Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best available field guide to the birds of Panama, June 9, 2003
Ridgely's guide is the best - and really the only - available field guide covering all the species of birds in the nation of Panama. While it is useful and serves most purposes, it has been over a decade since the second edition was released, and it is more than due for an overhaul and expansion. The most necessary would be the addition of range maps, that would make the book infinitely more useful in planning a trip. At the very least, there should be a single, detailed map of Panama, indicating the locations mentioned in the range descriptions! Also, it would be better to limit the scope of the book entirely to Panama, as Costa Rica and other areas to the north are covered by other guides, and the pertinent information for those areas in this book are scant, at best. Then, the isolated plates in the back need to be intergrated, as do the plates of Darien specialties, etc. Many species have been recently added to the Panama list, or split, etc, and those species need to be added. But, all this aside, this book should enable the identification of most Panama birds, and remains an indispensible resource for any birder traveling to that country.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Review of "Birds of Panama: with Costa Rica, Nicaragua,..., March 30, 2000
By A Customer
This is a good, standard guidebook with beautiful bird plates. It is, however, somewhat awkward to have the plates divided into two groups at different places in the book. Three chapters ("Migration and Local Movements", Recent Developments...", and "Finding Birds in Panama") were especially interesting and helpful. The chapter "Finding Birds in Panama" was very accurate and useful to me. I wish I had purchased this guidebook before my earlier birding trips to Costa Rica. It is an important book for the entire region.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The only guide out there, February 16, 2005
I visit Panama at least once a year, and this book is the first thing I pack for every trip. There's simply no other field guide out there. Although the book is over due for a thorough update (of both taxonomy and range reports), it's still the best source for identifying birds in Panama. All the guides and researchers that I've met over the years use this book. One of the most useful parts is the section that describes the best birding spots in Panama, as most of these places have remained largely unchanged. The plates are very good, more than adequate.
The book's a bit on the heavy side though. I usually go out birding for an entire day (6 am to 6 pm) carrying water, food, a camera and heavy telephoto lens, a tripod and binoculars. Even so, I've always resisted cutting out the plates, and end up taking the whole thing with me into the jungle. If the publisher were to make available a separate smaller booklet with only the plates, I'd definitely buy it. My back would be very grateful indeed!
Conclusion: If you're planning a birdwatching trip to Panama, you NEED this book!
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