Please note that this book was published in Europe as the now out-of-print Collins Illustrated Checklist: Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica.
South America, though home to about one-third of the world's bird species and twice as many endemic families of birds as any other continent, has the world's sparsest population of birdwatchers. Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica illustrates and describes all the known species – more than 1000 of them – in a vast swath of this underexplored birder's paradise, from Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, southern Brazil, and Uruguay to parts of Antarctica. Just some of the birds it covers are teals, tinamous, chachalacas, conebills, cuckoos, macaws, parakeets, parrots, penguins, nightjars, hummingbirds, ovenbirds, tyrants, and tanagers. The habitats range from torrid rainforests and cloudforests to grasslands, the world's driest desert, second highest mountain range, and ice caps.
The 97 color plates depict each species' male in breeding plumage, with the female and young often shown as well. On the facing page are concise textual descriptions of each species, highlighting not only salient physical features and behavioral patterns but the calls or songs of each. Casual birders and ornithologists contemplating a journey to the region, or simply interested in a one-volume overview of its bird life, will not want to miss Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica.
Introduction 7
Plate
1 Rheas
2 Tinamous
3 Tinamous
4 Grebes
5 Albatrosses
6 Petrels
7 Petrels and Prions
8 Prions, Petrels and Shearwaters
9 Storm-petrels and Diving-petrels
10 Penguins
11 Ttopicbitds, Boobies and Pelican
12 Cormorants, Anhinga and Frigatebirds
13 Herons and Bitterns
14 Ibises, Spoonbill, Storks, Flamingos and Screamers
15 Ducks, Swan and Geese
16 Ducks
17 Ducks
18 Ducks
19 Raptors (Vultures, Condorand Osprey)
20 Raptors(Kites)
21 Raptors (Harriers and Hawks)
22 Raptors (Hawks, Buzzard-eagle and Eagles)
23 Raptors (Hawks)
24 Raptors (Eagles and Hawk-eagles)
25 Raptors (Caracaras)
26 Raptors (Falcons, Forest-falcons and Kestrel)
27 Raptors (Chachalacas, Guans and Curassow)
28 Fowl (Wood-quail and Quail) and Crakes
29 Crakes and Rails
30 Gallinules and Coots
31 Sungrebe, Limpkin, Seriemas, Thick-knee, Lapwings and Plovers 32 Plovers and Dotterel
33 Oystercatchers, Stilt, Avocet, Jacana and Painted Snipe
34 Sandpipers, Curlew, Whimbtel, Godwits, Tumstone and Surfbird
35 Knot, Sandeding and Sandpipers
36 Dowitcher, Snipe, Phalaropes and Seed-snipe
37 Sheathbill, Jaegers, Skuas and Black Skimmer
38 Gulls
39 Terns
40 Tems
41 Doves and pigeons
42 Doves
43 Macaws, Parakeets and Parrot
44 Parakeets and Parrots
45 Cuckoos
46 Owls
47 Owls
48 Night hawks and Nightjars
49 Nightjars
50 Pota~s and Swifts
51 Hummingbirds
52 Hummingbirds
53 Hummingbirds
54 Trogons, Motmots, Kingfishers, Puffbirds and Jacamary
55 Toucans
56 Woodpeckers
57 Woodpeckers
58 Woodpeckers
59 Woodcreepers
60 Ovenbirds and allies (Miners and Earthcreepexs)
61 Ovenbirds and allies (Cinclodes, Groundcreeper, Hoxneros, Reedhaunters, Wiremil, Rayaditos, Rushbird and Tit-spinetails)
62 Ovenbirds and allies (Tit-spinetails and Spinetails)
63 Ovenbirds andallies(CanasterosandWren-spinetail)
64 Ovenbirds and allies (Thornbirds, Brush-runner, Firewood-gatherer, Treerunner and Cacholotes)
65 Ovenbirds and allies (Foliage-gleaners, Treehunter, Xenops, Treerunner, Leaftosser and Streamcreeper)
66 Antshrikes
67 Antvireos,Antwrens and Antbirds
68 Antbirds, Fire-eyes, Antthxushes, Antpittas and Gnateatex
69 Tapaculos
70 Tyrants (Tyrannulets, Flycatchers and Elaenias)
71 Tyrants (Tyrannulets, Wagtail-tyrant, Tit-tyrants and Rush-tyrant)
72 Tyrants (Grass-tyrant, Tachuri, Doraditos, Pygmy-tyrants, Flycatchers, Bristle-tyrant, Tyrannulets)
73 Tyrants (Tyrannulets, Pygmy-tyrant, Tody-tyrant, Bamboo-tyrant, Tody-Flycatchers, Flatbill, Flycatcher and Spadebills)
74 Tyrants (Flycatchers, Peewees, Chat-tyrants and Bush-tyrants)
75 Tyrants (Diucon, Monjitas and Shrike-tyrants)
76 Tyrants(Ground-tyrants and Negritos)
77 Tyrants (Black-tyrants, Water-tyrants and Marsh-tyrant)
78 Tyrants (Field-tyrant, Flycatcher, Grey-tyrant, Attila, Casiomis, Sirystes, Flycatchers and Kiskadees)
79 Tyrants (Flycatchers and Kingbirds)
80 Tyrants (Xenopsaris, Becards and Tityras)
81 Manakins, Cotingas (Berry-eaters, Fruitcrows, Bellbird), Sharpbill, Plantcutters and Jays 82 Swallows and Martins
83 Wrens, Dippers and Gnatcatchexs
84 Thrushes and Mockingbirds
85 Pipits and Starlings
86 Vireos, Wood Warblers and Bananaquit
87 Tanagers (Conebills, Dacnis, Chlorophonia and Euphonias)
88 Tanagers
89 Tanagers
90 Saltators, Grosbeaks and Cardinals
91 Cardinal, Embezerine Finches (Chaco-finch, Brush-finches, Grassquits, Seedeaters and Seed-finch)
92 Emberizine Finches (Seedeaters and Grassquit)
93 Emberizine Finches (Pampa-finch, Grass-finches, Yellowfinches and Warbling-finches)
94 Emberizine Finches (Warbling-finches, Diuca-finches, Reedfinch and Flower-piercexs)
95 Emberizine Finches (Sierra-finches and Sparrows)
96 Blackbirds, Cowbirds, Caciques and Oriole
97 Blackbirds, Marshbirds, Meadowlarks, Siskins and House Sparrow A-E Silhouettes of raptors in flight
Annotated map of area followed by a distribution map for each bird 218
Bibliography and list of further reading 292
Indexes of English and scientific names 293
"[A]n outstanding field guide that covers a vast geographic area and includes a wealth of information for more than 1100 species of birds [...] It should be purchased by anybody interested in the birds of southern South America."
– Floyd E. Hayes, Auk