Birds of Chile (Princeton Field Guides)

Basics: 2003, softcover, 240 pages, 96 color plates, 473 species, range map for each birdIn case I fail to make it clear in my review of the book, I'll state it now: This book is a necessity for your birding trip to anywhere in Chile. The illustrations are excellent and cover every bird - both resident and migrant - found in the country. It also covers 13 extra species found in the Antarctic Peninsula, the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.The illustrations are done superbly in detail, structure, and color. If I had to pick on something for criticism, it would only be the vaguely angled outline to some of the birds' nape/crown and the necks of the swans, but this is minor. The plates do a great job of displaying the many subspecies and seasonal plumages. The many in-flight views are definitely helpful.The majority of the text consists of excellent notes on identification and of comparing similar species. The detailed notes proved to be very helpful when examining the the various cinclodes and miners in the field. An admiral effort is given to describing the vocalizations. These notes are effectively written and are more detailed than most other field guides of any country.The range maps are unique due to the shape of Chile. To properly display the 2,500 miles of coastline, the country was broken into thirds: northern, central, and southern. These are placed adjacent to each other in one box. To help provide some orientation, the 12 regions (i.e., provinces) are outlined and Santiago is dotted. For birds with a small range, the map zooms in to that particular area. These maps use five different colors to denote seasons and sparseness.There are a couple of other books you could use for Chile, but I found this one to be superior to all in terms of illustrations, text, and book size. It will definitely accompany me again. Any other book I bring will be only for back-up reference.Other Related Books:1) Las Aves de Chile: Nueva Guia de Campo by Martinez and Gonzalez (ISBN 9568426000)2)  Birds of Patagonia, Tierra Del Fuego and Antarctic Peninsula  by Couve3)  Birds of Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile  by Couve4) Birds of Chile and Adjacent Regions of Argentina, Bolivia and Peru -- Vol. I-II by Johnson5)  Birds of Chile: A Field Guide  by Araya6)  Guia de campo de las aves de Chile  by Araya

When I finally delve into the South American temperate zone I'll want to choose as my destination a country with an affordable, compact and thorough field guide to the birds known to occur there. Collaborating with two accomplished illustrators, Alvaro Jaramillo has authored such a guide, and it is the kind of guide most useful in the field: organized in an essentially familiar sequence, with species accounts facing the illustrations on the plates. When combined with the genus accounts included at the top of each page, they concisely describe habitat preferences and identification clues (plumage, structure and to some extent behavior). Illustrations are attractive and seemingly accurate (at least for those few species that I've seen).Range maps are somewhat innovatively split into three zones, which when combined cover the entire country from north to south. Species more restricted in distribution may be mapped in only one or two of those zones. Color codes are used to differentiate between residents, Austral summer visitors, Austral winter visitors, migrants, and species of a decidedly sparse or erratic occurrence.There's a very good mid-book chapter on "Ageing Gulls, Tern and Jaegers" that any beginning and intermediate birder will find helpful, and the same is true of the excellent introductory chapter on field identification. Another introductory chapter describes Chilean habitats.Perusing this guide, I realize that the South American temperate latitudes are occupied by a wonderful variety of bird species that will not be found in the tropics. I've always thought of the American tropics as being a sort of opposite experience to my North American temperate experience, but in some ways that can also be said for temperate countries like Chile.

The great void of high-quality field guides for South America is gradually shrinking. This book is undoubtedly most useful way beyond the boundaries of Chile. I wish I had had this book for my trip to southern Peru in 2000. The attempt to identify yellow-finches with the only field guide I had for that area (de la Peña and Rumboll) was an exercise in sheer frustration. The new book shows clear differences between the species. I can't judge the accuracy for most species, but this is a book that gives you confidence that the author and the illustrators got the vast majority right. As had been mentioned in earlier reviews, the quality of the plates is a bit variable, but they all seem at least usable, and the majority is downright excellent. The many flight pictures are particularly welcome. Sexual differences and even some geographical variations are clearly depicted as well. What a fine and compact guide book! And it is so affordable (at least here at Amazon!)that any traveller could really take a second copy along for local birders, as had been suggested.

I've just gotten back from traveling a couple weeks by myself in Chile and was so glad I had this book with me. Because I was traveling on my own (without a birding guide) it was very satisfing to be able to look up the beautiful unfamiliar birds up in this book. Easy to use with great illustrations, maps and discriptions. Plus there is an English and a Spanish index. This is great even if you don't speak a word of Spanish because even English speaking Chileans familiar with birds probably only know the Spanish name for the bird in which case you can look it up in the Spanish index and find out what it is in English. And its size allows it to be complete with plenty of details but also easy to carry on the trail. If you are planning to travel to Chile with birding as even one of many goals bring this book. By the way Chile was great and easy to travel by yourself in.

Sehr anschaulich.Das Land ist in seine Biotoptypen unterteilt. Sehr anschauliche Zeichnungen für jeden Klimabereich.Flora und Fauna anschaulich dargestellt und die Arten sind gut erklärt. hat unseren Chileaufenthalt sehr bereichert.Der Autor hat jahrelang Führungen druch das Land gemacht und seine Erfahrungen gesammelt und in diesem Werk veröffentlicht. Wir fanden nur wenig Literatur über Chile, dies war mit Abstand die Beste. Ist allerdings in engl. geschrieben, wer mit englisch zurecht kommt - Sehr empfehlenswert!

Diese Investition hat sich voll gelohnt. Wir haben über 100 Vogelarten entdeckt und fast alle ziemlich leicht mit diesem Buch identifizieren können. Es gibt wahrscheinlich für diese Gegend kein besseres Buch. Die Qualität des Materials, der Verarbeitung und der Bilder ist klasse.

The book is very usable to determinate unnamed birds of birds with only a Spanish name,as you can find in a blink through the indexes the scientific and English name. The text onthe birds is somewhat limited, but the maps of habitats where the actual bird lives are veryuseful information. I would give this book 7,5 to 8 on a 10 scale, so pretty good and usablein the field.

The author knows how to identify birds. Information in this book is useful. Overall, field guide of choice for this area.

Das Buch ist schnell angekommen. Die Verbreitungskarten helfen, die Abbildungsqualität ist relativ gut. Mal sehen, ob das Buch auch Regen abkann.