Field Guide to the Birds of Venezuela

by David Ascanio, Gustavo Rodriguez, Robin Restall

Overview

A comprehensive field guide to the birds of Venezuela, covering all 1,400 species.

Venezuela is blessed with one of the largest avifaunas in the world. More than 1,400 species have been recorded in the country, thanks to a great diversity of habitats ranging from the High Andes to lowland Amazonian rainforest, and just about everything in between. Its strategic position in the north of South America also ensures that it receives many non-breeding migrants, both from the north and from the south. Add to this a good number of endemics, and you have all the ingredients for a top birding destination.

With its authoritative text and superb colour plates, this book allows reliable field identification for any birder visiting Venezuela, along with Guyana, northern Brazil and western Suriname. The guide has 248 colour plates offering comprehensive coverage, with racial, sexual and seasonal plumage variations. The accompanying species accounts provide key information, including voice and status of all species and subspecies found in the region. Detailed colour distribution maps are also provided for every species.

Birds of Venezuela is an indispensable addition to the backpack of any visiting birder or naturalist – the only guide you will need to identify birds in Venezuela.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399400435
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	09/07/2021
Series:	Helm Field Guides
Pages:	592
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

David Ascanio is Venezuela's top field birder. He has travelled extensively throughout Venezuela and elsewhere in the neotropics, and has field experience of almost every species in the book. He runs his own travel agency in Venezuela and has led bird tours for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours for more than thirty years.

The late Gustavo Rodriguez was a Venezuelan ornithologist and tour-leader. He was a co-author of the Helm field guide, Birds of Venezuela.

Robin Restall (1937–2023) was an author and illustrator. Originally a draughtsman, Robin's development as an ornithology artist began with his love of cagebirds, which led to his first book, Munias and Mannikins (1996). He became a Research Associate at the Phelp Ornithological Collection in Caracas, Venezuela, where he conceived and painted the art for his masterpiece, the two-volume Birds of Northern South America, which featured his illustrations of 2,300 species. Published in 2006, this book remains a magnificent testament to Robin's powers of observation and illustration. It went on to provide the basis for several other field guides, notably to Ecuador and Venezuela, both of which remain the standard works.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

How many bird species are there in Venezuela?

Geography, climate and major regions

Maps of Venezuela

Description of habitats

Bird identification

Bird topography

How to use this book

Abbreviations

Glossary

Family accounts

Plates and species accounts (1-248)

Appendices

References

Index

Editorial Reviews

Does what a good field guide should … it adds to the illustration to help you with the identification of the bird in the field and to prepare for your day's birding” —Fatbirder

From the Publisher