Puerto Rico's Birds in Photographs

What's unique about this guide is the excellent CD-Rom that comes with it -- this will help you before you go to know what the birds look like, their calls, their behavior and where you can find them once in Puerto Rico. I used the CD-Rom to check out three of my favorite PR birds and was amazed at the numerous and gorgeous pictures, the superb quality of the audio recordings and the information Oberle has reproduced in this book. For instance, regarding the Puerto Rican Tody (one of the 17 PR endemics covered in this guide as well as over 320 other birds), there were a dozen different pictures of the Tody including fabulous close-ups. The information Oberle gives includes identification, voice with audio, habitat, habits, range, status and conservation, taxonomy and related books and articles about the Tody. The Tody is a tiny forest bird with emerald green upperparts and a bright red bill and throat -- everytime I see one I think of a Christmas tree ornament, they are so cute! Oberle discusses in detail what they eat: katydids, grasshoppers, earwings and dragonflies, and discusses as well their foraging techniques. Because Oberle goes into such great detail about ID and habitat/habits, I think this is the best guide to enable one to actually find the birds once in PR.

I also checked out the PR Woodpecker and found those pictures, audio and habitat/habits information just as extensive as that about the Tody. I learned that the woodpecker's stiff tail feathers helps it to gain balance while chiseling at tree bark to find its favorite insects, including earwings, beetle larvae and ants. I discovered it occasionally eats scorpions and and lizards! Oberle informs the reader that a good place to find the woodpecker is around the parking lot of the El Portal visitor Center at the El Yungue national park.

A third bird that is well covered in both the CD and guide is the Pin-tailed Whydah, which has a most remarkable long tail and perches on wires and branches. I was surprised to learn that the female is like our parasitic cowbird and doesn't build her own nest but drops her eggs in other birds' nests.

Oberle has done a splendid job of bringing together in a compact book all the information and photgraphs of birds that you will need when out in the field. Because he cares so much about these birds and the environment, he also has special sections at the begining of the book on conservation efforts, migratory birds that winter in PR, and the extinction issues that face too many birds and other wildlife today in Puerto Rico and elsewhere.

To anyone going to Puerto Rico who plans to do some birding, I heartily recommend this book and CD-Rom to you.


Puerto Rico's Best Bird Guide   May 20, 2001
Margarita Hutchison (St. Petersburg, FL)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

This guide is fantastic! It is well organized, easy to use, full of concise, carefully planned information, and absolutely the best bird book I've ever seen. The photos are extremely well done and very helpful. The descriptions are outstanding: accurate, thorough, and interesting. I have many bird-watchers and long time Audubon members staying here at Villas Margarita, not far from the Caribbean National Forest. They all rave about this book and the fine job Mark Oberle did on it. It is worth every penny! Buy it!


A Very Good Guide   February 20, 2006
V. C. Wald (Chicago, IL USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This guide to Puerto Rico's birds is really quite strong and useful, especially when combined with the information on the included CD (which is well organized in both English and Spanish.) Who wouldn't love to just sit at their computer all day and listen to birdsong, at least when they can't be out in the mountains or mangroves of PR?? I found the photographs quite satisfactory for ID purposes (not something to be taken lightly) and the narrative information is very useful.

Just one nit to pick: why is the peregrine falcon described as "a small hawk"?


Excelente   May 13, 2007
Nilda Carrero (San Juan, Puerto Rico USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

El libro y el CD son excelentes, sobretodo porque se conecta al internet y uno accesa otros sonidos de aves. Una lástima que el libro en español no incluya el CD, los puertorriqueños leemos y hablamos el español, no entiendo porque el libro en español no pueda incluir el CD con un sonido que es universal : el de los pájaros.


Best guide for birding in PR   June 8, 2009
C. Davila (Bayamon, PR)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This book is the best PR bird guide I have found so far. I always carry it in my backpack when I go on my 'bird trips'. The photographs make it easier to identify the birds. I also have the Biaggi book but it is too bulky and not enough illustrations of the birds; better for scientific purposes since it has more information on the bird habitat and habits.