Customer Reviews

A Guide to the Birds of the Galapagos Islands

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If you want to "do" the birds in depth, this is THE book for learning about the incredible endemics that gave rise to Charles Darwin's theories about evolution, as well as the resident and migrant birds for the "Islas Encantadas". (If what you need is a portable, topical and fairly complete field guide to all the critters here, get "An Identification Guide to the Birds, Mammals, and Reptiles of the Galpagos Islands" by Andy Swash et al, ISBN: 0300088647, here on Amazon instead.)

Unlike another reviewer, I DO recommend going to the Galápagos, but I also suggest doing research (Barry Boyce's guide, and others) to choose a "green" small boat trip of a week or ten days, one that assures minimum impact.

Politically, these unique and valuable islands are in peril right now from what has heretofore been an uncaring and corrupt government that has allowed illegal migration of people and their cirtters (one result was the 2002 oil spill off San Cristobal), untrammeled shark finning, sea cucumber gathering and commercial fishing within the boundaries of a most unique and valuable World Heritage Site and presumably legally-protected Ecuadorian National Park. Ecotourism has provided the money, concern and motivation to keep these islands preserved for research and future generations- for now. GO on this trip of a lifetime, but please tread lightly, observe and learn, support the "Islas Encantadas" from being fished out and plundered.

Probably this is one of the few books that regards the avifauna of the Galapagos Islands. The book is not very confortable because the color plates are separated from the species descriptions and there is no page number reference of the description on them: it is difficult to find the bird description corresponding to the plate. Additionally, the numbering of the species descriptions does not reflect the order of the species on the color plates that makes even more difficult the use of the guide in the field.
The distribution maps would help.
I would prefer either tha Latin species names on the color plates or the species description on the adjoined page together with the species number on the plate, however many English-speaking authors forget that the English names are not the official scientific names, so it can be considered a minor problem.
Unlike some other field guides this book contains the systematics of the species.
This is one of the worst field guides I ever seen, however its main positive point is that it exists.

This guide chronicles all you ever needed to know about the birds of the Galapagos! As a biologist, I am interested in many kinds of books about different species of animals, and this is among the best I have seen about the Galapagos. Hopefully more people who are eco-conscious will decide to buy guides like this one, instead of actually visiting the islands directly, we're leaving too many footprints on a valuable resource. Whether you are dreaming of a trip to the islands, or just plain curious, this book will help you become well aquainted with the birds of the Galapagos.