and Andean Teal; page 252: Black Tailed and Ecuadorian Trogan, also Violacious and Gartered Trogan; page 364: Peruvian Warbling Antbird and Yellow Browed Warbling Antbird; page 370: Spot Winged, Brownish Headed and Humaita Antbirds; page: 604: Yellow Breasted, Vilcabamba and Black Faced Brush Finches, also Slaty and Cuzco Brush Finches.

There may also be additional updates that I haven't found yet, therefore I am changing my rating to give this new updated edition five stars. I have to assume that if the authors did not make certain other updates, that they are not currently recognizing those splits. Read more ›

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Birds of Peru: Kindle Edition April 19, 2012

By Jean Paul Perret Bazan

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Many have written about the printed edition which is excellent, but I want to comment about the Kindle edition. I feel disappointed with the low resolution of the plates. Many subspecies names on the plates are simply impossible to read due to the low quality of the scan and most details on the birds are lost when you zoom in. Since this is a field guide intended to identify birds the plates must be scanned on high resolution, otherwise is a useless book. Also the price seems to be to high, there is only a $2 difference between the printed and the Kindle edition, one would expect that since the Kindle edition doesn't use paper it would cost much less.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Only 4 stars from me January 9, 2012

By P. Reese

Format:Paperback

The paper back is the new and revised portion. The rest is the same as the hard back. But that is definitely a big improvement. One thing you do not really want to take to Peru is the hard back book, because it will not be making the return trip with you. Two weeks in the field and the binding is gone--completely. I really have only one complaint with this book. That is the index. The printing is way too small and the scientific names are interspersed with the common names making it extremely difficult to find the bird in the index. Another problem is that some birds were completely left out of the index or mis-indexed.

Now for the good part. The drawings are among the best I have ever encountered. They are reasonably accurate and they are large. The maps and descriptions are opposite the drawings.

My advice is to create your own brief quick look up index page and tape it into the back cover.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book:Not useful in the field January 10, 2013

By N. Bredemeier

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

The paper version of the book is heavy and bulky, so the idea of having it available on a device such as a Kindle or ipad is appealing. However, the electronic version does not have an interactive index or table of contents, making it extremely difficult to find the write-ups or plates for individual birds or families of birds. I recently took the electronic version to Peru and found it very frustrating to use.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Did not meet expectations September 9, 2012

By D. Foy

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a pdf this was not worth the purchase price. Could not find descriptions and pictures of specific birds easily. Needs to have the ability to move quickly to specific bird or family of birds via a link to an index.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Use of Birds of Peru May 22, 2012

By Mary E. Johnson

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

It is well organized and has good pictures, but it was difficult to look for certain birds because of all the Latin names in the index. I wish they were in a separate section, so that specific birds could be located more quickly.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars So happy to have it finally. January 22, 2013

By Kelly

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have wanted my own copy of this book forever. I am just happy to begin putting names to all the lovely creatures I see in Peru.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent December 23, 2012

By Cstory

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Used this book on a recent trip to northeast Peru. Saw 200 birds in a little over a week. Was very pleased with the organization and ease of use of the book.