Guatemala Birding - And Other Good Reads

If all works out, and it should, I will be making at trip to Guatemala in April. As usual, I have been looking into what would be the most helpful birding guides to take along, knowing I will likely have little or no time to do more than memorize less-than-a-second glimpses of

Birding regions in Guatemala

exotic specimens flying by, perched in plain site but me being in a car speeding by, or being in the perfect spot to stop and look but not have the birding guide with me - such as been my experience to-date when traveling with work. I may try to better prepare myself ahead of time, so if my worse-case-scenarios happen, at least I will be about to make the best of a less-than-best situation. I found a nice Website today about Guatemala birding - lots of information, the kind of stuff that can help ensure better success for a casual business trip birder like me. Guatemala Bird Watching - Authentic Nature has the U.S. Agency for International Development as one of its sponsors. Ecotourism has become an industry that helps developing countries take advantage of their natural resources in ways that promote them - rather than clear cut them for short-term economic gains.

In doing my prep work for birding on this upcoming trip, I have found the reader reviews on the Amazon Website helpful when reading the poorest to middling book ratings. These seem to bring out the best faults with the books, and can supplement the more positive reviews - helping to read-between-the-lines. Today, when trying decide between A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America by Steve N.G. Howell and Sophie Webb, and Birds of Mexico and Central America: (Princeton Illustrated Checklists) by Ber Van Perlo, I came across a review that not only confirmed the critiques about

Princeton Checklist (I decided on buying the pushing-four-pounds Howell and Webb guide), but also gave another helpful recommendation: "use the premiere Belize guide" as a supplement in the field. Another quick search on Amazon revealed the title mentioned in the review: Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Belize by H. Lee Jones and A.C. Vallely - only problem with this supplement, it was listed for $103.77. Since I was in read-the-reviews-mode, another piece of good advice, this time in the Belize "over-priced" Belize guide review: "Go to American Birding Association web site and then to birding products. Their price is $12.50 for the same edition. (I'm guessing the price listed on Amazon is a mistake.)" It just goes to show, shop-around-prices.

I may have read about the American Birding Association (ABA) when reading the history of birding in Of A Feather: A Brief History Of American Birding by Scott Weidensaul (another great book). (1) The ABA now partners with Buteo Book for their birding reference listings, and as the reviewer above mentioned, the Belize bird book was only $12.50 plus $3.73 for shipping by USPS - a far cry for the errant Amazon prices. There are a plethora of other birding book offerings available for viewing on the Buteo Book Website, but it is still best to keep cross-checking prices - it turns out the Howell and Webb book is $5 cheaper at Amazon, and because it costs $39.60, shipping is free with the Super Saver Shipping option. The ABA Website looks interesting - I will need to check it out more.
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(1) I remember NPR's All Things Considered had a regular feature last year of notable writers and others giving summer book reading
recommendations, in sets of three. If I were asked to give my esoteric summer time (or any other time of the year) three-book reading list recommendation, it would have to be: (a) the Weidensaul birding history book Of a Feather; (b) Casting a Spell: The Bamboo Fly Rod and the American Pursuit of Perfection by George Black; and (c) Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James. These three are absolutely great books to hold in your hands, and smell, and slowly read for the full effect of what Johannes Gutenberg must have intended from the beginning - Kindle and other electronic media just do not do printed words on bound paper justice.