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

South American bird books

For bird books about individual South American countries see the pages:

Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
French Guiana
Guyana
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela

Uruguay

Tim Burford

Bradt

2nd edition

2014

"Bradt's Uruguay remains the only dedicated English-language guide to a country that's small yet bursting with character showing that the adventurous tourist can uncover much more. It provides in-depth coverage of the capital Montevideo, where the colonial Old City is being restored. There's also detailed information on the coastal city of Colonia (which is on UNESCO's World Heritage List) as well as Punta del Este, where the Buenos Aires beautiful crowd flocks to the beaches each summer. There's advice, too, for active travellers who can rattle their whips on cattle-ranching estancias and spin their sticks in a game of polo or two and for nature enthusiasts keen to watch wildlife in the western wetlands and birds in Cabo Polonio and Santa Teresa."

Aves des Argentina y Uruguay: Guía de Identificación

Birds of Argentina and Uruguay: A Field Guide

Tito Narosky and Dario Yzurieta

16th edition

2011

Bilingual: Spanish / English

"The 16th edition of this guide has been greatly improved and now features illustrations and photographs. It is indispensable for identifying all the birds of Argentina and Uruguay, including many from Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile. The main physical features, behaviour and habitat are clearly described. Common and scientific names, sighting probability, conservation status and ornithogeographical zones are given. The guide covers some 1000 species and contains over 2000 illustrations. The guide comes in a see-through waterproof plastic carrying bag, and includes a separate bilingual checklist and a DVD with some 900 birds sounds."

Aves do Pampa / Birds of the Pampas

Edson Endrigo

2011

Bilingual: Portuguese / English

Photographs of species found in the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay.

Birds in Uruguay and Worldwide Distribution

Alejandro Olmos

2010

A guide to 453 species recorded in the country. Includes information on distribution in Uruguay and worldwide.

Birds of the Pampa: Life and Behavior of the Neotropical Birds

Roberto Ares, Sally Dietrich and Cora Rimoldi

2008

Birds of Argentina and Uruguay: A Field Guide

T. Narosky and D. Yzurieta

2003

A guide that covers 975 species recorded in the area.

Illustrated Checklist: Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica

Martin R De La Pena and Maurice Rumboll

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."

Illustrated Checklist: Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica

Martin R De La Pena and Maurice Rumboll

1998

"This field guide illustrates and describes 1140 species of bird found in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, southern Brazil and Uruguay. The text details what kind of habitat the birds are found in, key identification features and notes on the songs and calls of each species."

Ornithological Gazetteer Of Uruguay

Raymond A. Paynter

1994

A gazetteer and bibliography.

Observations on the Birds of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile

Alexander Wetmore

1923

"The successful operation of the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty in according protection, hitherto uncertain, to migratory game and insectivorous birds, with resultant increase in many species, led naturally to inquiries regarding the present status of birds that migrate in winter beyond our borders. Particularly was this the case with those species, mainly shore birds, that pass south into the southern portion of the South American Continent. To gather first hand information on the questions involved the Biological Survey, United States Department of Agriculture, in May, 1920, dispatched the writer to Argentina with instructions to carry on the desired observations. During the extended period of field work incident to such a task there was abundant opportunity to make representative collections of native birds and to record many points of interest concerning their distribution and habits."

On the Birds of Uruguay

O.V. Aplin and P.L. Sclater

1894

Opening lines:

"When I was working, in conjunction with Mr. W. H. Hudson, on the preparation of Argentine Ornithology, I found that there was great deficiency in exact knowledge of the birds of Uruguay, although the Ornis of this part of South America might be presumed to be nearly identical with that of the adjoining Republic of La Plata. With a view, however, of becoming better acquainted with this subject, in the beginning of 1892 I made a successful application to the Royal Society for a sum of £100 out of the Government Grant for scientific purposes, to enable me to send a collector out to Uruguay, for whom a friend, at that time resident in the country, had offered free quarters on his estancia. Out of several applicants, whom a notice of what was in contemplation, published in Nature, produced, I had no difficulty in selecting Mr. 0. V. Aplin, author of the Birds of Oxfordshire, and a well-known field-naturalist, as fully qualified for the post. Mr. Aplin, in order to arrive in Uruguay at the best time of year, deferred his departure from England until the following September. As he has given us a full account of his expedition and its results in the present paper, I need say little more upon this part of the subject; but I will just mention, shortly, what are the previous authorities on the birds of Uruguay with which I am acquainted."