Customer Reviews

A Field Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Adjacent Areas: Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador, Third Edition (Corrie Herring Hooks Series)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This field guide will enable you to see paintings of all of the birds that occur in the area. It also discusses (briefly) each bird. The paintings are excellent and the copy is quick and to the point. To pick at nits, though, the arrangement of the paintings is confusing. Not all birds in a specific family are illustrated on the same plate, and some are found pages away from the rest of their family. The logic seems to be that if the bird is found regularly in northern North America (the elegant trogon, for example) its picture does not need to run with the rest of its relatives. Close study of the guide can overcome this problem, however, making it an easy, economical way to pack the information of other guides into the field.

To be sure, this field guide is better than having no field guide. If birds posed for observation, it would be a great field guide. But for the real world this guide is disorganized in text and illustrations beyond excuse. I'm not sure this is the author's fault. It may be due to the publisher cutting costs. Still, no excuse. A birder will pay a premium for a great field guide. Illustrations are jammed together on each plate with no regard to proportionate size, or to other birds on that plate. For example, kingfishers are intermixed with trogons, motmots, swallows and woodpeckers on 3 separate plates. The amazon kingfisher is on one plate; the similar green kingfisher is 2 plates later. Quick comparison is impossible. Seven trogons are together on one plate, but the elegant trogon is 2 plates later. Some woodpeckers are on each of plates 20, 21 & 22; the imperial woodpecker is on plate 45. First I cried, then I laughed.

We used this book on a recent trip to Belize. It is THE book in use by local Belizian birding enthusiasts, and we only saw it for sale at one shop during our 12 day stay, so it might be hard to get once you're there. Birds of same species on different color plates slow you down, but the pictures are very good. Highly recommend taking this book with you if you plan to do any serious birdwatching.

This book has what Peterson's "Mexican Birds" lacks: good colour pictures of (nearly) all birds of Mexico and adjacent areas and their Spanish names. However, the presentation of the pictures is a mishmash. The descriptions of the birds are not detailed but very short. It is a pity that there is no information about the behaviour of the birds, often very important for identification.

I took this guide to Oaxaca to carry in the field, as the Howell guide is so heavy. I almost threw it over the cliff at Monte Alban. It will help you remember which euphonia is which, but for anything more subtly marked it is almost no help at all. Furthermore, there are no range maps, no details on alternate plumages, little to no information on vocalizations. I would have done better to bring the old Peterson guide, even though it is out of date.

Before Howell published his guide to Mexican birding locations birders relied on the self-published bird-finding guide (and supplements) by Ernest P. Edwards. In fact, I rarely travel south of the border without at least reading from those works; the places have changed (often dramatically), but you still get a feel for a place (and its history).

Edwards also published a quite compact field guide, and this guide (from the University of Texas Press) is a worthy successor. Few birders would make the trip to Mexico without the encyclopedic Howell & Webb guide, and many even separate the plates from the text for a much more portable field resource. The Peterson-Chalif guide is a good second reference for some, but quite honestly I prefer Edwards. He gets a lot of species on a plate, and that often helps when one is narrowing down choices. The illustrations are good and they're almost all in color (the exceptions being two plates of seabirds and other waterbirds, all rendered in North American guides), and he includes illustrations of many birds also found in North American field guides (unlike Person-Chalif)

I will concede that the sequence of illustrations can be confusing at times; see (for example) Plate 45 (with sparrows, an oriole, plovers, seabirds, a Chachalaca, and the Imperial Woodpecker) and Plate 48 (portraying southeastern specialties, including a rail, hummingbirds, a quail, a woodcreeper, antbirds, flycatchers, and a seedeater, among others). It can be frustrating at times, but once you've used the guide a few times it really isn't that much of an impediment.

For many birders traveling to Mexico (or Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador) this won't be a primary reference, but it is a quite useful supplement at a reasonable price. And it's from someone who helped blaze the trail for the rest of us!

This book is much better than some out there (the Peterson field guide to Mexican birds to name one) but it is still lacking. The plates are completely disorganized which is frustrating, and there is no mention of bird song. I am happy with my copy, as it has allowed me to identify all the birds in my area (Guanajuato, and even those that are shared with the rest of North America) but it took time and patience to figure out where they where in the book. It is a great starting place for now, and I am hopeful of finding a better guide one day, for easier use, and more complete information.

I bought this book to take along on a cruise that stopped in Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala, and found it of value, although somewhat difficult to use. The author's abbreviations are not too difficult to follow, but the separation between the plate drawings and the text was tiresome. Also, three of the plates are in black and white instead of color, making species identification more difficult.

Marshall Faintich, author of "A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Wintergreen"

A good guide to the birds of Mexico, with accurate illustrations and readable text. The size and weight make it easily packable, in luggage and in a backpack. I carried this on trips to Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, and plan to use it on future trips. One drawback - not all birds of a family are on the same page, sometimes causing frustration when trying to identify a bird quickly. Hopefully, this will be corrected in the next edition.

Its a great option for the money! very nice ilustrations. Some problems with the abbreviations but still one of the best birding books i have.