FieldGuidesBelize

OPTIONAL FIELD GUIDES FOR TRAVEL TO BELIZE

Below is a list of the names of some field guides that might be appropriate for our Belize travels. The list provided here is not an all-inclusive list of the best guides – there are many others that are probably just as good. Keep in mind that the field guides below are not required for the course. We will have a couple of field guides that you can use as will our host - Programme for Belize. All of the guides I list can be obtained within a couple of days from amazon.com, borders, or Barnes and Noble.

Beletsky, Les. 1999. Belize and Northern Guatemala: The Ecotravellers’ Wildlife Guide. Academic Press    ISBN 0-12-084811-2      For your money (~ $30) this might be your best buy as it is a nice guide for all of the vertebrates (and invertebrates) that you are most likely to see.   The color plates are outstanding: birds, mammals, herps, reptiles, fish, coral, etc.   This is not a comprehensive field guide aimed at a single taxon but a very broad field guide that provides information on those critters we will likely see. If you buy just one field guide this is probably the one to get.

Howell, S.N.G., and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford   ISBN 0-19-854012 4 This field guide is the bible of birding in Central America. It is extensive (851 pp.) , so much so that it is a pain to lug around when your birding! If you are a die-hard birder this is the one you want.

Peterson, R.T. A Field Guide to Mexican Birds : Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador (Peterson Field Guides). 1999. Houghton Mifflin Co (Pap); ISBN: 039597514X ;   Dimensions (in inches): 0.87 x 7.17 x 4.49. Illustrations by Roger Tory Peterson. An excellent birding field guide < One that fits in your pocket in the field!>

Horwich, R.H., and J. Lyon. 1993. A Belizean Rain Forest The Community Baboon Sanctuary. Orangatan Press, Gay Mills, WI   ISBN 0-9637982-0-0     This is a nice book that provides the natural history of the rain forest and some of its most common plants and animals. Not a true field guide, but it does provide very useful information on natural history of the type of forest we will visit.

Reid, F.A. 1997. A Field Guide to the mammals of Central America and SouthEast Mexico. Oxford University Press ISBN 0-10-506401-1       An excellent field guide to the mammals of the area. Excellent collar plates. Keep in mind however, that we will see a lot more birds than mammals.

Emmons L. H. 1990. Neotropical Rainforest Mammals: A Field Guide. The University of Chicago Press.   ISBN 0-226-20718-8   A decent (not great) mammalian field guide - -provides natural history, measurements, distribution, of mammals in the New World Tropics. The color plates of the mammals are not extensive or sharp enough for field identification.

Campbell, J. A. 1999. Amphibians and Reptiles of Northern Guatemala, the Yucatan, and Belize (Animal Natural History Series, 4) 400 pages. Univ. of Oklahoma Pr; ISBN: 0806130660 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.95 x 10.07 x 6.98. A very good guide of the herptiles in the area.

Stafford, P.J., and J.R. Meyer. 1999. A Guide to the Reptiles of Belize. Academic Press- 327 pages; ISBN 0126627606 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.83 x 8.97 x 6.0. This is one I haven’t seen yet.

Humann, P. 1994. The Reef Set (3 Volumes Boxed) (includes Reef Fish, Reef Creature and Reef Coral). Plastic Comb Spiral edition. New World Publications; ISBN: 878348086 ; Dimensions (in inches): 3.10 x 9.70 x 7.06. This is an outstanding 3 volume set. You can buy it in a package or individually. This (these) are the perfect field guides for the island and come highly recommended. Plastic coated spiral edition is perfect for the island. However, there are plenty of copies of these on the island and no real need to purchase them.

If you have a field guide of North American birds and don’t particularly want to invest in a new field guide bring it along. Many North American species occur down there.

All of the ISBN numbers I provide above are for the paperback versions.

At snorkel and dive stores you can buy field guides and underwater plastic cards that provide information on corals and reef fishes and invertebrates that can be taken into the water.