This is the first comprehensive field guide to the avifauna of the entire region, including Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Handy and compact, the book presents text and illustrations for nearly 1,200 resident and migrant species, and information on all rare vagrants. Two hundred sixty detailed plates on convenient facing-page spreads depict differing ages and sexes for each species, with a special focus on geographic variation. The guide also contains up-to-date range maps and concise notes on distribution, habitat, behavior, and voice. An introduction provides a brief overview of the region's landscape, climate, and biogeography. The culmination of more than a decade of research and field experience, Birds of Central America is an indispensable resource for all those interested in the bird life of this part of the world.

• Detailed information on the entire avifauna of Central America

• 260 beautiful color plates

• Range maps, text, and illustrations presented on convenient facing-page spreads

• Up-to-date notes on distribution supported by an extensive bibliography

• Special focus on geographic variation of bird species

Andrew C. Vallely is a naturalist who has worked and traveled extensively in Central America. Dale Dyer is an ornithological illustrator who has contributed to many books on birds, including Birds of Peru and All the Birds of North America. Vallely and Dyer are currently field associates in the Department of Ornithology at the American Museum of Natural History.

'With its valuable text and maps, plus clear plates, this is an excellent guide. Central America is an ornithologically complex region, and it is wonderful to have all this information together for the first time. The authors are to be congratulated for undertaking such an ambitious project.' - Steve N. G. Howell, coauthor of Birds of Chile: A Photo Guide

'This well-organized and well-written field guide occupies a unique niche, in that it covers all of Central America south of Mexico. The consistently high-quality artwork gives this guide a leg up. The book rightly emphasizes the importance of vocalizations in the species accounts and the resulting descriptions are comprehensive and accurate.' - Kevin J. Zimmer, author of Birding in the American West and international tour leader for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours