Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica [Paperback]

Audrey Downer (Author)

Book Description

Series: Photographic Guide | Publication Date: June 15, 2009

With a rich avifauna of more than 300 species that includes 30 endemics, the island of Jamaica is an increasingly popular birding destination. Containing hundreds of stunning photographs, A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica, the latest addition to Helm's Photographic Guides series, provides full photographic coverage of every species on the Jamaican list (excluding vagrants). Concise text for each species includes identification, similar species, voice, habitats and behaviour, status and distribution, and maps for resident and migrant birds. This guide is an essential companion for anyone visiting this amazing island.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'I cannot praise this excellent little guide too highly.' Book Review - British Ornithologists' Union (2009) 'If you're planning a trip it is invaluable, but it's also a beautiful book to look at on a rainy day in the UK!' Wild Sounds (2009) 'If you take just one book to Jamaica, make sure this is it.' Birdwatch (November 2009) '...wealth of new data garnered...makes it inherently valuable for the updated distribution maps (far superior to anything previously available for this endemic-rich island) and status details alone.' British Birds (November 2009) '...it would be a mistake not to have it with you on a visit.' Scottish Birds (2009)

About the Author

Ann Haynes-Sutton is a zoologist, tour leader and photographer from Jamaica, where she has lived for more than 30 years. She and her late husband Robert have written a number of books and magazine articles on the island's avifauna. The late Audrey Downer, who died in 2008, was a renowned ornithologist who wrote a number of titles on the birds of the island, including Birds of Jamaica (1990), the work that this latest volume revises and updates. Yves-Jacques Rey-Millet has been photographing the birds of the Caribbean for more than 30 years. His superb photography has appeared in many books, including the first Birds of Jamaica.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Christopher Helm Publishers (June 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1408107430
• ISBN-13: 978-1408107430
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,833,515 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceeds quality of other photo guides, July 29, 2009

By 

Soleglad (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica (Paperback)

Of the many small photo guides to have come out over the past five years, I like the format of this one the best. The success of this book is the larger, multiple photos of each bird. The quality, color, and lighting of every bird are very good as well.

This book contains 488 photos of 220 species that regularly occur on Jamaica. Nearly all of these birds are shown with more than one photo. Each of the 30 endemic species has at least two photos, many have up to four. The color and poses in each of the four shots of the Jamaican Tody are stunning. An excellent sampling of photos is also given for each of the three Myiarchus flycatchers which display the key identification points quite well. You can see the pale base to the mandible or the shading differences in the wing bars.

The amount of text for each bird varies between migrants and residents, with the latter receiving the most. The information is about one-half page with 60-80% of it focused on identification, description, and similar species. This information does a good job at pointing out key features of the similar species. The rest of the text covers voice as well as habitat and behavior.

I was glad to see range maps included for each bird. These maps use dark and light shadings of three different colors (green, yellow, blue) to represent common and uncommon status as a resident, summer visitor, or winter visitor. The maps do a good job at showing some detail, trying to follow geographic features or habitat; however, it would have been helpful to include a few dots to represent some cities/towns as reference.

A 31-page section at the beginning of the book does a nice job of giving a thorough overview of Jamaica's geomorphology, habitat types, avifauna, altitudinal movements, and general information for birders.

This book is a vast improvement on the already good book by Sutton/Downer of 1990. The photos are of higher quality, are larger with a greater number for each bird, and cover all of Jamaica's regular birds. Although I normally prefer and recommend an illustrated guide over a photo guide for field use, this book will easily aid you in all your identification needs across the island. -- (written by Soleglad at Avian Review / Avian Books, July 2009)

I've listed several related books below...
1) Birds of Jamaica: A Photographic Field Guide by Downer, Audrey and Robert Sutton
2) Photographic Guide to Birds of Jamaica and the West Indies, A by Flieg
3) A Field Guide to the Birds of the West Indies by Bond
4) Birds of the West Indies by Raffaele
5) A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies by Raffaele
6) Photographic Guide to Birds of the West Indies by Flieg
7) Bird-Watching in Jamaica by Jeffrey-Smith

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best bird guide for Jamaica at the moment, December 26, 2009

By 

Ricardo Miller "Maximus" (Jamaica) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica (Paperback)

This book is currently the best bird guide available for Jamaica. In the past, photographic illustrations were not ideal as you needed to show the birds at the right angle, the right stance or in different plumage to allow for good identification. So it was best done with drawings, but not anymore. The authors have gone to extreme lengths to source the perfect images to describe each bird species that reside or frequents the island of Jamaica. The quality of the images is jaw-droppingly stunning. The information provided is well presented. My few negatives so far are:
1. the color coded distribution maps sometimes gives the impression that a species is not expected in a particular area by being completely void of color but in actuality a lack of color only means lack of knowledge for those areas. It caught me at first but once you understand what it means you get to appreciate it. It gives the impression however, that the authors could have spent more time researching to fill out those blank spaces a little more.
2. it is a paperback. This means that it is very portable but also not that durable. After my fist use i noticed some of the pages started to separate from the binding. A hard-cover edition would really be welcomed especially since it is such a thin book that the hard cover would not make it heavy at all.

This field guide is highly recommended but take care of it. What i did, was to get 2 copies and keep one on my bookshelf in mint condition for reference and use the other one in the field. After all, the top picture on page 113 is my handy-work.

5.0 out of 5 stars Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica, December 12, 2011

By 

Jim Boone (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica (Paperback)

I haven't used this book in the field yet, but it seems to be a well written book with good introductory material about the island and birding locations. The bird photos and descriptions seem well written.