A review of "The Birds of South America, Vol I: The Oscine Passerines"
This is the first part of a projected four-part work
on the birds of South America. It seems “only” two volumes were published, but
what volumes! They cover all South American passerines.
Back in the days, Robert Ridgely's and Guy Tudor's work was a major breakthrough. Before 1970, no reliable field guide to South American birds existed at all. Tongue in cheek, Ridgely says that he experienced some difficulty when trying to identify birds around Machu Picchu in Peru solely based on their Latin names! I suppose this gives an entirely new meaning to the expression “anno dazumal”. In 1970, Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee published his “Guide to the Birds of South America”, based entirely on museum specimens and with no illustrations (!), but this was already a major improvement.
The next major step was taken when Ridgely and Tudor finally managed to publish their “field handbook” in 1984 (the book on this product page), covering the oscine passerines. About two-thirds of the described species are illustrated. The species presentations include sections on identification, habitat and behavior, similar specie and range. The color plates are in a separate section.
Today, even this book feels dated, due to “Handbook of the Birds of the World”. There are also a number of modern field guides dealing with various South American nations. While Ridgely-Tudor's oscine extravaganza is mostly a museum piece in its own right these days, it deserves five stars for the enormous effort the author and his illustrator put down into producing it.
Back in the days, Robert Ridgely's and Guy Tudor's work was a major breakthrough. Before 1970, no reliable field guide to South American birds existed at all. Tongue in cheek, Ridgely says that he experienced some difficulty when trying to identify birds around Machu Picchu in Peru solely based on their Latin names! I suppose this gives an entirely new meaning to the expression “anno dazumal”. In 1970, Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee published his “Guide to the Birds of South America”, based entirely on museum specimens and with no illustrations (!), but this was already a major improvement.
The next major step was taken when Ridgely and Tudor finally managed to publish their “field handbook” in 1984 (the book on this product page), covering the oscine passerines. About two-thirds of the described species are illustrated. The species presentations include sections on identification, habitat and behavior, similar specie and range. The color plates are in a separate section.
Today, even this book feels dated, due to “Handbook of the Birds of the World”. There are also a number of modern field guides dealing with various South American nations. While Ridgely-Tudor's oscine extravaganza is mostly a museum piece in its own right these days, it deserves five stars for the enormous effort the author and his illustrator put down into producing it.
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