|
| A Bird-Finding Guide to Mexico (Comstock books) | 
| Author: Steve N. G. Howell
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $21.92
You Save: $13.08 (37%)
New (22) from $21.92
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 73848
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 365
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0801485819
Dewey Decimal Number: 598.0723472
EAN: 9780801485817
ASIN: 0801485819
Publication Date: January 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
|
| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 6 | | NEXT » |
great resource (but hoping for an update) April 28, 2008
Some publishers get carried away with the practice of issuing new edition to field guides, often with only incremental changes. I believe that Howell's & Webb's 1995 guide to Mexican birds remains the definitive identification guide for that country; if any "change" is contemplated, I hope it's the release of a more portable version suitable for field use (see the Sibley field guides to eastern and western North America as examples of compact books adapted from a larger identification guide).
But bird-finding guides are a different story, and that's especially true in a country like Mexico. Any birder contemplating a trip to Mexico should purchase this book; it offers information critical to the birding success of anyone traveling south of the border. You'll find great directions, superb overviews of local birdlife, and useful lists of species fro each region and locality. But Mexico is a place of constant change, so don't expect to find access to every location he describes, and don't expect that he has included all places worthy of consideration. Keep hoping that we see an updated version with new information.
And by the way, for an intriguing insight into Mexico before birding was such a widespread pursuit, try to find copies of Ernest Preston Edwards' _Finding Birds in Mexico_ and the supplements thereof (often available in the Amazon Marketplace).
Excellent - but now somewhat outdated January 31, 2008
I used this book recently on a nine day birding trip to Colima and San Blas. Overall, it is quite excellent, but users should be aware that much of the practical information is now seriously outdated (the book was last revised in 1999). Especially if you plan to follow the driving directions to specific, sometimes very out of the way locations, you will need to double check these somehow before setting off otherwise you could find yourself seriously lost.
Info regarding which birds are to be seen where still seems to be pretty accurate, though over time this sort of thing changes as well -- birds expand their ranges, formerly good habitat gets converted to other uses and the birds are no longer there, etc.
Finally, of course, as many reviewers have noted, the book is not a comprehensive tome on every single good birding spot in the country. For a country the size of Mexico, this would not be practical or even possible. However, if you are taking a short one or two week trip to a specific region or even a much longer trip taking in several regions of the country, I think you will find more than enough locales to keep you occupied.
 Dissappointed September 13, 2006
2 out of 14 found this review helpful
Not satisfied because there are no pictures of the birds....was in Puerto Escondido Mexico last season and saw so many birds, so bought this book for the next trip, but no pictures ! My local bird book in New York has all the pictures, which I think is key identifiying the birds....words just are not the same ....the book is so dry without colored pictures compared to other birding books.....
 Viva Howell! September 6, 2002
37 out of 37 found this review helpful
Do not go birding in Mexico without first procuring a copy of this invaluable book! Last summer a friend and I undertook a succesful three week birding road trip throughout western Mexico, and most of our route was planned directly from this book! There is a relative scarcity of information on finding birds in Mexico. Visit southern Texas or Arizona, and you can easily obtain a dozen helpful volumes. Cross the border, and you are hard pressed to track down any useful information - but this book is certainly the best of what is currently available. Written by the same man who authored the superb and definitive field guide to the birds of Mexico, it covers most of the important regions of Mexico(a "mega" bio-diversity country), and points you in the right direction to search for every single one of Mexico's 115 endemic and 25 near-endemic species. On our trip we visited nearly every site described in chapters 5, 6, and 7. We enjoyed the luxury, thanks to this book, of showing up at remote places in a foreign country and immediately getting down to business of birding the best spots, without wasting time exploring or scouting - as if we were at a local wildlife refuge back home!
I eagerly anticipate future editions. There is room for improvement here, as well as expansion. I can envision this book doubling in scope, without andy redundancy. More and more birders are venturing into Mexico, and this book is helping pave the way. The number one improvement I hope to see is a dramatic enlargement of appendix B, which deals with sites for finding species of particular interest. I would like to see that expand to offer a few paragraphs of information per species, rather that a vauge line or two. Also, a few of the directions will need revision and updating (although most were right on!). Finally, I hope to see a lot more sites described within a day's drive of the border.
In short, unless you are accompanying an organized tour group, your birdwatching experience in Mexico will be far, far richer for having this book - and if you are anything like me, you will read and re-read it prior to your birding trip until you have almost memorized parts of it.
Please correct typo in previous customer review October 31, 1999
4 out of 31 found this review helpful
Should be "Birder's Delight: Potent Conservation Tool." As it is the "n" was left out of the word Conservation. Many thanks.
|
|
|
Wildlife, nature and the Environment
Sponsored Links
Learn how to get your own Amazon Book shop | |
