What is the best field guide for Central America (1 Viewer)

[kevin_wan]

There are many species in Honduras not covered by the Costa Rican guide (if dividing Central America into zoogeographic regions, Honduras and Costa Rica are in different regions and there are some clear differences in avifauna). So, no doubts the Howell & Webb guide is a must-have for any birder visiting Honduras. BTW, Luke (aka "delougl"), you might want to take a look at Tom Jenner's page. It provides much useful info on both Guatemala & Honduras:

http://mayanbirding.com/

I wonder why are Honduras and Costa Rica in different zoogeographic regions.As I lived in China,in my impression the two countries are in tropical areas and they both should belong to Neotropical Region.But what are the difference?

 

[tomjenner]

I wonder why are Honduras and Costa Rica in different zoogeographic regions.As I lived in China,in my impression the two countries are in tropical areas and they both should belong to Neotropical Region.But what are the difference?

You are right in saying that both Honduras and Costa Rica are in the Neotropical region. However, Central America is the transition zone between the largely Nearctic North American species and the largely Neotropical South American species. Down to about Honduras (a bit further south on the Pacific slope) the species generally have more affinity with Nearctic species. From about Honduras down (a bit further north on the Caribbean slope), the birds are more similar to what you would typically find in south America. In addition, there are a number of endemic bird zones in Central America, so there are many species found here and nowhere else. This makes it impossible to have a decent single field guide to the whole region (tiny costa Rica has around 900 species on its own). This is why Honduras has tended to fall in the middle of all the field guides. Howell and Webb extend as far south as western Honduras and Ridgely and Gwyn reaches up as far as Honduras. Unfortunately, no field guide has ever done a good job of covering it fully, which is a shame as it has over 700 species, including some really great ones and its own endemic.

Tom