Bird Books of Costa Rica
There are probably no items, apart from our binoculars and cameras, that we love more than bird books. Gladly for your birding trip to Costa Rica we have no lack of bird titles. The following are suggestions on digital and printed bird books you might like to consider for your trip preparation and birding time in Costa Rica. Some provide extensive information on bird description and their unique behaviors, some treat the Costa Rican avian life in terms of distribution and appearance, but offer limited natural history.
101+ Common Birds of Costa Rica
A Birder’s Companion
Available on the Apple Books & Kindle stores
Written and compiled by Noel and the team over a 5 year period. He has distilled his vast knowledge of the avian species of the region into this beautiful book.
101+ Common Birds of Costa Rica is our definitive field guide to the more common birds of a not so common region of the world.
It’s a book for birdwatchers of all skill levels and every birder or naturalists who is planning or just happily dreaming of a trip to this amazing country will be delighted with the quality of information in this book.
The layout and pages are organized both in a way that makes it a pleasure to use in the field or for just simply browsing over a cup of coffee.
Please Note
Links, calls and videos do not function on Kindle purchases that are viewed in the Kindle app on Apple devices. They do work on 3rd gen or newer Kindle Fire and Android devices.
To have interactive content such as links, audio and video on Apple Devices please purchase through Apple Books.
Fine Print Alert
Please note; Any previously purchased Kindle versions of this book will not be entitled to any future updates. Kindle considers updates other than grammar and spelling fixes to be a new book which means you have to purchase the book again to get the updates.
Apple however allows significant updates so previous purchasers of the books would be notified of the free updates which they will then be able to download from the Apple Books store.
We have no control over Kindle’s policies and regret this one particularly as the plan all along was to be able to keep the material current with free updates.
Another side note:
Because of the file size of the book, Kindle takes 70% of the retail price. Apple takes 30% for the same file. From an author’s point of view, score one for Apple…
All this fine print stuff stands till Apple or Kindle change their minds.
The Birds of Costa Rica, A Field Guide
British Edition
American Edition
This is the one compact, portable, and user-friendly field guide the novice or experienced birder needs to identify birds in the field in the diverse habitats found in Costa Rica. It features descriptions and illustrations of all 903 species definitely known from Costa Rica, including pelagics and species regular to Cocos Island. 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.
The detailed full-color illustrations show identifying features―including plumage differences among males, females, and juveniles―and views of birds in flight wherever pertinent. Robert Dean has supplied more than 360 new illustrations, including sixty-four species that are illustrated for the first time in this edition. These include recent additions to the country list, pelagic species, Cocos Island species, and all accidentals recorded from the Costa Rican mainland. Range maps and nomenclature have been updated for this edition, which also has a new user-friendly organizational scheme and an alphabetical quick-find index of groups on the inside back cover.
A guide to the Birds of Costa Rica
An impressive old book, however with quite a few birds with their old names and taxonomical classification, this lavishly illustrated book is the most comprehensive treatment of a rich tropical avifauna ever presented in a single volume, not so suitable for its use in the field. With its full coverage of waterbirds and migrants as well as resident tropical species, and its coverage of such topics as plumages, vocalizations, food habits, nesting, and distribution, it is truly a guide to the birds themselves, not merely a guide to their identification.
In summary a highly readable, portable encyclopaedia to the fascinating, ever-surprising birds of Costa Rica, this book will be welcomed by birders and other naturalists, professional and amateur ornithologists, ecologists, travelers, and conservations throughout the northern Neotropics.
