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Need Field Guide to Birds of Brazil (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Lwan22350
- Start date
dacol
Well-known member
Lwan22350 said:
I don't know where in the USA you can buy it. Did you try the excellent UK based on-line bookstore http://www.nhbs.com/ ? They still show it in their catalog, about 27 UK pounds plus shipping.
Dalcio
Surreybirder
Ken Noble
I notice the book is available on eBay at £19.95 at the moment. (0 bids, 4 days to go!!)
Ken
Ken
birdman
Орнитол&
Hi Sara,
On behalf of all the Moderators and Admin Staff, let me wish you a warm WELCOME to BirdForum.
In addition to the advice above, I have found the following which offers the book at 35 dollars (US I presume) postpaid.
http://www.worldtwitch.com/brazil.htm
On behalf of all the Moderators and Admin Staff, let me wish you a warm WELCOME to BirdForum.
In addition to the advice above, I have found the following which offers the book at 35 dollars (US I presume) postpaid.
http://www.worldtwitch.com/brazil.htm
Steve Lister
Senior Birder, ex County Recorder, Garden Moths.
Lwan22350 said:
I bought a copy at the Birdfair in England last week for £32, so the ebay price is a good one if you get it. But the book is very, very basic as fieldguides go and you will definitely need other books as well. Have you got the Collins fieldguide to the Birds of southern South America by Ber van Perlo?
I would use both.
And have you tried ABA sales in Colorado Springs?
Steve
Rasmus Boegh
BF member
Hi Sara,
Some months ago I wrote a rather lengthy post that included quite a bit of advice on guides to use for Brazil (this is a copy & paste job):
Note that there is no really good birding guide for Brazil. Recently a Portuguese book got a thorough update and a translation into English. The result is “All the Birds of Brazil” by Deodato Souza. Yes, it may have been updated, but the drawings and much of the text is still useless, and I consider it more of an illustrated checklist with maps than a “real” guide. It is rather small, so it is still worth bringing it, if as nothing else, a checklist with maps. Using that one alone will leave many species unidentified – forget about flycatchers! I especially love one flycatcher, where it is states (and nothing else!) “No good fieldmarks” (!) – try identifying that one! Also several species recently split are only mentioned very briefly under the “mother-species”. This means that Cryptic (Such’s) Antthrush is not illustrated but only mentioned under Short-tailed A. The same is the case with Bertoni’s Antbird mentioned under Ferruginous A. In the far south (ie. Foz do Iguazu) guides for Argentina work just fine. However, the second you move north as far as Sao Paulo, many species are not found in Argentinean guides. Note, that recently the guide “Guia para la Identificación de las Aves de Iguazú” was published. In real, it is nothing but the relevant species taken from “Birds of Argentina & Ururguay” by T. Narosky and D. Yzurieta. So, waste of money in my opinion. Another option is “The Birds of Brazil” by Sick. It’s a good (MASSIVE) book, but not at all a field guide. In other words; rather useless when you are actually standing “out there”. Guess “natural history” is a better word for it. Other than that, the book “Birds of Southwestern Brazil” by Bathasar Dubs proved very useful for the Pantanal region. Recently, I discovered that another book has been published (in July this year [that was 2003]) called “Aves do Estado de São Paulo” by Edwin O. Willis & Yoshika Oniki, and it should prove very useful for areas like Itatiaia and Serra dos Orgaos. I still haven’t seen it, though. It is, as the title indicates, in Portuguese, but it is rather easy to read if you read Spanish (as mentioned in a previous email, speaking it, is a totally different matter!). For the far north the new edition of "Birds of Venezula" by Steve Hilty is very useful. Other than that, we are talking the usual “Birds of South America” by Ridgely, both volumes of which, depicts a very large number of “Atlantic-forest” species. Another “guide” is the multivolume “The Land Birds of Southeast Brazil” by Heinz Remold. So far only one volume has been published covering the sub-oscine passerines. It is a cd-rom for the computer with a fieldguide look-alike interface (i.e. a drawing and text) but it also include (and this is where I found it useful) quite a few recordings of birdvoices. The only other guide I know of covering the voices of birds from the Atlantic Forest-region, is the (also very useful) cd “Avers das Montanhas do Sudeste do Brasil” by Luiz P. Goonzaga and Gloria Castiglioni. On this cd 99 species (names in Portuguese, English and Latin) are covered, most being species restricted (endemic) to the Atlantic Forest-area. For the central regions of Brazil (i.e. the dry Cerrado and Caatinaga) I never found any recordings available publicly. A few have been published privately in recent years, but they are no longer available (as far as I know). For the lower Amazon & Pantanal the cd-rom “Birds of Bolivia 2.0” (by Sjoerd Mayer) is very useful. It also covers a few of the species from the dry interior of Brazil. For the north side of the Amazon the cd-rom “Birds of Venezuela / Aves de Venezuela” (by Peter Boesman) is very useful. Also, remember the following useful family cd’s/tapes: “Song of the Antbirds” by Phyllis Isler & Bret Whitney, “Voices of New World Parrots” by Bret Whitney et al. and “Voices of Woodcreepers” by T.A Parker et al.
Otherwise, when it comes to a “real” fieldguide, you will have to wait for 2005-2006 when two “modern” fieldguides for Brazil are expected to be published. One of them is currently being written by Andrew Whittaker.
** Not part of the original letter:
When I was there it hadn't been published: "Handbook of the Birds of the World" vol. 8 covers several families that are found in Brazil; Furnariidae (Ovenbirds), Dendrocolaptidae (Woodcreepers), Thamnophilidae (Typical Antbirds), Formicaridae (Ground-Antbirds), Conopophagidae (Gnateaters) & Rhinocryptidae (Tapaculos). Vol. 9 will among others cover Tyrant-flycatchers. Until a "real" guide for Brazil is published it may be a good idee to bring copies of some of the plates. I say "copies" because I seriously doubt that anybody will cut the plates out...!
(the end)
All of the books/soundguides mentioned above can be purchased via one of the following (these stores are safe to use and have a good reputation):
1) http://www.birdsongs.com/cgi-bin/Shop.exe/shopentrance
2) http://www.wildsounds.co.uk/
3) http://www.buteobooks.com/
4) http://www.nhbs.com/
The rest of the post that I copied the above from may be of interest to you:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=16102
- post #4
Cheers, Rasmus
Some months ago I wrote a rather lengthy post that included quite a bit of advice on guides to use for Brazil (this is a copy & paste job):
Note that there is no really good birding guide for Brazil. Recently a Portuguese book got a thorough update and a translation into English. The result is “All the Birds of Brazil” by Deodato Souza. Yes, it may have been updated, but the drawings and much of the text is still useless, and I consider it more of an illustrated checklist with maps than a “real” guide. It is rather small, so it is still worth bringing it, if as nothing else, a checklist with maps. Using that one alone will leave many species unidentified – forget about flycatchers! I especially love one flycatcher, where it is states (and nothing else!) “No good fieldmarks” (!) – try identifying that one! Also several species recently split are only mentioned very briefly under the “mother-species”. This means that Cryptic (Such’s) Antthrush is not illustrated but only mentioned under Short-tailed A. The same is the case with Bertoni’s Antbird mentioned under Ferruginous A. In the far south (ie. Foz do Iguazu) guides for Argentina work just fine. However, the second you move north as far as Sao Paulo, many species are not found in Argentinean guides. Note, that recently the guide “Guia para la Identificación de las Aves de Iguazú” was published. In real, it is nothing but the relevant species taken from “Birds of Argentina & Ururguay” by T. Narosky and D. Yzurieta. So, waste of money in my opinion. Another option is “The Birds of Brazil” by Sick. It’s a good (MASSIVE) book, but not at all a field guide. In other words; rather useless when you are actually standing “out there”. Guess “natural history” is a better word for it. Other than that, the book “Birds of Southwestern Brazil” by Bathasar Dubs proved very useful for the Pantanal region. Recently, I discovered that another book has been published (in July this year [that was 2003]) called “Aves do Estado de São Paulo” by Edwin O. Willis & Yoshika Oniki, and it should prove very useful for areas like Itatiaia and Serra dos Orgaos. I still haven’t seen it, though. It is, as the title indicates, in Portuguese, but it is rather easy to read if you read Spanish (as mentioned in a previous email, speaking it, is a totally different matter!). For the far north the new edition of "Birds of Venezula" by Steve Hilty is very useful. Other than that, we are talking the usual “Birds of South America” by Ridgely, both volumes of which, depicts a very large number of “Atlantic-forest” species. Another “guide” is the multivolume “The Land Birds of Southeast Brazil” by Heinz Remold. So far only one volume has been published covering the sub-oscine passerines. It is a cd-rom for the computer with a fieldguide look-alike interface (i.e. a drawing and text) but it also include (and this is where I found it useful) quite a few recordings of birdvoices. The only other guide I know of covering the voices of birds from the Atlantic Forest-region, is the (also very useful) cd “Avers das Montanhas do Sudeste do Brasil” by Luiz P. Goonzaga and Gloria Castiglioni. On this cd 99 species (names in Portuguese, English and Latin) are covered, most being species restricted (endemic) to the Atlantic Forest-area. For the central regions of Brazil (i.e. the dry Cerrado and Caatinaga) I never found any recordings available publicly. A few have been published privately in recent years, but they are no longer available (as far as I know). For the lower Amazon & Pantanal the cd-rom “Birds of Bolivia 2.0” (by Sjoerd Mayer) is very useful. It also covers a few of the species from the dry interior of Brazil. For the north side of the Amazon the cd-rom “Birds of Venezuela / Aves de Venezuela” (by Peter Boesman) is very useful. Also, remember the following useful family cd’s/tapes: “Song of the Antbirds” by Phyllis Isler & Bret Whitney, “Voices of New World Parrots” by Bret Whitney et al. and “Voices of Woodcreepers” by T.A Parker et al.
Otherwise, when it comes to a “real” fieldguide, you will have to wait for 2005-2006 when two “modern” fieldguides for Brazil are expected to be published. One of them is currently being written by Andrew Whittaker.
** Not part of the original letter:
When I was there it hadn't been published: "Handbook of the Birds of the World" vol. 8 covers several families that are found in Brazil; Furnariidae (Ovenbirds), Dendrocolaptidae (Woodcreepers), Thamnophilidae (Typical Antbirds), Formicaridae (Ground-Antbirds), Conopophagidae (Gnateaters) & Rhinocryptidae (Tapaculos). Vol. 9 will among others cover Tyrant-flycatchers. Until a "real" guide for Brazil is published it may be a good idee to bring copies of some of the plates. I say "copies" because I seriously doubt that anybody will cut the plates out...!
(the end)
All of the books/soundguides mentioned above can be purchased via one of the following (these stores are safe to use and have a good reputation):
1) http://www.birdsongs.com/cgi-bin/Shop.exe/shopentrance
2) http://www.wildsounds.co.uk/
3) http://www.buteobooks.com/
4) http://www.nhbs.com/
The rest of the post that I copied the above from may be of interest to you:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=16102
- post #4
Cheers, Rasmus
Last edited:
Wow, amazing summary Rasmus. I happen to have the Souza, sorry to hear that in practice it is as bad as it looks.
brazil birding
[Hello Rasmuss
I read your mail about birdbooks usebal for Brazil I saw a new Collins guide for the non passerines off South America do you think is this a good book?
I am going to the South East and I have bought thre Argentina boook and the book off Southern South Amarica from Collins but not realy satisfied with the plates
Do you know a guide for that area who is afforable ??
Thanks for all your info
Hans Meijer
[email protected]
[Hello Rasmuss
I read your mail about birdbooks usebal for Brazil I saw a new Collins guide for the non passerines off South America do you think is this a good book?
I am going to the South East and I have bought thre Argentina boook and the book off Southern South Amarica from Collins but not realy satisfied with the plates
Do you know a guide for that area who is afforable ??
Thanks for all your info
Hans Meijer
[email protected]
I don't believe the new Collins book is out.
Contrary to my previous post, during a short trip to Serra Dos Tucanos I found Souza to be very useful. It's not as pretty or info filled as other guides, but it served me well. I believe another edition/printing is due shortly.
Contrary to my previous post, during a short trip to Serra Dos Tucanos I found Souza to be very useful. It's not as pretty or info filled as other guides, but it served me well. I believe another edition/printing is due shortly.
Rasmus Boegh
BF member
As noted by Bill the guide to non-Passerines isn't out yet. Regardless, most of the non-Passerines in Brazil are relatively easy to ID, even with the already available guides. The difficult groups (Woodcreepers, Tyrannulet, etc.) are still problematic with the available guides, though the guide to São Paulo by Willis & Oniki is helpful for that region, even if the illustrations in that guide are a bit problematic too - but at least the text (although in Portuguese) is accurate and while the illustrations aren't particularly life-like, at least they've placed all the markings/colours correctly, contrary to what can be seen several places in the Souza guide. The Souza guide is fine for all the easy groups; groups of species that are so distinctive that you'd have to be blind to mistake them, but I'm still of the opinion that it is of little help for all the difficult groups (and that's where you really need a guide, right?). As for a true fieldguide to Brazil... the two I know of are still some way from completion, though slowly moving forward. Shortly, another guide (though I'd refrain from calling it a fieldguide - size alone prohibits this) will be published by Tomas Sigrist. He also made the drawings for the São Paulo guide and as such, the jizz presented often is far from truth, but at least all the colours/patterns are placed correctly. Indeed, checking the samples from his page, I am able to ID all the species on the plates - something which certainly isn't the case for all the illustrations in the Souza guide:
http://www.avisbrasilis.com.br/
Anyway, Hans Meijer, I'd recommend you get the guide to São Paulo by Willis & Oniki (you can get it here: http://www.ao.com.br/) if you visit south-eastern Brazil. Bring that, as well as one of the guides that cover Argentina (personally I prefer the guide by Narosky & Yzurieta) and you'll be covered for just about any species you're likely to see in Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Santa Catarina, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. If you also visit areas further north than Rio (e.g. Linhares or Sooretama in Espírito Santo) you'd also need the guide by Souza. If you visit central Brazil (e.g. the Pantanal) I'd recommend Bathasar Dubs's "Birds of Southwestern Brazil". Two other excellent resources (though obviously not fieldguides) are Arthur Grosset's page and Xeno Canto:
http://www.arthurgrosset.com/
http://www.xeno-canto.org/
http://www.avisbrasilis.com.br/
Anyway, Hans Meijer, I'd recommend you get the guide to São Paulo by Willis & Oniki (you can get it here: http://www.ao.com.br/) if you visit south-eastern Brazil. Bring that, as well as one of the guides that cover Argentina (personally I prefer the guide by Narosky & Yzurieta) and you'll be covered for just about any species you're likely to see in Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Santa Catarina, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. If you also visit areas further north than Rio (e.g. Linhares or Sooretama in Espírito Santo) you'd also need the guide by Souza. If you visit central Brazil (e.g. the Pantanal) I'd recommend Bathasar Dubs's "Birds of Southwestern Brazil". Two other excellent resources (though obviously not fieldguides) are Arthur Grosset's page and Xeno Canto:
http://www.arthurgrosset.com/
http://www.xeno-canto.org/
Last edited:
Birds of Brazil
Kevin Zimmer and Andrew Whittaker
Princeton University Press
Apparently due in 2007, according to NHBS, although Amazon says the end of October. It's supposed to be the first 'modern' field guide to Brazil, so hopefully will have better illustrations and text than Souza (it could scarcely have worse). There are supposed to be one or two other guides coming out, utilising HBW or Birds of South America pictures.
Kevin Zimmer and Andrew Whittaker
Princeton University Press
Apparently due in 2007, according to NHBS, although Amazon says the end of October. It's supposed to be the first 'modern' field guide to Brazil, so hopefully will have better illustrations and text than Souza (it could scarcely have worse). There are supposed to be one or two other guides coming out, utilising HBW or Birds of South America pictures.
Alf King said:
There is also another recent thread on the topic of birds of Brazil:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=51847
Really Good Bird Guide
Actually, there is a really good bird guide to Brazil: It is Aves Brasileiras e plantas que as atraem yb Johan Dalgas Frisch. Third Edition. It is, as you might guess, in Portuguese, but it is a field guild with the Portuguese, English, Spanish and Latin (Scientific names) . It is loaded with colored plates, illustrations, etc. If it is a field Guide you need, this is the one. I also reccomend Travellers´ wildlife guides- Brazil: Amazon and Pantanal if you want something in english and don´t mind a few mammals and reptiles thrown in for good measure.
Actually, there is a really good bird guide to Brazil: It is Aves Brasileiras e plantas que as atraem yb Johan Dalgas Frisch. Third Edition. It is, as you might guess, in Portuguese, but it is a field guild with the Portuguese, English, Spanish and Latin (Scientific names) . It is loaded with colored plates, illustrations, etc. If it is a field Guide you need, this is the one. I also reccomend Travellers´ wildlife guides- Brazil: Amazon and Pantanal if you want something in english and don´t mind a few mammals and reptiles thrown in for good measure.
Here is a web page with info about the book mentioned by Jabiru:
http://www.sinai.com.br/dalgas/portugues/livros_aves.htm
Sorry but it's all in portuguese.
http://www.sinai.com.br/dalgas/portugues/livros_aves.htm
Sorry but it's all in portuguese.
arthurgrosset
Well-known member
Jabiru said:
Jabiru,
I'm interested in your comments about the Dalgas Frisch book. I don't have a copy of this 3rd edition but I have a copy of a previous edition by Johan Dalgas Frisch. At the time I bought it in the 1980s it was probably the only illustrated guide to Brazilian birds but the illustrations were so poor (and in some cases inaccurate) that it was not a very useful aid to identification.
When the 3rd edition was published recently it looked to me to be an update by Johan's son, Christian, and I was assuming that the illustrations had been re-done. However, comments on a Brazilian forum suggest otherwise, e.g. (my translation): "...serious errors in the illustrations - but the bit about plants is very interesting...." and "If your main interest is identifying birds and not plants, I suggest that you buy another book. I prefer Deodato (!) along with others. I use Birds of Greater Sao Paulo by Develey and Birds of Southern South America."
You obviously appear to disagree so have you found it useful in the field for identifying difficult species such as antbirds and woodcreepers?
motacilla oenenthe
Well-known member
you can already reserve copies of the zimmer book on B&N. its $54.00 for barnes and noble members and $60.00 for everyone else.......its a hardcover so i guess thats why its so pricey
Hi Arthur,
I bought a copy of the new Frisch book in an airport somewhere in Brasil last year. I never bothered to take it into the field or use it for identification problems, as at first glance the illustrations looked much like in the previous editions. I do agree that the section on plants is actually quite interesting, and I feel I should take another longer look at that part the next time I have the book nearby. I still prefer Souza to most other guides on Brazilian birds. I've become accustomed to his eccentricities, and can hardly imagine what I'll do when (if?) faced with a modern, comprehensive guide to the country's avifauna!
I seriously doubt the new Frisch book would be particularly useful in the field, and certainly not with the tough tyrannid genera.
cheers
Brad
I bought a copy of the new Frisch book in an airport somewhere in Brasil last year. I never bothered to take it into the field or use it for identification problems, as at first glance the illustrations looked much like in the previous editions. I do agree that the section on plants is actually quite interesting, and I feel I should take another longer look at that part the next time I have the book nearby. I still prefer Souza to most other guides on Brazilian birds. I've become accustomed to his eccentricities, and can hardly imagine what I'll do when (if?) faced with a modern, comprehensive guide to the country's avifauna!
I seriously doubt the new Frisch book would be particularly useful in the field, and certainly not with the tough tyrannid genera.
cheers
Brad
arthurgrosset said:
