I asked Birding Guide Extraordinaire, Rodolfo “ Rudy” Zamora which guidebook he prefers, and he immediately answered, “Oh, no doubt the Garrigues book, The Birds of Costa Rica. Ever since Helm published A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica in 1989 the stream of birders heading to Costa Rica has been steady.

Species’ distribution maps are quite generalized but including San José and gridlines on each map improves interpretability. The detailed full-color illustrations show identifying features—including plumage differences among males, females, and juveniles—and views of birds in flight wherever pertinent. Unlike many bird guides, some natural history details of the birds are teased in the text, giving greater ecological depth to the accounts. The shimmering quetzals, gaudy macaws, and comical toucans that populate tourism posters only begin to hint at the impressive avian diversity to be found throughout this small country.The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. The back of the book includes a checklist for the birds of Costa Rica, but most guides will provide those for the members of their birding group. Who knows maybe you'll get busy and come up with something superior, but for now my mind is made up. However it does not replace the latter and birders heading to Costa may want to have the original volume in their hotel room for its wealth of information. The text and maps are on the left page facing the colour plates with around five species per spread.

This is a great book for anyone who really wants to deep dive into the Natural History of Costa Rica.

These include recent additions to the country list, pelagic species, Cocos Island species, and all accidentals recorded from the Costa Rican mainland. G. Howell’s portrayal of behavior is particularly detailed for many birds, pointing out specific behavioral cues that are useful for identification in the field and making them come alive for the reader at home. Despite these minor omissions, which can hopefully be addressed in the future, Dale Dyer and Steve N. Costa Rica has benefitted from a number of species splits in recent years, and potentially there are many more to come. The account begins with the unique field marks to look for that will distinguish each species from similar ones.