Books on Caribbean Birds, Natural History & Travel

Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds

Caribbean Conservation Association

BirdLife Caribbean

Caribbean Birds (pdf files):

Vol. 2, No. 1 - February 2007

Vol. 1, No. 2 - July 2006

No. 4 - May 2006

No. 3 - December 2005

No. 2 - May 2005

No. 1 - October 2004

Nils Navarro. Endemic Birds of Cuba - A Comprehensive Field Guide. Ediciones Nuevos Mundos (September 2015). Details. US | UK | FR | DE | CA | JP

Bart de Boer, Eric Newton & Robin Restall. Birds of Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao. (March 2012). Details. Helm: US | UK | FR | DE | CA | JP
Princeton University Press: US | UK | FR | DE | CA | JP

Richard ffrench. Artist and Art Coordinator: John P. O'Neill. A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad & Tobago - Third Edition. 40 new color plates. 524 pages. Comstock (November 2012). Details. US | UK | FR | DE | CA | JP

Martyn Kenefick, Robin Restall & Floyd Hayes. Birds of Trinidad & Tobago - Second Edition. Helm (July 2011). Details. US | UK | FR | DE | CA | JP

Arlington James, Stephen Durand & Bertrand Jno Baptiste. Dominica's Birds. 2006. Details (pdf, scroll down).

Bruce Hallett. Birds of the Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands. 256 pages. Macmillan Caribbean 2006. US | UK | DE | FR | CA

Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti (Princeton Field Guides). Steven Latta, Christopher Rimmer, Allan Keith, James Wiley, Herbert Raffaele, Kent McFarland & Eladio Fernández. Princeton University Press.

Steven Latta, Christopher Rimmer, Allan Keith, James Wiley, Herbert Raffaele, Kent McFarland & Eladio Fernández. Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Introduction with maps, lists of endemics, and lists of endangered species (pdf). Barry Kent MacKay, Tracy Pedersen & Kristin Williams, principal illustrators. Forthcoming 2006. 360 pages. 57 color plates. Princeton University Press: US | UK | DE | FR | CA || Helm: US | UK | DE | FR | CA

Edouard Bénito-Espinal & Patricia Hautcastel. Les Oiseaux des Antilles et leur nid: Petites et Grandes Antilles. Details. 320 pages. 840 color photos. PLB Editions 2005. FR

Herbert Raffaele, James Wiley, Orlando Garrido, Allan Keith & Janis Raffaele. Birds of the West Indies. 216 pages, 94 color plates. Reduced and rearranged field guide largely extracted from the authors' larger 1998 guide, with many new and improved illustrations. Repeats the mistaken claim that both tremblers occur on St. Lucia and Martinique. (See Storer 1989). I also question the continuing claim that Bridled Quail-Dove and Key West Quail-Dove both occur sympatrically on Puerto Rico. Helm & Princeton University Press 2003. US | UK | DE | FR | CA

Herbert A. Raffaele, James Wiley, Orlando Garrido, Allan Keith & Janis Raffaele. Birds of the West Indies. Helm & Princeton University Press, 1998. 512 pages. 85 color plates. (Contrary to this guide and Brewer, Wrens, Dippers & Thrashers, there is only one trembler per island. Trip reports claiming two species twitched on Martinique or St. Lucia are likewise wrong. See Storer 1989, which is cited in Brewer's appendix!) US | UK

Birds of Northern South America: Identification, Distribution and Taxonomy: v. 1 (Helm Field Guides S.)

Robin Restall, Clemencia Rodner, Miguel Lentino & Robert Williams. Birds of Northern South America, volume 1: Identification, Distribution and Taxonomy. Covers Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, the Guianas, Trinidad & Tobago, Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao. 608 pages. Helm 2006. US | UK | DE | FR | CA

Birds of Northern South America: A Field Guide: v. 2 (Helm Field Guides S.)

Robin Restall, Clemencia Rodner, Miguel Lentino & Robert Williams. Birds of Northern South America, volume 2: A Field Guide. 576 pages. Helm 2006. US | UK | DE | FR | CA

Birds of Mexico and Central America (Princeton Illustrated Checklists) by Ber van Perlo. Princeton University Press.

Ber van Perlo. Birds of Mexico and Central America. The color plates in this illustrated checklist are excellent and at least comparable in quality to the illustrations in Perlo's Birds of Western Africa. This small paperback can be carried at times and in places where birders might leave behind more detailed but heavier guides. (June 2006). 336 pages. 98 color plates illustrating more than 1,500 species. Princeton University Press: US | CA || HarperCollins: US | UK | DE | FR | CA

H. Lee Jones. Birds of Belize. 444 pages. 56 color plates by Dana Gardner. View sample plates on Dana's website. University of Texas Press & Christopher Helm 2004. US | UK - UTP | UK - Helm

Nigel Wheatley & David Brewer. Where to Watch Birds in Central America & the Caribbean. 432 pages. Helm & Princeton University Press. January 2002. US | UK

Craig Faanes. Somewhere South of Miami. About Craig's birding trips to the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico. 411 pages. PublishAmerica 2002. US | UK

Allan R. Keith, James W. Wiley, Steven C. Latta & José A. Ottenwalder. The Birds of Hispaniola. BOU Checklist Series: 22. 293 pages. 73 color photographs of birds, habitats and maps. February 2004. Outstanding distributional work

Michael Flieg & Allan Sander. A Photographic Guide to Birds of the West Indies. Good photos of many choice endemics, with side-by-side comparison shots of Elfin Woods Warbler and Black & White Warbler. 251 species illustrated. New Holland, 2000. US | UK

Orlando Garrido & Arturo Kirkconnell, A Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba. Christopher Helm & Comstock/Cornell U.P., August 2000. US | UK

Raffaele, Guide to the Birds of the Puerto Rico & the Virgin Islands

Herbert A. Raffaele. A Guide to the Birds of the Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton University Press. Revised edition, 1989. 272 pages. US | UK

Mark W. Oberle. Puerto Rico's Birds in Photographs. 132 pages. "The book comes with a CD-ROM with detailed Spanish and English life history accounts and bibliography for 350 species, plus audio clips and over 1,250 photos." Editorial Humanitas. December 2000. US | UK

Richard ffrench. A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad & Tobago. Illustrated by John P. O'Neill & Don Eckleberry. Christopher Helm and Cornell University Press. 426 pages. 2d Edition 1991. US | UK

William L. Murphy. A Birder's Guide to Trinidad & Tobago. Peregrine Enterprises. 2d edition 1996. 160 pages. US

Anthony W. White. A Birder's Guide to the Bahama Islands. ABA Sales. 1998. 302 pages. 8 pages of color photos. US

Andrew Dobson. Birdwatching Guide to Bermuda. 176 pages. Arlequin Press 2002. UK

Brian I. Crother (ed.) Caribbean Amphibians & Reptiles. (Note the editor's response to an incompetent Amazon review.) 528 pages. Academic Press 1998. US | UK

Hans E.A. Boos. The Snakes of Trinidad & Tobago. 328 pages. 48 color plates. Texas A & M University Press, 2001. US | UK

Jonathan Roughgarden. Anolis Lizards of the Caribbean: Competition, Coevolution and Plate Tectonics. 214 pages. Oxford University Press 1995. US | UK

Gordon Hendler, John E. Miller, David L. Pawson, Porter M. Kier. Sea Stars, Sea Urchins & Allies: Echinoderms of Florida and the Caribbean. 392 pages. Smithsonian 1995. US | UK

Ewald Lieske & Robert Myers. Coral Reef Fishes: Indo-Pacific and Caribbean. 400 pages. 2,500+ color illustrations. Collins & Princeton University Press. Revised edition 2001. US | UK

Paul Humann, Ned Deloach. Reef Fish Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas. New World. 512 pages. Third edition 2002. US | UK

Ned Deloach, Paul Humann. Reef Fish Behavior: Florida Caribbean Bahamas. 360 pages. New World, 1999. US | UK

Paul Humann, Ned Deloach. Reef Creature Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas. New World. 448 pages. Second edition 2002. US | UK

Paul Humann, Ned Deloach. Reef Coral Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas - Including Marine Plants. New World. 288 pages. Second edition 2002. US | UK

Diane Scullion Littler et al. Marine Plants of the Caribbean: A Field Guide from Florida to Brazil. 272 pages. Smithsonian. 1989. US | UK

Marty Snyderman, Clay Wiseman. Guide to Marine Life of the Caribbean, Bahamas & Florida. 272 pages. Aqua Quest. 1996. US | UK

Virginia Barlow et al. The Nature of the Islands: Plants & Animals of the Eastern Caribbean. 148 pages. Cruising Guide. 1993. US

David W. Nellis. Poisonous Plants & Animals of Florida & the Caribbean. 416 pages. Pineapple Press. 1997. US | UK

David W. Nellis. Seashore Plants of South Florida & the Caribbean: A Guide to Identification and Propagation of Xeiscape Plants. 160 pages. Pineapple Press. 1994. US | UK

Eugene H. Kaplan & Susan L. Kaplan. A Field Guide to Coral Reefs: Caribbean & Florida. Houghton Mifflin. 1999. US | UK

C. Lavett Smith. NAS Field Guide to Tropical Marine Fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas & Bermuda. 720 pages. Knopf. 1997. US | UK

Eugene H. Kaplan & Susan L. Kaplan. Southeastern & Caribbean Seashores. Houghton Mifflin. 2d edition 1999. US | UK

Susan Iremonger. A Guide to the Plants of the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. 220 pages. University Press of the West Indies. July 2001. US | UK

Alfonso Silva Lee. Natural Cuba. 173 pages. Pangaea. 1997. US | UK

Conner Gory et al. Lonely Planet Caribbean Islands. 744 pages. 2005. US | UK | DE | FR | CA

Michael Reed. Lonely Planet Jamaica. 332 pages. 4th edition 2006. US | UK | DE | FR | CA

Jean-Bernhard Carillet & Jill Kirby. Lonely Planet Bahamas, Turks & Caicos. 296 pages. 3rd edition 2005. US | UK | DE | FR | CA

Barbara A. Noe and Christopher P. Baker. National Geographic Traveler: Cuba. 400 pages. February 2003. US | UK

Christopher P. Baker. Moon Handbook Cuba. 838 pages. 2d edition 2000. US | UK

Conner Gorry. Lonely Planet - Cuba. 527 pages. 3rd edition 2004. US | UK

Sean Harvey. Rough Guide to the Dominican Republic. 400 pages. 2nd edition 2005. US | UK | DE | FR | CA