A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

The introduction is a lengthy 90 pages that includes a wealth of information such as geography, climate, ornithological history, conservation efforts per country, taxonomy, and an excellent outline of the species accounts which includes a bird topography page and a glossary for looking up words like heterodactyl or vermiculations. It can not be overstated that all of this is worth reading for a greater understanding of the species' descriptions.

The species accounts are packed with information and written in a easily accessed style. The accounts are taxonomically organized and preceding every taxonomic order, family and large genus is an introduction concerning their identification and habits. Every species is named by its American name, latin name, and its Spanish name. I have found the Spanish names to be almost worthless since they are so regional, but I am glad to see that Howell has made an attempt at standardizing them. All the species identification pieces are well written with sexual and age differences given lots of space. I particularly like the voice sections where he writes out in letters how he hears the songs and calls. There are some songs and calls of resident birds that he has omitted, but it would take up too much space to include all the calls. And, of course, there are many calls that he has written that I hear differently which is to be expected when dealing with sounds. The habitat and habits section informs as to where one is likely to find a certain species and to what it might be doing. Nidification is also covered in this section. The similar species section is excellent for differentiating between look-alikes. And the status and distribution section tells you how rare or common a species is in the geographical areas it inhabits. Elevational limits are also given here. This section is aided greatly by the superb range maps which accompany most species. They delimit summer and winter ranges as well as showing migratory pathways. Vagrants and isolated breeding colony locations are shown with an asterisk or dot respectively. The notes section at the end gives overall ranges and may inform of a name or taxonomic change that Howell made that was not recognized by the AOU at the time of printing.

The 71 plates were all expertly drawn by Sophie Webb illustrating mainly the species that occur in the guide region, but not in the U.S. There are several North American species included, however, for the sake of comparison. I particularly like the plates for showing age, sex and regional differences within a species. I also find it very helpful having species such as raptors and parrots depicted perched and in flight. Facing the plates are the bird names and short descriptions that should be sufficent for most identifications.

With nearly 26 pages of bibliography and 74 months of field work by the author and artist, this is an extremely well researched field guide. Even so, during my 6 mos. of travelling in this region, I have discovered many birds in places where they have never been seen before or seen only once or twice prior. Without the rangemaps in this field guide though I probably would not have realized that a Sandwich Tern is unheard of on a land-locked lake in the middle of Guatemala. And thus, I would not have known to document it. This field guide is not meant to be the final chapter in Middle American ornithology. In fact, it shows what gaps still exist in our knowledge of the birds in this region and allows us to start filling them in.