Over half of all the species of birds in South America are included, thus making the book useful in regions adjacent to Colombia, as well as in the country itself. The primary purpose of the work is to enable observers to identify the birds of the region, but it also provides detailed species accounts and will serve as an important handbook and reference volume. Fifty-six lavish color plates, thirteen halftone plates, and ninety-nine line drawings in the text illustrate over 85% of the species, including most of the resident birds. Notes on the facing-page of each place, and range maps of 1,475 species, facilitate identification.Written with the field observer in mind, the text gives special attention to comparisons of similar species, transcriptions of voices, and comments on behavior, status, and habitat. It also provides ranges, breeding data, and references. Notes outline taxonomic problems and briefly describe species that eventually may be found in Colombia. Introductory chapters and photographs highlight Colombia's geography, climate, and vegetation, and discuss migration and conservation questions, and the history of Colombian ornithology. Appendices contain a large bibliography, a section on birding locations, and coverage of two of Colombia's far-flung island territories, Isla San Andr�s and Providencia. Maps depicting vegetation zones, political boundaries, national parks, and the most text localities are included.

    

    Included among the 235 full-color pictures are never-before-photographed sequences such as nesting, molting, preening and territorial aggression, as well as an unprecedented portfolio of hummingbirds feeding from wildflowers.Esther Tyrrell has written the accompanying illuminating text, by far the most complete and up-to-date information on hummingbirds ever assembled, which will make this book the definitive source for both scientists and the general reader for years to come.This lavishly illustrated volume opens with an introduction to this lovely family of

    

    Vald ne's writing is at once evocative and biting, gracefully balancing the obsessions of a naturalist, sportsman, and gourmand. "In 1983 Valdene, a journalist and enthusiastic bird hunter, traveled around the country studying the woodcock and joining the efforts of scientists and bird lovers to band the game bird and document its loss of habitat. Summing up what he learned about this curious bird and its habits, he deplores the rapid dwindling of the woodcock population in the U.S., due in part to hunters' killing two million of them each year. Valdene makes no excuses, however, for his own delight in hunting and eating the vulnerable bird. This contradiction remains at the heart of his book in which he oddly blends natural history with accounts of his hunting." - Publisher's Weekly

    An illustrated guide to bird watching in the American West provides detailed information on birding and on the identification of Western birds.