Brazil’s bird diversity is one of the richest in the world. And yet there has never been a comprehensive field guide to this splendid and elusive avifauna. Until now.
The carefully vetted text and images are the first to cover the full range of bird life in this vast and varied country. The more than 1800 up-to-date accounts treat the Yellow-nosed Albatross to the Sombre Hummingbird, the Ash-throated Gnat-eater to the Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Nighthawks and Jacamars to Motmots, Puffbirds, and Peppershrikes. They are all here–every species and many subspecies found in each region of Brazil–with special attention given to the 218 Brazilian endemics. The book is laid out so that the illustrations sit across from the commentary and the distribution maps, so it is easy to use. Also, the author uses short-hand notation throughout, to make the book compact and easy to carry when in the field. For each bird, the scientific, English, and Portuguese name are given as well as detailed information on measurement; identifying features; habitat; voice, song, and call. Distribution maps show the range for each species, also indicating seasonality and occurrence, essential for finding and identifying specific birds. From the equatorial North to the tropics, the introductory paragraphs set the stage in describing Brazil’s varied biogeography, climate, geomorphology, and natural vegetation. A list of protected areas of Brazil, information on relevant national and international organizations, a bibliography and further references, and an English-Portuguese dictionary of frequently used terms enhance the user-friendly qualities.
Anyone wishing to fully explore the fabulously varied bird life of Brazil will find this light-weight, easy-to-use, attractive guide an invaluable field companion.
Product Features
- Oxford University Press USA
Good complete guide that you must take to Brazil THE BASICS: softcover, 187 color plates of all 1,800+ species in Brazil; short paragraph of minimal identification or description notes along with simple description of the voice; brief habitat notes; a 9-colored range map for each bird
reasonably compact guide to more than 1800 species Reviewers more competent than I can critique the accuracy of the species accounts, the range maps, and the illustrations. Compiling a field guide to any country in the Neotropics must be a thankless task. The avifauna of Brazil more than doubles the number of species found in North America, and rivals that of Columbia, Ecuador and Peru. No field guide to a country in western South America would offer satisfactory coverage of those species whose distribution is predominantly or exclusively…
For Brazil it’s the Only Game in Town… As other reviewers have noted, at the moment, this is the only manageably-sized field guide in print that covers the all the birds of Brazil. Several other field guides are currently in the works (most notably Kevin Zimmer, and I believe Bret Whitney is also working on one) so hopefully within a few years there will be plenty of choice. However, if you are going to Brazil now, despite its shortcomings, you need this book.