Neotropical Birds: Ecology and Conservation

Rating:
Summary: Next book on tropical birds you buy after the field guides
Review: Certainly tropical bird lovers, who have had the thrill of one or more bird trips to Central or South America, will want to begin to make more sense of their experiences. This book is for the birder about to turn tropical ecologist. It makes sense of the habitats, with terrific photos, many by John Fitzpatrick, of representative areas of the key habitats. The database tables in the back of the book, termed "essentially a download of Ted Parker's mind" are the essence of this information. For each of the 4000 species from the Rio Grande to Tierra Del Fuego, there are lists of habitats used by every species, and even a table of the indicator bird species for each region.
The books makes the really important point: you cannot prioritize saving the birds of the tropics only by species, one bird at a time. You have to look at what habitats are being irreversibly destroyed the most rapidly, and use those birds which depend most on these habitats - as info connections by which the habitats are to be recognized in the field, and then saved by appropriate political and economic action. Terrific book! Easy to read.

Rating:
Summary: Next book on tropical birds you buy after the field guides
Review: Certainly tropical bird lovers, who have had the thrill of one or more bird trips to Central or South America, will want to begin to make more sense of their experiences. This book is for the birder about to turn tropical ecologist. It makes sense of the habitats, with terrific photos, many by John Fitzpatrick, of representative areas of the key habitats. The database tables in the back of the book, termed "essentially a download of Ted Parker's mind" are the essence of this information. For each of the 4000 species from the Rio Grande to Tierra Del Fuego, there are lists of habitats used by every species, and even a table of the indicator bird species for each region.
The books makes the really important point: you cannot prioritize saving the birds of the tropics only by species, one bird at a time. You have to look at what habitats are being irreversibly destroyed the most rapidly, and use those birds which depend most on these habitats - as info connections by which the habitats are to be recognized in the field, and then saved by appropriate political and economic action. Terrific book! Easy to read.