Book Review - Birds of the Tropical Andes - Princeton University Press

      This large format book comes as close to sensory overload as one might imagine. The pictures are simply that good! You are as close to experiencing the birds as you can possibly be, without actually being there.

     I have visited the Andes four times, in three different countries, and already I have plans to be there again. These images - accompanied by an evocative narrative I hasten to add - fuel my already overcharged enthusiasm, quickly revving it up to peak level. 

     There is a magic about the Andes not found in other spectacular mountain ranges throughout the world. The Himalayas are impressive, the Alps captivating, the Rockies speak of home, and the Atlas Mountains are filled with mystery. None quite rival the Andes, however, spanning South America from north to south - and still rising. Live volcanoes dot the landscape. Merely to contemplate that we are following in the footsteps of Alexander von Humboldt and Charles Darwin is to add excitement to the journey.

     Anyone who has birded in the Andes will appreciate the startling difference in habitat and avifauna from the east slope to the west, from the high Andes to Amazonia, from the intrigue and mystery of a polylepis forest to the challenging conditions of the Páramo. There is magic in the air in all these locations.

     Each habitat is covered under four headings, viz, Biogeography and History, Bird Diversity and Specialties, Conservation, and Birding and Photography Sites. This encapsulation ensures that the reader has a complete picture of the area and the joy that awaits the intrepid traveller. The text is concise yet informative, succinct yet complete. It bears repeating - the pictures are truly stunning, off the charts in their diversity, precision, definition and clarity.

     This work is destined to become a classic. It already is in my world!

     If I may be permitted a moment of personal recollection, please bear with me while I recount this vignette in my life. Alvaro Jaramillo who contributes the foreword to the book grew up here in Ontario and completed his undergraduate and master's degree at the University of Toronto. During that period there was a venerable store dedicated to natural history called The Open Air Bookstore. Sadly, it closed several years ago, and its kind will never be seen again. It was the kind of place where you could go to buy a map of Bhutan and they would offer you a choice of five! Alvaro worked there from his time in high school if my memory serves me well, and several times I purchased books while he was on duty. Little did I know then (nor did he!) that he would go on to make such a formidable mark on the world of ornithology.

     It made my day just to read the foreword!

Birds of the Tropical Andes - Princeton University Press

Owen Deutsch and Michael J. Parr

US$35.00 - £30.00 - ISBN: 9780691260686

Hardcover - 264 pages - 200+ colour illustrations 

11.75 x 9.75 inches (29.375 x 24.375 cm)

Publication date : 08 July, 2025