Herbert Raffaele

Fully illustrated, easy to use, and completely up-to-date, Birds of the West Indies is the only field guide that covers all of the bird species known to occur in the region--including migrants and infrequently occurring forms. Each species is represented by a full description that includes identification field marks, status and range, habitat, and voice. A map showing the bird's distribution accompanies many species accounts, and plumages of all species are depicted in ninety-three beautifully rendered color plates.… (más)

For a week-long trip to Puerto Rico, this field guide mostly satisfied my bird identification needs, but if I lived in this area of the world, I'd definitely want something more substantial. While the Puerto Rican endemic species (14 in all), are highlighted on the species pages where they appear, it would be nice if there was a separate checklist of all of them somewhere in the book for quick reference. I found myself wanting that at various times. Additionally, users will find a bare minimum of illustrations per species. There is a distinct lack of comparative illustrations showing plumage differences between juvenile, immature, and adult forms, as well as breeding and nonbreeding variations. One must leaf through to the print species descriptions to ferret out this information.

I'm also not really a big fan of the type of layout this book follows: color plates for visual identification separate from the printed descriptions of habitat, behavior, distribution, etc. Various field guides follow this style, but I've always preferred everything to be on one page for a species. Otherwise one finds oneself flipping desperately back and forth in the book as the bird flies merrily off deep into the forest. This format could be vastly improved by adding just a few more key details to the short description included with the plates; currently, it only includes physical descriptors. Emphasis on important field marks would also be helpful.

Size-wise, the book is perfect. I carried it around comfortably in my pocket most of the week. Naturally, adding some of the information and illustrations mentioned above would increase the pagination of the book, possibly beyond pocket-size, but I don't normally carry a guide in my pocket while in the field (at least not while birding familiar locations).

I think this is actually the only field guide out there that focuses on birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, so until someone else comes along and tries to improve on this one, it's all we've got (I was lucky enough to find it at the library). Unless you plan on moving there, though, I think it's possible to get by with this one for casual birding. For more intensive birding, consider supplementing this book with a different guide that would at least cover the non-endemic species in more depth. The time of year will also make a difference, of course; I was there before migration started so potential diversity was fairly fixed.… (más)

Basics: 1989, revised edition, softcover, 254 pages, 24 color and 17 b&w plates, 284 species, no range maps

This is one of the few books to focus on the birds of Puerto Rico. Its field guide size makes the book convenient to carry and the illustrations are good enough to help identify nearly every bird that can be found on the island. The Puerto Rican endemics are nicely distinguished by having either a single color plate dedicated to the bird or by having a distinctive blue sphere surround the bird if it’s on a plate with other species. Distinguishing the endemic is a very handy feature that should be used in other regional field guides. I would like to have seen more attention and illustrations given to the endemics, such as the Puerto Rican Vireo or the Puerto Rican Flycatcher. Each has only one image, which fails to show the variation that can exist in the fresh vs. worn plumages.

The text, making up the latter two-thirds of the book, covers the standard information of identification, voice, nesting (if applicable), distribution, and comments. The comments section often provides interesting historical, taxonomic, habitat, and behavioral tidbits. These are nice additions to a field guide.

Two nice features have been included into the back of the book. One, is a section of seven birding localities with a map, directions, and commentary on each. Two, is a checklist denoting which birds can be found at each of those localities.

I would like to see an update to this book to include range maps for this island. Yes, many of the birds might have very similar ranges, but others (e.g., Yellow-shouldered Blackbird, Puerto Rican Nightjar, Elfin Woods Warbler) have very restricted or spotty ranges.

Using only this book in Puerto Rico will be sufficient for any trip. However, my next trip will include the more up-to-date Birds of West Indies by Raffaele (paperback). The information is written a bit more clearly with additional characteristics; the drawings are moderately better; and, there are more illustrations for the endemics.… (más)