Customer Reviews

Birds of South America: Non-Passerines: Rheas to Woodpeckers (Princeton Illustrated Checklists)

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

 

 

I just got the book and in short, was very impressed. The book fills in the gap in the taxonomic order not covered in the famous Birds of South America Vol. I & II by Ridgely and Tudor. The book is small and compact (5" X 7.5"). The illustrations are great...a bit crowded on some pages (as can be expected with the size), but overall are visually appealing and birds are identifiable (unlike other Princeton Illustrated Checklists I've seen recently). The book is just that though, an illustrated checklist. Each bird is illustrated on one side with a corresponding paragraph describing the bird and habitat on the opposite side. Each species has a small range map next to the text block as well.

The only errors I've seen so far is that some birds are do not have a numerical label, matching their illustration with their name/description on the other page. These are few in occurrence and don't pose too much of a problem, but obviously overlooked by the editors. One other thing, some of the birds, particularly some of the hummingbirds, have been painted as you may see them in a shaded forest (without any iridescence)...thank God the Velvet-purple Coronet doesn't always look like that!

Overall, this is a great book to add to your collection or to use in the field if that sort of thing is lacking where your going. Its a bargain and recommended.

Great to have all the non-passerine birds (non-songbirds) together in one booklet, for the most bird-rich continent in the world. Especially handy for those countries that still don't have good field guides, but also handy for comparing species across country boundaries.
The paintings are very nice, and the birds have their natural pose, something we are missing in the latest field guides. The distribution maps are bit small, but still adequate.
For any lover of Southamerican birds, the quality of the paintings alone is worth the purchase of this book, with 1300 species.

The book is worth every cent you pay for. The plates by Jorge Rodriguez-Mata are very very good and acurate. The taxonomic classification is not 100% updated, but that is not a real problem.

I recently traveled to Brazil for a conference and some birding-oriented travel, and waffled between purchasing this book (accompanied by Ridgely and Tudor's Songbirds of South America) or the single-volume Birds of Brazil by Ber van Perlo. At the advice of a few birder friends who had recently spent time in Brazil, I chose this book - and I am so glad that I did! Most other people I birded with had van Perlo's book, so I was able to compare the plates side-by-side. These two books were superior, often by orders of magnitude, in every single case - better, more accurate drawings; more accurate color rendition; more updated and precise range information; and more in-depth natural-history descriptions.

My one complaint - beyond the size (which is unavoidable, given the expansive material covered) - is that some of the poses were, well, cheesy. Such as hawks and eagles depicted in aggressive screeching poses, as you might see in a Bald Eagle image on a cheap set of matching patriotic plates sold from the back of Reader's Digest. But don't let this dissuade you - this is the book to buy, no doubt about it!

An extremely useful field guide for the neotropical ornithologist. High quality illustrations and good species description. Very complete and fulfil it's role of comprehending the non-passerines. Strongly recommended!

As advertised. Very well explained and pictures are well described. any bird watcher in South America should own this book.

this book contains all the non passerine birds in S. America, although it doesn't give in depth descriptions of them it is much easier to use than my five pound book that coveres half of the passerines.

The book is really complete, with very nice draws of the species listed, and some interesting information about each group and species.

I had only found a few problems with the text and maps, and I used this in conjuncture with a friends local guide to birds - the illustrations are amazing and accurate. I did find that a few other poses would have been helpful, but then it wouldn't be a field guide, would it? Great size and weight, the book really held up to 4 months of abuse. I'm considering getting the guides to passerines as well.

As non bird watcher, I bougth this to revieuw all the birds I saw on a recent trip to Peru. It is a good book. The only limitation is that only the Non-Passerines are shown, so I will need to buy another book to be complete. I miss an explanation in the introduction off what are passerine and non-passerine birds.