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Princeton Illustrated Checklists

The books are listed by publication date with the most recent at the top.

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Birds of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific

Ber Van Perlo

Princeton University Press

2011

"This is the only comprehensive and handy pocket guide that illustrates and describes the bird species of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific. Featuring more than 750 species illustrated in vivid and stunning detail on 95 color plates, this authoritative guide provides information on key identification features, habitat, songs, and calls. Birds of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific is a must-have for birders of all levels interested in this region of the world."

Birds of North America and Greenland

Norman Arlott

Princeton University Press

2011

"The Nearctic region, which spans most of North America, including Canada and Greenland, is home to an incredibly rich diversity of birdlife. This illustrated guide covers more than 900 bird species yet is succinct, compact, and easy to use, making it the essential companion for birders and travelers alike. Birds of North America and Greenland features 102 stunning color plates that depict every species and every type of plumage in males, females, and juveniles. Concise species accounts describe key identification features, with information on habitat, songs, and calls. This field-ready guide also includes color distribution maps."

Birds of Eastern Africa

Ber Van Perlo

Princeton University Press

Updated edition

2009

"This is a fully updated edition of the only pocket guide that illustrates and describes all 1,487 bird species of eastern Africa, an area that includes Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Yemen's Socotra Island. This huge region's rich birdlife includes some of the most colorful species anywhere on earth - including ostriches, albatrosses, boobies, lovebirds, parrots, parakeets, kingfishers, and bee-eaters. The 96 color plates group similar species and subspecies, and the text directly opposite the plates describes each bird's habitat and key physical, behavioral, and vocal characteristics. Distribution maps show the range and frequency of each species. This is an indispensable guide for any birder who wants to explore eastern Africa's wealth of birds."

Birds of Europe, Russia, China, and Japan: Non-Passerines: Loons to Woodpeckers

Norman Arlott

Princeton University Press

2009

"This is one of two companion field guides that illustrate and describe all of the approximately 1,800 bird species found in the Palearctic - the huge region that includes Europe, Asia north of the Himalayas, Africa north of the Sahara Desert, and the Middle East excluding the Gulf countries. This volume covers non-passerines - non-songbirds, including raptors, owls, swifts, hummingbirds, cuckoos, and pigeons. It includes every non-passerine species and subspecies, in every adult plumage - all illustrated and described by Norman Arlott, a leading bird artist with many years of field experience. The two volumes of Birds of Europe, Russia, China, and Japan are the only field guides to illustrate and describe every bird species in the Palearctic. And, for many parts of this region, these books provide the first and only field guides."

Birds of Southern Africa

Ber Van Perlo

Princeton University Press

2009

"Birds of Southern Africa surpasses other field guides to the region by illustrating and describing all 1,250 bird species of South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. In addition, this is the only guide to illustrate the birds of Angola (including Cabinda), whose river basins and rocky hillsides are home to the striking White-headed Robin Chat and the Angolan Cave Chat. The 84 color plates group similar species and subspecies and also depict vagrants and ocean wanderers that appear in this huge region characterized by widely varying habitats, from woodlands and forests to deserts to swamps. The text directly opposite the plates concisely describes each bird's habitat and key physical, behavioral, and vocal characteristics. All the larks are shown perching as well as in flight, and every swallow is pictured in flight from below. The most distinctive immature and nonbreeding plumages are included, and distribution maps show the range and frequency of each species. This is an essential guide for any birder contemplating a trip to southern Africa."

Birds of Europe, Russia, China, and Japan: Passerines: Tyrant Flycatchers to Buntings

Norman Arlott

Princeton University Press

2007

"This is the first of two field guides illustrating and describing all of the approximately 1,800 bird species found in the Palearctic - the huge region that includes Europe, Asia north of the Himalayas, and Africa north of the Sahara. This area spans the countries of the former Soviet Union, all of the Russian Arctic, China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and the Middle East excluding the Gulf countries. This first volume covers all the passerines (perching birds, from tyrant flycatchers to buntings) or songbirds and will soon be followed by a companion guide to the nonpasserines (divers to woodpeckers). These volumes are the first and only field guides for many parts of the area covered, and mark the first time all of these birds have been included in a single pair of books. This first volume covers every passerine species and subspecies in the area, in every adult plumage - all illustrated and described by Norman Arlott, a leading bird artist who has many years of field experience with these species."

Birds of Mexico and Central America

Ber Van Perlo

Princeton University Press

2006

"Birds of Mexico and Central America is the only field guide to illustrate and describe every species of bird in Central America from Mexico to Panama, including Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Written and illustrated by Ber van Perlo, this handsome work covers more than 1,500 species. Information on key identification features, habitats, songs, and calls is included as are distribution maps showing each species' location and prevalence. Enhanced with ninety-eight color plates, the book provides illustrations of all plumages for the adult males and females as well as the juveniles of each species. Illustrations appear opposite their relevant text for quick and easy reference."

Birds Of South America: Non-Passerines

Jorge R. Roderiguez Mata, Francisco Erize and Maurice Rumboll

Princeton University Press

2006

"Here in an easy-to-use format is the first guide to the nearly 1,300 species of non-passerine South American birds. It complements Robert Ridgly and Guy Tudor's large reference volumes on the passerines (1,800 species), which will soon be available in a single-volume field guide format. One of things that makes this book special is its use of masterful and alluring illustrations; most neotropical birders will want the book for the illustrations alone. The text concentrates on the key identification features of each species and follows the layout of other books in this series. The book may be used in conjunction with regional and country field guides."

Birds of Western and Central Africa

Ber Van perlo

Princeton University Press

2003

"This is the only pocket guide to all the species of bird known to inhabit Western and Central Africa. Ber van Perlo introduces more than 1,500 species through 109 expertly rendered full-color plates and concise, easy-to-consult entries. The territory covered is vast - nearly 2,500 miles down the coast and over 1,000 miles inland, including not only Senegal, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo but all or part of Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Cte d'Ivoire, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Prncipe, So Tom, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The plates show all plumages for each species where these differ, including male, female, and juvenile. Succinct textual entries on each species appear on the facing pages, providing key notes for identification and basic information about habitats and voice. Distribution maps follow in the next section, and an appendix provides the French and Portuguese names. Presenting the most essential, up-to-date information in convenient, highly portable form, Birds of Western and Central Africa is the definitive guide for all birders planning or simply pondering a visit to the region."

Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica

Martin R De La Pena and Maurice Rumboll

Princeton University Press

2001

"South America, though home to about one-third of the world's bird species and twice as many endemic families of birds as any other continent, has the world's sparsest population of birdwatchers. Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica illustrates and describes all the known species - more than 1,000 of them - in a vast swath of this underexplored birder's paradise, from Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, southern Brazil, and Uruguay to parts of Antarctica. Just some of the birds it covers are teals, tinamous, chachalacas, conebills, cuckoos, macaws, parakeets, parrots, penguins, nightjars, hummingbirds, ovenbirds, tyrants, and tanagers. The habitats range from torrid rainforests and cloudforests to grasslands, the world's driest desert, second highest mountain range, and ice caps. The 97 color plates depict each species' male in breeding plumage, with the female and young often shown as well. On the facing page are concise textual descriptions of each species, highlighting not only salient physical features and behavioral patterns but the calls or songs of each. Casual birders and ornithologists contemplating a journey to the region, or simply interested in a one-volume overview of its bird life, will not want to miss this book."