Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica (Helm Field Guides) [Paperback]

F Gary Stiles (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 1991 | Series: Helm Field Guides

This book covers waterbirds and migrants as well as resident tropical species, and its treatment of such topics as plumages, vocalizations, food habits, nesting and distribution make it a comprehensive single-volume guide to the 830 species of birds in Costa Rica.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Comstock: Cornell Univ. Pr. Oct. 1989. c.656p. permanent paper. illus. maps. bibliog. index. LC 88-43444. ISBN 0-8014-2287-6. $65; pap. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4. $35. ref This is a superior field guide to a country with one of the richest assortments of bird life anywhere. Written and illustrated by top experts, this book has it all: 52 excellent color plates, detailed species accounts, brief write-ups of 70 birding localities, and extensive introductory materials, often skimped on in books of this genre, on geography, climate, habitats, and conservation, accompanied by helpful photographs. Costa Rica has a fine park system and has long been the most popular Central American country for visiting naturalists. Since the destruction of natural areas in the Neotropics is finally receiving the publicity it deserves, books such as this are urgently needed. It is the first Costa Rican bird book since Paul Slud's The Birds of Costa Rica (1964. o.p.), a respected but unillustrated monograph. A splendid job. Highly recommended.
- Henry T. Armistead, Thomas Jefferson Univ. Lib., Philadelphia
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

"This long-awaited, much-needed volume may be the best field guide I've ever seen, and it's sure to become the standard against which all new field guides will be measured. Tehcnically excellent and comprehensive, it's the kind of book readers will not put down at the end of the day, but will savor in the evenings back at camp."--Marcy F. Lawton, University of Alabama --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: A&C Black (September 12, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0713635126
• ISBN-13: 978-0713635126
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,867,104 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

140 of 144 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Birds of Costa Rica, January 18, 2000

By 

John G Lumb (Houston Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica (Comstock Book) (Paperback)

This is the best book for birding in Costa Rica but it is far too big and heavy to be an ideal field guide. A pro birding guide in CR suggested buying the book, removing the illustrations and having them bound for use in the field. Guides at La Selva have the plates laminated in plastic and spiral bound for easy carrying. Since it is a expensive field guide I'd suggest buying a protective cover for it. If you don't want to carry the weight, Peterson's Birds of Mexico has many of the birds you will see in Costa Rica.

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't leave home without it., April 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica (Comstock Book) (Paperback)

Having lived in Costa Rica since prior to the publication of "the book," I can attest to what a joy it is to have all the bird life under one cover, so to speak. (We used to have to tote 3 different volumes into the field!) Still, some find this one book too much to be burdened with and (as another reviewer has mentioned) pull out the colored plates from the book's center. I wholeheartedly recommend this procedure, but with one difference: take the text into the field and leave the plates at home (no offense, Dana). While the paintings are of passable quality, the information contained in the text is nothing short of superlative. No one would ever be able to distinguish between, let's say, a Rufous Piha and a Rufous Mourner by looking at the illustrations. The text, however, gives some very useful pointers, including vocalizations, that just might solve your identification quandary. But the bottom line is, if you're going birding in Costa Rica, don't leave home without it.

60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Its a good field guide!, March 30, 2002

By 

Dick Krebill (Tempe, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica (Comstock Book) (Paperback)

Just back from 2 week guided tour to Costa Rica. This was a tour featured as "Nature's Museum" and led by a trained biologist that was good on bird ID, though his time was demanded more for logistics and keeping everyone of our 26 tourists happy by hitting the majors such as monkeys, butterflys, and birds like Quetzels, Motmots, and Toucans. I found the Stiles and Skutch guide to be most helpful. Recommend that a new user, read all of the general information just prior to a visit to the country. Also read in advance, the descriptions of bird families and look thru the plates to get a feel for birds you might see. Then when in the field, you can easily scan the plates, and check out the narrative descriptions, including their habits and ranges. Though this was not a bird trip, we did pick up 150 species that we felt comfortable on ID and perhaps a dozen unknowns mostly because of only flighting glimpes. About half were first called out by the local guides and the others by ourselves with help of the book. I find this book's info. on bird ranges to be most useful especially for neotropical migrants for which our North American guides generally ignore wintering areas south of US. One note of caution, is that the color plates aren't always perfect, for instance the tree swallow is too green, the palm tanager a bit too drab, and variants are not shown. Looks like there is room for a next generation "Sibleyian" guide to birds in central America.

If you have a more casual interest in birds, you may be more happy with "A Pocket Wildlife Guide" for Costa Rica, published by Rainforests Pub.,... commonly available locally in Costa Rica. It has nice color plates of common birds, butterflys, reptiles, and mammals.