A comprehensive field guide to the birds of Venezuela, covering all 1,400 species.

Venezuela is blessed with one of the largest avifaunas in the world. More than 1,400 species have been recorded in the country, thanks to a great diversity of habitats ranging from the High Andes to lowland Amazonian rainforest, and just about everything in between. Its strategic position in the north of South America also ensures that it receives many non-breeding migrants, both from the north and from the south. Add to this a good number of endemics, and you have all the ingredients for a top birding destination.

With its authoritative text and superb colour plates, this book allows reliable field identification for any birder visiting Venezuela, along with Guyana, northern Brazil and western Suriname. The guide has 248 colour plates offering comprehensive coverage, with racial, sexual and seasonal plumage variations. The accompanying species accounts provide key information, including voice and status of all species and subspecies found in the region. Detailed colour distribution maps are also provided for every species.

Birds of Venezuela is an indispensable addition to the backpack of any visiting birder or naturalist - the only guide you will need to identify birds in Venezuela.

David Ascanio is Venezuela's top field birder. He has travelled extensively throughout Venezuela and elsewhere in the neotropics, and has field experience of almost every species in the book. He runs his own travel agency in Venezuela and has led bird tours for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours for more than thirty years.

Gustavo Rodriguez is an experienced Venezuelan ornithologist who has been leading birding tours since 1996. He has written and coauthored several articles on birds of Venezuela.

Robin Restall is the senior author and sole illustrator of the acclaimed Birds of Northern South America (Helm, 2006), and was also author of Munias and Mannikins (Pica Press, 1996). He has provided all of the illustrations for this field guide.