At the biological crossroads of the Americas, Costa Rica hosts an astonishing array of plants and animals--over half a million species Ecotourists, birders, and biologists come from around the world, drawn by the likelihood of seeing more than three or four hundred species of birds and other animals during even a short stay. To help all of these visitors, as well as local residents, identify and enjoy the wildlife of Costa Rica, Carrol Henderson published Field Guide to the Wildlife of Costa Rica in 2002, and it became the instant and indispensable guide.

Now Henderson has created a dedicated field guide to the birds that travelers are most likely to see, as well as to the unique or endemic species that are of high interest to birders. Birds of Costa Rica covers 310 birds--an increase of 124 species from the earlier volume--with fascinating accounts of the birds' natural history, identification, and behavior gleaned from Henderson's forty years of traveling and birding in Costa Rica. All of the accounts include beautiful photographs of the birds, most of which were taken in the wild by Henderson. There are new updated distribution maps and a detailed appendix that identifies many of the country's best bird-watching locations and lodges, including contact information for trip planning purposes.

Western Books Exhibition, Rounce and Coffin Club Antbirds and ovenbirds, two of the five largest families of birds found only in the Western Hemisphere, have been among Alexander Skutch's favorites for more than six decades. In this book, he draws on years of observations to describe the life cycle of these fascinating birds, which inhabit Latin America from tropical Mexico to Tierra del Fuego. Skutch covers all aspects of the birds' lives, including the various species in each family, food and foraging, daily life, voice, displays and courtship, nests and incubation, and parental care. He also recounts anecdotes from his own experiences, creating vivid pictures of antbirds foraging for the insects Skutch stirs up on walks through the rainforest and of ovenbirds repairing the observation holes that he opens in their elaborate nests. As some of tropical America's least studied birds, antbirds and ovenbirds surely merit the extensive treatment given them here by one of our most distinguished senior ornithologists. Over fifty line drawings by noted bird artist Dana Gardner make this book a delight for both armchair and field naturalists.

A Naturalist in Costa Rica picks up Alexander Skutch's story when he went to that country in 1935, the year ""The Imperative Call"" ends. There his dream of establishing a permanent homestead in the unspoiled tropical forest of Central America in time became the reality of a simple farmhouse in the Valley of El General. The book records his life, work, observations and reflections during 35 years in that southern Pacific portion of Costa Rica. First published in 1971 (and long out of print), the book expresses a personal concern for spiritual and ecological balance that continues to engage us in the final decade of the 20th century. Appendices contain an annotated list, updated for this edition by the author, of more than 300 species of birds that he has identified near his home, an up-to-date bibliography of his writings, and a list of his awards and honours.

Alexander Skutch portrays his life as an intrepid naturalist in his own personal style. This autobiography and natural history recounts his early years growing up in Maryland and Maine and his adventures in Central America and Jamaica during the 1920s and 1930s, when he began his studies of nesting birds, well before modernisation affected the region. It weaves precise descriptions of tropical plant, bird, and animal life into personal philosophy about man and nature. The book ends with the author's arrival in Costa Rica, in the then remote valley where he has lived since 1935.