Birds of Argentina and the South-West Atlantic

This book has been so long in the planning process that I feared it might never appear. Work started on it in 1995 and having seen some of the original colour plates on a visit to Argentina in 2008 it was clear to me that this book was going to fill a major gap in the available literature. Rumours back then were that the book might be ready within a year or two, but in reality it was delayed with much work needed to complete the maps of over 1000 species.

We roll forward a decade and thankfully a meeting between Nigel Redman and Mark Pearman in Buenos Aires saw a plan come together to finally get things moving again. Instead of the heavy handbook that had been originally envisaged the new idea was for a lighter-weight field guide with around six species per colour plate facing a concise but thorough text and maps – and that is exactly what we now have.

Both authors are heavily involved in the South American Classification Committee so it is no surprise that the taxonomy follows that authority but using the IOC English names in most cases. An important appendix provides taxonomic notes on 72 species and in several cases future species-level splits are highlighted. For example, the distinctive northern and southern subspecies of Streaked Flycatcher Myiodynastes maculatus are shown as firm candidates for a split. In this case, the bird inhabiting Argentina is given as Myiodynastes [maculatus] solitarius – and the authors have revived the name Solitary Flycatcher for that.

The artwork is impressive with Aldo Chiappe and Jorge Rodriguez Mata supplying the majority of the 2300 images while Richard Johnson takes care of the penguins, waders and seabirds, and Alan Harris supplies the grebes, herons, ibises, vultures, parrots and several passerine families. Sexually dimorphic plumages are shown as are some prominent subspecies and some juveniles. Birds are illustrated perched and in flight where it is useful – or indeed most likely.

In addition to mainland Argentina, the guide covers the Fuegian, Hornean and Diego Ramírez Islands plus the Falklands. A total of 1070 species are shown but these do not include Zimmer’s Tapaculo Scytalopus zimmeri, Ticking Doradito Pseudocolopteryx citreola or Puna Pipit Anthus brevirostris. The explanation given for this is that these are virtually identical in plumage to their look-alike sister species. That is a surprising decision for an otherwise comprehensive book. However, these species are among the 23 for which sonograms are provided in an appendix. Nine introduced species are also excluded but these are described in another appendix.

The species accounts give a few words on range and habitat, followed by a summary of the key identification features and vocalisations. Confusion species are cross-referenced as are references to taxonomic notes. Argentine Spanish names are also provided. Each text is accompanied by a multi-coloured distribution map. Resident species are marked in green while breeding migrants are in red and winter visitors are in blue – but a further seven colours are used to indicate variations. Some distributions in Argentina are hard to describe because the species, such as hummingbirds, vary their movements depending on the conditions each year. Given that challenge, these maps are easy to interpret and are a key feature of the book.

The original idea for a second more detailed volume detailing all of the subspecies and many other aspects has involved the authors in examining over 100,000 museum specimens. To lose that work would be a travesty, but with around 1600 pages of text already drafted, it is hard to see how the book will come together in print. Surely this would make an invaluable digital resource?

With 28 endemics and 17 near-endemics to see, there are plenty of reasons to visit Argentina – and now we have an outstanding field guide to use. Mark Twain famously wrote “All good things arrive unto them that wait”, and he was right, because we’ve waited a long time for this book, but it was worth it!