This is the one compact, portable, and user-friendly field guide the novice or experienced birder needs to identify birds in the field in the diverse habitats found in Costa Rica. Reading this book will give you a deeper appreciation and understanding of the world around you as you trek through the cloud forests of Monteverde or the lush tropical rainforest of the Osa Peninsula. It's about the same size as the Collins Bird Guide, and so is manageable when you are out on your birding travels fitting into a good sized pocket.

It reads more like a science book than anything else, but if you want the hardcore information without any prose or pretty pictures, this is the book for you. Nevertheless, the plates are pleasing to the eye and largely accurate so take it with you and don't worry about any minor inaccuracies.

While not a page turner, it is filled with excellent information on all things natural in the tropics. Range maps and nomenclature have been updated for this edition, which also has a new user-friendly organizational scheme and alphabetical quick-find indexes of groups and families on the inside back cover. Heatherlea - Birdwatching Holidays is a 5 star wildlife experience as graded by the Scottish Tourist Board.

My daughter took the kids to Costa Rica on last spring break but I don’t think they watched birds – they were too busy surfing. Over 250 native species are included in the book, each description supported by a clear colour photograph taken where possible in the bird's natural Costa Rican habitat. The detailed full-color illustrations show identifying features--including plumage differences among males, females, and juveniles--and views of birds in flight wherever pertinent.The guide does not cover most pelagics - Gulls particularly are omitted - but near-shore species such as Brown Pelican and Magnificent Frigatebird are included. Graced with bounteous natural beauty Costa Rica has become a popular destination for travelers from all over the world.

This new field guide to the birds of Costa Rica will doubtless become the standard reference for the country, and offers a more streamlined and navigable product than the previous Birds of Central America (2018), also illustrated by Dale Dyer.

This book helped me to see the tropics in a more complete way and understand the fragility and strength of the rainforest and its inhabitants. There are new updated distribution maps and a detailed appendix that identifies many of the country’s best bird-watching locations and lodges, including contact information for trip planning purposes. Early on the authors include maps of four common distributional patterns of bird species (humid lowlands, dry lowlands, foothills, and highlands), which are particularly useful for users who are not familiar with Costa Rica’s topography, or ecotourists planning a vacation to hit the major biome types. It features descriptions and illustrations of more than 820 resident and neotropical migrant species found in Costa Rica, all in a compact, portable, user-friendly design.