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Jamaica

This page lists books about birds and birdwatching on Jamaica.

The books are arranged by publication date with the most recent at the top of the page.


Caribbean

For bird books that cover all of the Caribbean, including Jamaica, see the following page:

Caribbean

For other Caribbean countries:

Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Aruba
Bahamas
Barbados
Bonaire
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Cuba
Curaçao
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Haiti
Jamaica
Martinique
Montserrat
Puerto Rico
Saba
Saint Barthelemy
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Martin
Saint Vincent / Grenadines
Sint Eustatius
Sint Maarten
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos Islands
US Virgin Islands

 

Birdwatchers' Guide to Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and the Caymans

Guy Kirwan, Arturo Kirkconnell and Mike Flieg

Prion

2010

"This guide covers the Greater Antilles, which comprises five groups of islands and six countries. From Cuba, with about 360 species, to the Cayman Islands with just over 220 species, the Greater Antilles have recorded just over 550 species and this total contains more than 100 single island endemics and many more restricted range species making these islands a very attractive proposition to the visiting birder. The site accounts have details of location, birding strategy, accommodation and, of course, the birds. More than 80 sites are detailed, many with accompanying maps. A full species lists shows exactly what has been seen in each country, and the selective list helps to target the best places to visit. As well as covering the very best birding sites, the authors have also tried to include some locations close to main holiday centres used by birders with families."

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A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica

Ann Haynes-Sutton, Audrey Downer, Robert Sutton, & Yves-Jacques Rey-Millet

Helm / Princeton University Press

2009

"Jamaica is home to more than 300 bird species, including about 25 endemics, making the island one of today's most desirable birding destinations. A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica covers every species, including vagrants, and is specially designed for easy, at-a-glance reference in the field. This unique illustrated guide features 650 stunning color photographs as well as detailed species accounts that describe key identification features, voice, habitat, confusion species, status, and distribution. There is also a distribution map for resident and migrant birds. On the bookshelf or in the coat pocket, this is a one-of-a-kind photographic guide to the birds of Jamaica."

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A Photographic Guide to Birds of Jamaica and the West Indies

Allan Sander and Michael Flieg

New Holland

2nd edition

2006

"Provides comprehensive coverage of 252 species of birds that inhabit the islands of the West Indies, with detailed descriptions and a colour photograph for each species. Includes thumbnail family silhouettes, a regional distribution map, up-to-date tips on the best birding localities, and an index of local bird names."

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Birds of Jamaica

Frank Bernal

University of the West Indies Press

1996

"The Birds of Jamaica features paintings with accompanying text containing general information about birds and a detailed description of each bird illustrated."

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A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica

Audrey Downer, Robert Sutton

Photographs: Yves-Jacques Rey-Millet

Cambridge University Press

1990

"A field guide to the birds of Jamaica including many birds never photographed before. It is a compilation of knowledge gleaned over a 25-year period of bird watching, bird ringing and bird song recording. All endemic species and subspecies unique to the Caribbean are described in detail."

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Island Biology: Illustrated by the Land Birds of Jamaica

David Lack

Studies In Ecology

University of California Press

1976

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Bird-Watching In Jamaica

May Jeffrey-Smith

Pioneer Press

1956

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A Naturalist's Sojourn In Jamaica

Philip Henry Gosse

Longman, Brown, Green & Longman

1851

From the preface:

"The writer of the present volume has endeavoured to add a trifle to the amount of zoological knowledge. He lately paid a visit to Jamaica, one of the loveliest islands of the tropics, where the eighteen months of his sojourn were almost exclusively devoted to Natural History. The memoirs presented in the following pages may claim at least one excellence, they were drawn up verbatim on the spot, in the midst of the animated beings which they describe; they are, generally, not the results of brief and transient observations of their subjects, but of a protracted acquaintance with them, in which feature after feature was delineated, and line after line was added, from time to time. The Author has aimed to do more than merely give a record of the habits and instincts of animals; he has essayed to describe (as well as feeble words may attain to do it) somewhat of the glory and loveliness of the scenes in which they dwell; and he has endeavoured to do this with a kind of panoramic effect, so that the reader might have before his mind a succession of pictures, as it were, of a beauteous tropic island. In the arrangement of the Work the form of a Journal has been maintained to such an extent as to give a slight thread of continuity to the whole. It is not, however, a Diary; chronological sequence having been always made to yield to the superior advantage of unity and completeness in the exhibition of the various subjects. The Author has grouped together all the information that he had collected on each subject, though obtained at different times; and thus the memoirs generally take the form of monographs more or less complete."
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Illustrations Of The Birds Of Jamaica

Philip Henry Gosse

John Van Voorst

1849

52 colour plates.

Advertisement:

"When the following series of Ornithological Drawings was commenced, it was proposed that a figure should be given of each species described in the "Birds of Jamaica." It was subsequently judged desirable to modify this plan, by omitting such species as had been well figured before, in works easily available to the British public. The plates, however, had been already numbered in agreement with the order in which the species are treated in the work above-named; and this order could not be changed: they are recommended to be arranged, when bound, as they are enume- rated in the following table, the numbers being still successive, though not continuous."
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The Birds Of Jamaica

Philip Henry Gosse

Assisted by Richard Hill Esq of Spanish Town

John Van Voorst

1847

From the preface:

"White of Selbourne has somewhere expressed the gratification which would be afforded to him by a sight of the hirundines of the 'hot and distant island' of Jamaica. We know, in fact, exceedingly little of the biography of tropical animals - of those details of their habits, which are to be known only by a close and continued observation of them in their woodland homes. The present volume may perhaps contribute an acceptable item to the amount of information, derived, as it is, entirely from original investigation. Nearly two hundred species of birds are thus ascertained to belong to the Jamaica Fauna, though of several of these, the author can give only indications more or less precise. He cannot doubt that many species have escaped the researches both of himself and his friends, especially among the migrant visitors. The valuable assistance, however, of a resident Ornithologist, whose notes pervade this volume, and to whom he would here express his deep gratitude, have greatly diminished the omissions which must otherwise have been unavoidable."
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Last updated December 2011