Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba

I haven't taken this into the field yet, but will shortly. But even without taking it out, and being an experienced birder, it does suffer from being a bit large - luckily since the avifauna of Cuba is not huge (according to the book 354 species) it is not thick and doesn't weigh much more than a normal field guide. The color plates are well done - but kind of weirdly, when you open to a plate on the right hand side are the color paintings of the birds but no names; the names on are on the left hand side on a duplicate of the plate in black and white. In addition, because this book has the plates in the middle with the descriptions and range maps surrounding them in the text, there is no indication on the plates of which page you can find the additional information. I don't normally have a problem with plates in the middle of the book - it isn't ideal, but it certainly can be worked with. In this book you would have to look in the index to find the correct page number, and there is certainly enough room on the left side plate to have added the page numbers in this rather weird set up. I will be sitting down with the index and adding the page numbers to the plates before I use the book. I also bought a travel vest with the hope that it will have a pocket big enough for the book, since it would not fit in the rather large fanny pack that I normally carry my field guides in when birding. The travel vest may prove to be a great purchase anyway, but does represent a fairly significant additional expense to make it possible to easily carry the book and have easy access to it in the field.I do think this book is well done overall, but could use some tweaking. I also think it would be relatively easy to make the book more compact and to set it up with the text descriptions and range maps on the adjoining page rather than having the plates in the middle - Garrigues's ("Birds of Costa Rica"); provides an excellent model of compact with all the information that is necessary. "Birds of Cuba" has a good introductory chapter and some very good information for inexperience birders (page 10, "Where to Focus Attention on Birds") that I have seen nowhere else and that I will add to the handouts I use when teaching birding to students in ornithology courses. I miss sonograms and/or descriptions of bird songs in most of the newer field guides - this one included. When Cuba becomes more open to US visitors, and more people get out and experience birding in the country, the changes to the book I have suggested would be helpful to birders. At the moment it is the only game in town, but could face competition in the future.

This book includes all the birds ever seen in Cuba, which makes it way too big for a field guide. The authors should have left out pictures of accidentals and rareties and just included a mention of them in the text. That said, the illustrations are beautiful but the range maps aren't beside the pictures, unlike our modern North American field guides. This makes it awkward to use. Extensive information is provided about each species, including habitat and nesting, and useful comparisons with similar species. I am enjoying studying this book in preparation for my trip to the island this winter.

During a recent visit to Cuba I visited many nature reserves and national parks, and I was astonished by the abundant and colourful birdlife. It was difficult or impossible to identify all those birds, in spite of the enthusiastic assistance of local birdwatchers, so I was SO HAPPY to find that Amazon had the answer - the ultimate, absolutely perfect, field guide! So now I can put a label on my pictures, and plan a future trip with confidence! The illustrations are superb, the maps are helpful, the book is a joy to handle.Thanks Amazon!

Excellent and very scientific guide. The descriptions are excellent and all the information extremely useful. It's obvious that the authors are experts in their field. I found the plates top notch and, I'm sure, they will allow quick identification of any bird we see. A couple of defects: The common Spanish name should be included in the plates. Imagine the guide telling you "That's a siju platanero" while the plate only calls it Cuban Pigmy owl!But that is minor compared to the lack of cross-reference from the plate to the text. The other guides I have state the page with the information about the sighted bird. Here you must go through the index or leaf your way to the correct text. Other than that I really enjoyed the book.

The Field Guide to The Birds of Cuba published by Cornell University Press is as disappointing as the Birds of Ecuador published by the same. You would think that anything associated with birds and Cornell would be the ultimate bird field guide but for me it is not. The guide is 253 pages 60% of the pages in the Birds of Costa Rica which should be the format that all current field guides should follow. The Birds of Cuba weights 1.5 pounds and to big to fit in the pocket of cargo pants and too heavy to carry afield. It weights 1/2 pound more than the Birds of Costa Rica which covers 3X more birds. The biggest thing I do not like is that all of the plates are in the middle and instead of having the having the name with the bird picture there is a grayscale mirror image of the picture on the left side with the name on it. So there is a constant looking back and forth to see that bird name is associated with the picture. The catch to the whole thing is that those wanting a book specific to Cuba birds there is not another choice. Jerry Wayne Davis

Giving 4 star because of the strange layout. The drawings (plates) are in the middle with the descriptions in the first quarter and last quarter of the book. You have to refer to the page number of the plate from the description. Would have been easier if the plate would also refer back to the page number of the description. Strange format but once you figure it out it covers most of the bases a good bird book should.

I have found this book very helpful as I prepare for my trip to Cuba. Although the descriptions seem very good, I am not as wild about the illustrated plates. It is not small enough to carry in your pocket, a convenient attribute for bird guides meant to be used in the field, however I will be taking it along nevertheless. I recommend this book for anyone planning a birding trip to Cuba.

Bought once, but that volume fell apart some time after it had proven so helpful whilst I was in Cuba. The pages tended to fall out in batches, and the nature of its production made it such that it could not be repairedHaving written this the volume was invaluable as a guide, simple and easy to use. I obviously treasured it enough to want to instantly replace the book. I wasn't able to find anything more useful, more serviceable maybe but not more helpful.

I bought this as a present for a friend who had just visited Cuba & seen many interesting & unusual birds. Written mainly by Cubans, the contents seem excellent.I have only two gripes- the illustrations only show the birds in standing positions - there are virtually no in-flight drawings- the text pages have clear references for the illustrated plates, but the illustrations do not tell you which pages of text the descriptions are on (having to go through the index is a nuisance...)

Ordered this book to take on holiday to Cuba as I have an interest in bird watching and needed some guidance to the birds that could possibly be seen while on holiday. It proved to be very useful giving good guidance to what could be realistically seen in Cayo Coco and I managed to see some 45 different species some of which without the book I would have really struggled in identifying. The only criticism I have is that some of the illustrations are too bright compared to the real colour of the bird but still a great help and good value for money.

Arrived well protected in excellent condition, took it with me to Cuba and made identification of species so much easier and quicker, it helped having the Spanish name and the local name in some instances, unfortunately hurricane IRMA cut the trip short so I didn't get to see everything I wanted to see, still another trip to Cuba isn't out of the question.

Ordered this book because I'm going to Cuba in September and into birds so I can hopefully do abit of birding while I'm there. I find it very useful with the colourful plates and at the back were you most likely to see the birds it probably would if been better if it showed a individual bird and a description other then just have the birds everywhere but overall a good book.