The user-friendly introduction covers geography, climate, habitat types, bird species and taxonomy, bird migration and the key sites for viewing the listed species. Fifty-six of these species are placed in a "Rarities" section that includes accidentals, rarer pelagics, and species that have not been reported in more than twenty years. At the biological crossroads of the Americas, Costa Rica hosts an astonishing array of plants and animals-over half a million species! My daughter took the kids to Costa Rica on last spring break but I don’t think they watched birds – they were too busy surfing. It seems obvious that the most important component of a book dedicated to enabling observers to identify a bird, is the accuracy of the illustrations.

On page 153, depicting those most cryptic of birds, the potoos, little cameos are added showing a bird roosting, for all the world looking like part of a tree, and another depicting the bird at night - "potoo eyes reflect like burning coals.Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. from the Introduction This is the one field guide the novice or experienced birder needs to identify birds in the field in the diverse habitats found in Costa Rica. These include Blue-throated Toucanet (part of Emerald Toucanet), Flammulated Atilla (with Bright-rumped Attila), Whistling Wren (with Southern Nightingale Wren), Canebrake Wren (with Plain Wren) and Northern Violaceous Trogon (with Violaceous Trogon). An American Birding Association Best Bird Book of the Year" "A very fine book, meeting all the established criteria for a successful modern field guide, and in many instances exceeding them. This is a particular study area for Steve Howell and Dale Dyer, and in an appendix, they outline the potential splits to look out for.

I asked Birding Guide Extraordinaire, Rodolfo “ Rudy” Zamora which guidebook he prefers, and he immediately answered, “Oh, no doubt the Garrigues book, The Birds of Costa Rica. The text and maps are on the left page facing the colour plates with around five species per spread.It's about the same size as the Collins Bird Guide, and so is manageable when you are out on your birding travels fitting into a good sized pocket. In total 834 species are illustrated, so there are around five per plate facing a page of text and maps. Split-hungry birders will be disappointed that other proposed new species remain firmly lumped here for the time being. Dale Dyer is an acclaimed bird illustrator and a field associate at the American Museum of Natural History.