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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

Birds of Venezuela

David Ascanio, Gustavo Rodriguez, Robin Restall

Bloomsbury Publishing

2017

"Covering the sixth largest avifauna in the world, this important new guide is essential for anyone exploring the diverse habitats of this beautiful South American country as well as Guyana, northern Brazil and west Suriname. Birds of Venezuela - complete with authoritative text and superb colour plates - will ensure that this top birding destination is made accessible to all. This field guide has 248 colour plates illustrating more than 1,400 species, covering racial, sexual and seasonal plumage variations. Accompanying text is placed on facing pages for easy reference providing key information, voice and status of all species and subspecies found in the region, including Venezuela's 45 endemic species. Detailed colour distribution maps are provided for every species."

Birds of Venezuela MP3 Sound Collection

Peter Boesman

Version 2.0

2011

"No less than 4196 recordings of 1558 species are included on this single MP3-DVD! That is 95% of all the Landbirds of Venezuela. The collection of recordings has a total playing time of over 33 hours, the equivalent of some 34 audio CD's !! This MP3-DVD is version 2.0 of the first MP3-CD made by Peter Boesman, published in 2005. It contains four times more recordings and 500 more birdspecies then version 1 ! Never before such an extensive publication has been published by our recordist Peter Boesman."

Venezuala

Russell Maddicks

Bradt

5th edition

2011

"Venezuela occasionally features in world news in connection with its rich oil resources, its obsession with beauty pageants, its outspoken and colourful president, Hugo Chávez, or the world's highest waterfall - and little else. However, beyond the headlines, this beautiful and diverse country has so much more to offer to all types of visitors - hiking the 'Lost World' landscape of Conan Doyle, piranha-fishing from dugout canoes, paragliding from Andean peaks and windsurfing on Margarita Island. Taking travellers to the wildest of fiestas, inside the steamiest salsa bars and introducing visitors to the quirkiest of local customs, Bradt's Venezuela leads tourists from the Caribbean coast to the southern tropical wilderness, delving into the culture and eccentricities of the country more deeply than any other guide."

Birds of Northern South America, Volume 1: Identification, Distribution and Taxonomy

Robin Restall, Clemencia Rodner and Miguel Lentino

Christopher Helm

2006

"This is the first comprehensive identification guide dealing exclusively with the birds of this region. It covers all the species, including vagrants, found in Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. Over 2,250 species are described in depth in the text, describing geographical variation, identification, status, habitat, voice and taxonomy. This authoritative book will not only be an indispensable guide to the visiting birder, but also a vital tool for those engaged in work to conserve and study the avifauna of this region, which is of such importance to both the indigenous species and those which pass through on migration."

Volume1 comprises in-depth text about the birds of the region.

Birds of Northern South America, Volume 2

Robin Restall, Clemencia Rodner and Miguel Lentino

Christopher Helm

2006

"This is the first comprehensive field guide dealing exclusively with the birds of this region. It covers all the species, including vagrants, found in Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. Over 2,250 species are accurately illustrated with a total of 6,000 images. Concise caption text appears on the plates and distribution maps appear opposite the plates. This authoritative book will not only be an indispensable guide to the visiting birder, but also a vital tool for those engaged in work to conserve and study the avifauna of this region, which is of such importance to both the indigenous species and those which pass through on migration."

Volume2 comprises the plates and minimal concise text required for field guide use.

Areas Importantes Para La Conservacion de Las Aves En Los Andes Tropicales

Editors: K Boyla and A Estrada

BirdLife International / BirdLife Ecuador

2004

"More than 600 researchers contributed to the book, which took eight years to compile. 455 sites are identified, covering 17 percent of the land area of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. A comprehensive introduction covers habitats, protection, threats and other issues. Each site is described in detail, with thumbnail location maps, graphics and data tables . While it serves as an excellent site guide for birders, this is primarily a blueprint for governments and conservationists involved in planning protected area networks. More than half the sites have no protection."

This book is in Spanish with English chapter summaries.

Birding in Venezuela

Mary Lou Goodwin

3rd Edition

2003

"A completely revised and up-dated edition. Includes all you need to know about visiting the main Venezuelan locations for observing birds, including how to get to the sites, lodging, list of species in the area and maps."

Birds of Venezuela

Stephen L. Hilty

Princeton University Press

2002

"With a completely new text by Steven Hilty, Birds of Venezuela is a greatly expanded and thoroughly reformatted successor to the pioneering Guide to the Birds of Venezuela (Princeton,1978). It includes sixty-seven beautiful color and black-and-white plates, most by the well-known artists John Gwynne and Guy Tudor, as well as numerous line drawings. The plates and drawings together - almost half of them never before published - depict most of Venezuela's bird species. Introductory chapters cover physical geography, climate, biogeography, vegetation and habitats, conservation, migration, and the history of ornithology in Venezuela. A gallery of forty-four stunning color habitat photos and color habitat and relief maps complete the opening section. Detailed range maps plot collection localities and sight records - a unique feature - for almost all species. Plumage descriptions are provided for each bird, as is extensive information on voice, behavior, and status. More than 800 bibliographic entries accompany the text, making this book an invaluable and broad-based reference to the avifauna of not only Venezuela but much of northern South America. Treating nearly 40 percent of the continent's bird species, Birds of Venezuela is the definitive resource for all birders with an eager eye on this splendorous country and the surrounding region."

Field Guide to the Birds of Venezuela

Steven L Hilty

Christopher Helm

2002

"A field handbook covering one of the most bird-rich countries in the world - Venezuela. Over 1300 species are described and illustrated in the work, which is a completely reworked new edition of the Princeton title "A Guide to the Birds of Venezuela", first published in 1978. The text of that book has been replaced with a new text by another author. Of the 67 plates, 27 are new, and the volume as a whole is over twice the length of its predecessor. Unlike the earlier title, this guide includes a distribution map for every species, using shading for wide-ranging species and locality dots for rarer birds."

Checklist of the Birds of Northern South America

Clemencia Rodner, Robin Restall and Miguel Lentino

2000

This checklist, which covers all the species of birds found in Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Trinidad & Tobago, recognizes 2,236 species. For each species, it gives information on subspecies in the region, distribution, altitudinal range, taxonomic notes and references.

Birding Venezuela 1995

Bruce C. Forrester

35 page guide.

Venezuela, Paradise of Birds / Venezuela, Paraíso de Aves

Carlos Ferraro Russo / Miguel Lentino

English, Spanish and German editions

1994

240 page photographic guide.

The Birds of Junglaven, Venezuela

Dave Sargeant

35 page guide with an annotated species list for the area.

A Birders Field Checklist of the Birds of Venezuela

Dave Sargeant

A 30 page annotated checklist.

Oilbirds of Venezuela: Ecology and Conservation

R.L. Roca

1994

Site Guides: Venezuela

Dennis W. Rogers

1993

A 48 page guide.

The Birds of Cerro de la Neblina, Territorio Federal Amazonas, Venezuela

David E. Willard et al

1991

Birding in Venezuela

Mary Lou Goodwin

2nd Edition

1990

A guide to birdwatching sites with checklists for each area.

Birds of the High Andes

Jon Fjeldsa and Niels Krabbe

1990

"The area covered is the temperate and alpine zones of the Andean region, from Venezuela and Colombia in the north, through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, to the southernmost point on the coast of Chile. For each species, there is a full description, including plumage, habits, voices, breeding, habitat selection and range, plus detailed distribution maps. The colour plates depict over two thousand separate plumages in nearly one thousand species and subspecies. In addition there are numerous line drawings showing differential details, postures and nests."

Biology, Conservation and Management of Waterfowl in Venezuela

Francisco Gomez-Dallmeier, Alexander T. Cringan

1989

Ornithological Gazetteer Of Venezuela

Raymond A. Paynter

1982

A gazetteer and bibliography.

A Guide to the Birds of Venezuela

Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee and William H. Phelps, Jr

1978

"Essential information on this rich and varied avifauna - nearly 1300 species, almost all of which are illustrated. Text and plates have been designed for rapid identification in the field while providing at the same time detailed information indispensable for the scientist and serious observer."

Avifauna Venezolana

Walter Arp

1965

130 full page colour plates of Venezualan birds.

Hundred Of The Best Known Birds Of Venezuela

Kathleen Deery De Phelps

1963

An English translation of an earlier Spanish publication.

The Upper Zonal Bird-Life Of Mts. Roraima And Duida

Bulletin Of The American Museum Of Natural History

Volume LXIII

Frank M. Chapman

Introduction:

In 1927, the American Museum despatched the Lee Garnett Day Expedition to Mt. Roraima at the junction of British Guiana, Brazil, and Venezuela. The following year, in continuation of the same biological project, the Tyler Duida Expedition was sent to Mt. Duida, Venezuela, about 400 miles south-southwest of Mt. Roraima. In a preliminary paper' on the birds of the Day Expedition it was said that a fuller report was deferred in the hope that collections then being made by the Tyler Expedition on Mt. Duida would throw some light on the problems presented by the bird-life of Mt. Roraima. This hope, it is believed, has been fulfilled. The fauna hitherto supposed to be largely restricted to the upper life-zone of Mt. Roraima has been found in the corresponding life-zone of Mt. Duida, thereby widely extending the area it occupies and confirming many phenomena in distribution which previously had rested solely on our knowledge of the Roraiman fauna. Furthermore, the boundaries between life-zones are so much better defined on Duida than they are on Roraima that the problems of the origin of its zonal forms are correspondingly simplified. In view, therefore, of the similarity of the bird-life of these two mountains and of the questions arising from its study, it is obvious that a report on our Roraiman and Duidan collections should be contained in a single paper. This report was completed June 1, 1931.