A Field Guide (Zona Tropical Publications) - The Birds of Costa Rica

Excellent assist for me as a new birder following a guided trip to Costa Rica. Our guide and a friend used it to narrow choices as we viewed birds. I've been using it to familiarize myself with the birds I saw and photographed while there.

This is an excellent field guide. The pictures and descriptions of the birds are very clear, even for someone like myself who is not a regular birder. However, I will say that this is a FIELD guide, meant to be small and portable, and thus does not have detailed information about life history traits of birds. This book is best for people who travel regularly to Costa Rica and want a small, portable identification guide.

This field guide in addition to being updated with the latest bird list has improved in maps and information compared to previous edition. As a Costa Rican and bird lover I can assure you this book is the best of birds in our country.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading and using this field guide. Very thoughtfully and thoroughly organized which made it a cinch to use. The illustrations were numerous and of very good quality. Endemics were clearly highlighted. Good size for bringing out to field. One of the best guide books I have come across.

The perfect companion for traveling around Costa Rica! My daughter and I used it every day we were there...and for days afterward while checking and rechecking the amazing birds we spotted on our adventure.

Excellent field guide of Costa Rica's rich bird life. I have purchased this book in preparation for a Costa Rica birding tour and am finding it very useful in familiarising myself with the birds I am likely to see. Will add to this review and the usefulness of the book after the tour.

The colors in the illustrations are very drab and a little off compared to the real thing as you'll quickly discover. The descriptions of the birds and where the markings are on the bird are pretty good and luckily the birds there are striking enough to still make most id's.

The colors in the illustrations are very drab and a little off compared to the real thing as you'll quickly discover. The descriptions of the birds and where the markings are on the bird are pretty good and luckily the birds there are striking enough to still make most id's.

This is a superb guide, written by people who know these birds, with just the right amount of really useful info to help you sort them out as you stand there in the forest or the garden.
This book is in the new wave of field guides with very good paintings and concise, thoughtful descriptions. And it's compact and durable!

The book is a good size for carrying and excellent pictures accompany each bird species. It could perhaps have a few more definitive diagnostic indicators to differentiate the birds , esp. the hummingbirds.

This accurate and clear birder's book is just what you need when birding in Costa Rica. And it fits into your gear with little bulk--the author and illustrator live in Costa Rica, not fly in, fly out types!

We went to Costa Rica this summer, so I purchased this book to help my husband identify birds we saw. The book seems well designed, good pictures, and not too big, so it was easy to carry on our trip.

I have the first edition and the new second edition with all the updates is even better. If you are planning to go to Costa Rica either for photography &/0r birding this is the essential book to have