Robert S. Ridgely Livres

With the publication of landmark volumes on the songbirds of South America, Robert S. Ridgely and Guy Tudor established themselves as leading authorities in the field. These volumes are celebrated as essential references for both professional ornithologists and avocational birders, providing comprehensive scientific coverage of the continent's passerines. Recognizing the need for a compact field guide, Ridgely and Tudor have extracted and updated key identification information to create a definitive guide for birders. This guide features 121 color plates showcasing Guy Tudor's detailed paintings of over 1,500 species, including more than 400 not illustrated in previous works. Additionally, it includes 160 color illustrations of subspecies and females, along with extensively updated color range maps for all species, prepared by Ridgely with assistance from Maria Allen and Terry Clarke. The guide also contains authoritative accounts of nearly 2,000 species, detailing abundance, habitat, range, elevational preference, taxonomic changes, plumage descriptions, general behavior, vocalizations, and range beyond South America where applicable. This comprehensive resource is designed for birders seeking essential identification tools in the field.

This is the first paperback version of the second edition of the popular A Guide to the Birds of Panama. In the second edition, published in 1989, the authors expanded information on the birds of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras: approximately 200 new species were added to the material in the 1976 edition. Over 300 additional species, some of them Panamanian, were illustrated. Sixteen new plates were added, and three of the original plates were replaced by improved versions. Throughout the book changes were made to accommodate the explosion in knowledge of the birds of Panama and nearby areas and of neotropical birds in general. The basic sequence and systematics of the AOU 1983 Check-list were adopted. Also included in the revised edition was expanded and updated information on birdfinding in Panama, prepared with the assistance of two of Panama's best resident birders. The book also contains a special section outlining developments in Panama ornithology and conservation. "A sophisticated treatment of one of the world's richest avifaunas."--The Quarterly Review of Biology