Guidebooks of South America

• Chile
• Ecuador

Peru

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Chile

The book is small, with 224 pages, so it is easy to carry in the field. It has the standard layout with drawings on the right and text and maps on the left. The illustrations are of excellent quality, with several for each species.

Chile Habitat

Chile is the longest country in the world, being 4,270 km from north to south but only 356 km wide at its widest point and only 64 km wide at its narrowest point. The habitat ranges from desert in the north to rainforest in the south, making for a long and skinny map with many different habitats. The problem with a country of this shape is that visiting all the various habitats in a single trip would be challenging unless you have a lot of time. For example, more bird species exist in the rainforest than in the northern deserts.

Maps

Some of the maps in the book show the entire country, and some show only the part that the particular species inhabits. A map showing all of South America replaces the map of Chile for some species when appropriate, notable for seabirds and sandpipers.

The maps are colour-coded to show the year-round range if there is one. Or separate breeding and non-breeding ranges. This is an excellent feature, as most guidebooks show only the total ranges, usually divided by summer and winter migration, instead of breeding or non-breeding ranges, which are not necessarily the same thing.

Text and Taxonomic Range

No specific taxonomic authority is followed. Rather, it seems to combine taxonomic orders with the author’s criteria. The book describes 468 species, including birds seen in Chile at least five times. Some books include species that may have been seen only once in their country, twenty years ago, which is misleading.

The text for each bird included notes on habitat, voice, and where to find them. There is no information about similar species to each bird. A letter indicates if the bird is a resident, migrant or vagrant for each species.

The text also includes a small section on “Where to See” for each species, which is really helpful. Most books do not have this advice.

The Index

The index includes English and Scientific names divided by a bold alphabet letter. This simple thing speeds up searching the index, but only some books bother with it. I write in the letter myself for books that do not have this feature. There is also an index by family inside the back cover, which is very useful.

Additional Features

For some families, there is a lot of additional information. For example, for Albatrosses, there are three extra pages. One page shows Albratrooss heads with three or four drawings of each species to compare with other species and also to compare with different stages of life.

Another page shows the entire Albatrosses body instead of only the head, with two to four drawings of each species. All this is in addition to several drawings of albatross in the usual locations with the maps and text.

There are two extra pages of gulls and terns in light, in addition to the usual species photos.

For raptors, there are two pages of black and white drawings showing silhouettes to help you identify them when observing them from below.

There are even two pages showing the eggs of 81 species.

At the top of each page is a colour bar showing the family name

Four pages are devoted to rare vagrants. There is an appendix listing the endemic birds of Chile, each with a conservation status. Finally, there is a checklist of all the birds of Chile where you can check off the ones you have seen if you wish.

The print quality is excellent, with the images on semi-gloss paper, and this is a stiff stain-and-water-resistant cover.

Conclusion

Overall, this is one of the best field guidebooks. It is packed with drawings and information and yet is light enough to carry in the field in your pack. I wish all guides were of this quality. I highly recommend this book if you are going birding in Chile.

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Ecuador

The Text

• The text gives information about the habitat.
• A very brief description (more is unnecessary as you have the drawing).
• Information about the bird’s lifestyle, such as whether it is found on the ground or in the treetops and whether it travels solo, in pairs, or in flocks.
• It also describes the calls.
• Finally, there is information about similar species and whether the bird is rare or common in Ecuador, but it does not give its official conservation status.

The book follows the South American Classification Committee’s taxonomic order.

A checklist of all species found in Ecuador is at the back and an index. Unfortunately, the index is all run together with just a tiny half-line space between letters of the alphabet. This is the only fault I could find with this otherwise excellent publication. I rectified this by printing a large letter at the start of the species for the following letter of the alphabet.

Conclusion

Overall, this is an excellent guide, although it is a bit too big and heavy to carry in the field, being almost double the size of other field guides.

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Galapagos

For Guidebooks for the Galapagos Islands click here. (Members only)