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The long-awaited field guide version of the larger handbook volumes by the same authors is now
finally in stock. The detailed information in the two-volume work The
Birds of South America has been distilled and condensed into a reasonably-sized field guide.
With full accounts of nearly 2,000 species and more than 400 new bird paintings,
for a total of 1,500 species illustrations, this is the definitive field
guide to South American songbirds.
The stellar team of Bob Ridgely (text) and Guy Tudor (plates) have produced the best and only real field guide to the
passerines of South America. Based on the first two volumes of their Birds of South America (BOSA), this field guide
features 121 color plates with range maps on facing pages followed by a descriptive text for each species below family
summaries. Some 1500 species are illustrated, including 406 species not figured in BOSA. Thumbing through the plates by Tudor,
the birds come alive off the page and fuel your desire to book the next flight to South America. Then a glance at the range
maps, with their continental view, reveal the incredibly limited range of hundreds of species suggesting a lifetime of
exhilarating searches for rare birds.
No ornithologist writes better than Ridgely; not only does he probably know more about neotropical birds than anyone, he
conveys this knowledge in a very readable fashion. With a single paragraph he captures the essentials of the bird: habitat,
taxonomy, plumage, behavior, and vocalization.
Not surprisingly, with the richness and diversity of the avifauna of South America, no single volume can cover every
species in the fashion of field guides to Europe or North America. Consequently, the Birds of South America Non-Passerines:
Rheas to Woodpeckers (by Erize, Rodriguez Mata, and Rumboll) is a necessary companion volume to Songbirds of South America.
Also, a number of birds found in North America in the nesting season are not illustrated which assumes a knowledge of these
migrants.
Ridgely and Tudor say they intend to "forge ahead" with Volume III of The Birds of South America given time and
sufficient energy.
FROM THE PUBLISHER:
With the publication of the landmark volumes The Birds of South America: The Oscine Passerines and The Birds of South America: The Suboscine Passerines, Robert S. Ridgely and Guy Tudor established themselves as the leading authorities on the songbirds of South America. Reviewers hailed the volumes as the essential reference works for professional ornithologists and avocational birders alike, and they remain the only volumes that provide full scientific coverage of the continent's passerines.
Recognizing the need for a more compact guide that birders can take into the field, Ridgely and Tudor have now extracted and updated the essential identification information from The Birds of South America to create the Field Guide to the Songbirds of South America. This definitive guide is filled with indispensable features:
- 121 color plates that present Guy Tudor's magnificently detailed paintings of more than 1,500 species of songbirds, including more than 400 that were not illustrated in BOSA
- 160 additional color illustrations of subspecies and females
- Extensively updated color range maps for all of the species in the field guide, prepared by Robert S. Ridgely with technical assistance from Maria Allen and Terry Clarke, appear opposite the plates for each bird family
- Robert S. Ridgely's authoritative accounts of nearly 2,000 species that cover each bird's abundance, habitat, and range; elevational preference; taxonomic or nomenclatural changes; plumage description; general behavior and voice; and range beyond South America, if applicable
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Robert S. Ridgely, a leading ornithologist and author of A Guide to the Birds of Panama and The
Birds of Ecuador, is Deputy Director of World Land Trust-US. He has served on numerous conservation-related
boards, and currently is especially involved with Fundación Jocotoco in Ecuador, of which he is president.
Guy Tudor, a MacArthur Fellow and well-known bird artist and naturalist, was the principal illustrator
of A Guide to the Birds of Venezuela and A Guide to the Birds of Colombia.
RELATED PUBLICATIONS:
The Birds of South America. Volume I: The Oscine Passerines. 1989. Volume II: The Suboscine Passerines. 1994. Robert RIDGELY and Guy TUDOR.
Birds of South America, Non-Passerines: Rheas to Woodpeckers. Francisco ERIZE, Jorge R. Rodriguez MATA, and Maurice RUMBOLL. Princeton, 2006.
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