Cuba Bird Book? (2 Viewers)

[Kogia]

Hi there, myself and 2 friends are heading to Cuba for a non-guided wildlife focussed holiday at the end of Jan. We're mostly herpetologists and so do tend to be looking down rather than up, so birds sadly too often get missed, but with all the unique avian fauna we do need to get ourselves a bird book so we can at least have a go at identifying some of the birds that we do see.

Birds of Cuba (Helm Field Guides) by Orlando H. Garrido & Arturo Kirkconnell seems like one of the only choices, but I prefer bird guides with photos rather than drawings and I was wondering if there was a more general 'West Indies' guide that might serve us in our less-bird focussed manner just as well?

 

[njlarsen]

Your preference is contra my own, it has to be an exceptional photo guide to reach a good book with drawings to the knees. Therefore, the general book for the West Indies I am going to recommend will also have drawings, Raffaele et al (the smaller field guide is adequate, the big version with hardcover and conservation is for people with additional interests).

Niels

 

[Kogia]

Thanks for that Niels, illustrations vs photo debate aside, would you say the general West Indies book is adequate for us in Cuba then?

One of the other reasons I haven't just bought the Cuba guide were several reviews listing problems with the plates and species descriptions being in seperate parts of the book and not easy to reference when out in the field. I haven't found anyone expressing the same problem with the book you mentoned.

As for illustrations or photos in a bird guide, it's definitely just a personal preference I have, rather than anything born from greater experience or knowledge and I wouldn't want to give anyone any impression I am stating one is a better type of guide over another. As a very amateur birder I sometimes struggle with illustrations because they are subjective and I have found that what more expert eyes see as prime detail is not what someone lacking in experience (ie. me) often notices.

 

[njlarsen]

The Raffaele book certainly covers every species likely to occur in Cuba. How good the plates are for exactly those species I cannot say because i have not visited Cuba, but I have used the book extensively in the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico and found it does fine there. If I were to visit Cuba soon I would have to look into what extra info the Cuba book offers, but I would expect that the one I have would cover me for id.

The big hardcover version of the West Indies book has plates and text separated; that allows for more text but not necessarily more on the actual id. I write it this way because I do not know exactly what the Cuba only book contains.

Niels

 

[Kogia]

Thanks again for the advice, I've ordered the Raffaelle West Indies book.