RECOMMENDED
LITERATURE

Recommended literature

Here you can find recommended literature, as well as the most important scientific papers and books about ecotourism,
conservation and birding topics, related with or produced in Colombia.

Books

Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia

Author:   Miles McMullan

Year: 2018

Short description:  This book is a unique bird guide in its kind. In addition to having beautiful watercolors of each of the birds included in the list, it is the most complete guide at present. Miles McMullan has dedicated much of his life to developing the most complete bird guide in the country. This book is the fruit of Miles McMullan’s years of hard work, of travel and exploration throughout the national geography; It is a true treasure for bird lovers and experts.

An Illustrated Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia

Author:   Fernando Ayerbe Quiñones

Year: 2019

Short description: A guide with 212 color plates for species identification, in front of a concise text and color range maps, with space for annotations for each species. Includes accurate illustrations of species and subspecies, with practical information on distribution, behaviour, endemism and levels of global/national threat. In addition to English, the book includes common species names in French (francais) and German (deutsch).

Birds of Western Colombia

Author:   Miles McMullan

Year: 2019

Short description: The western mountain range of Colombia is one of the three main branches into which the Andes mountain range in Colombia is divided. It extends in a south-north direction from the Nudo de los Pastos in the department of Nariño to the Nudo de Paramillo in Antioquia and Córdoba. The western part of the mountain range belongs mainly to the Pacific water basin, while the eastern part belongs to the Cauca river basin. The northern and northwestern parts belong to the Atlantic slope. The mountain range crosses the departments of Antioquia (31%), Chocó (19%), Nariño (13%), Valle del Cauca (12%), Córdoba (11%), Cauca (9%), Risaralda (3%), Caldas (1%).

This book includes birds from the patia River to the north of Antioquia, including the departments of Valle del Cauca, Cauca, Risaralda, Chocó and Antioquia. It covers about 60% of the birds in Colombia. The book is bilingual Spanish – English, and brings one or maximum two illustrations per species with distribution map and subspecies. The book is ergonomically designed for small hands, so that all children, women and men can easily handle it in the field. It is a basic, lightweight field guide that serves as a pocket book and can be used during tours or during the rainy season, when the use of larger guides becomes more cumbersome.

Birds of Meta and the Colombian Llanos

Author:   Miles McMullan

Year: 2019

Short description: This region of the country is home to more than a thousand species of birds thanks to its variety of ecosystems with foothills, plateaus, plains, swamps and mountain ranges. In the large extensions of flooded savannahs, swamps with water mirrors, roads with borrowed areas full of water and rivers without beaches, aquatic birds predominate. During the dry season, large concentrations of these birds gather in specific points of the region, which makes them a special destination and time to photograph them. The book contains bird species from Arauca, CAsanare, Vichada and Meta.  It also has a specific section for the special regions of Meta corresponding to the Andean foothills and the Páramo of Chingaza National Natural Park.

The book is bilingual Spanish – English, and brings one or maximum two illustrations per species with distribution map and subspecies. The book is ergonomically designed for small hands, so that all children, women and men can easily handle it in the field. It is a basic, lightweight field guide that serves as a pocket book and can be used during tours or during the rainy season, when the use of larger guides becomes more cumbersome.

Birds of the Colombian Andes

Author:   Miles McMullan

Year: 2019

Short description:  This book is dedicated exclusively to the Andean birds that occur from 1200 m above sea level (3930 ft a.s.l.) in the three Andean mountain ranges of Colombia: Western, Central and Eastern, as well as in the Colombian massif.  The book is bilingual Spanish – English, and brings one or maximum two illustrations per species with distribution map and subspecies. The book is ergonomically designed for small hands, so that all children, women and men can easily handle it in the field. It is a basic, lightweight field guide that serves as a pocket book and can be used during tours or during the rainy season, when the use of larger guides becomes more cumbersome.

Birds of the Caribbean and Perijá

Author: Miles McMullan

Year: coming soon

Short description: This will be a guide dedicated to the birds of the northern birding route of Colombia, which includes the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the birds of the Serranía del Perijá.The book is ergonomically designed for small hands, so that all children, women and men can easily handle it in the field. It is a basic, lightweight field guide that serves as a pocket book and can be used during tours or during the rainy season, when the use of larger guides becomes more cumbersome.

Birds of Minca

Author: Miles McMullan

Year: 2014

Short description: This field guide to the birds of Minca describes around 665 species from 200 m a.s.l. to the páramo in the Cuchilla de San Lorenzo. Includes all the endemic species of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The book is ergonomically designed for small hands, so that all children, women and men can easily handle it in the field. It is a basic, lightweight field guide that serves as a pocket book and can be used during tours or during the rainy season, when the use of larger guides becomes more cumbersome.

Field Guide to the Hummingbirds

Author: Miles McMullan

Year: 2016

Short description:  This is a fully-illustrated guide to all of the hummingbirds of the world. This is a field guide, with about 350 species of hummingbirds, one of the largest bird families in the world. This is a guide with the main plumage of each of the species of hummingbirds in the world. It includes several illustrations for each species, with ecological and behavioral data and a distribution map. It contains species of hummingbirds from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.

Guía Ilustrada de la Avifauna Colombiana 1st edition

Author:   Fernando Ayerbe Quiñones

Year: 2018

Short description:  This Illustrated Guide to the Colombian Avifauna exposes 1932 species of birds that can be seen in the complex geography of Colombia. This Guide is composed of 212 plates where the user can compare illustrations to identify species more easily. Each exposed species has information about its geographical distribution and its state of conservation on a national and global scale. The book is in Spanish, but the species names are shown in English and in the scientific name. It also has an extra space to write down the common names of each species.

Guía Ilustrada de la Avifauna Colombiana 2nd edition

Author:   Fernando Ayerbe Quiñones

Year: 2019

Short description:  This is the second edition of the book above with the following improvements:  Change in Paper type. Adjustments in the color of the illustrations (lighting). The shadow of each illustration was removed. The illustrations now have a greenish background that helps highlight the colors of the birds. Page of maps and texts in white background and more contrasting letters to facilitate reading. Nomenclature and phylogenetic order (at the family level) updated according to SACC. 1941 species. Species and genera grouped by similarity within each family (more comparative). The item “Almost Endemic” is included. Includes check box for the species already seen. Includes measurements in inches. Includes names in French and German.

Guía Ilustrada de la Avifauna Colombiana

Author:   Steven L. Hilty & William L. Brown

Year: 1986

Short description:  Although published some time ago, this book is still very relevant by getting at the heart of what you need to do. In addition, it is written in a very passionate and enjoyable manner and remains as the most acknowledged authority on the subject. A contra is its size, not very comfortable in the field.

Wild Colombian Birds

Author:   Rodrigo Gaviria

Year: 2019

Short description:  300 pages with almost 400 photographs in a Coffee Table Book format.

Articles

TitleDescription
Efectos de los comederos de aves sobre la salud de las aves silvestres (en inglés)
Author: Wilcoxen T.E. et al. 2015
Magazine: Conservation Physiology
Entre las razones más populares por las que las personas alimentan aves silvestres es que quieren ayudar a las aves. Sin embargo, la medida en que el alimento suplementario ayuda a las aves no está bien establecida. En este artículo los autores encontraron impactos tanto positivos como negativos en la alimentación de aves silvestres. Por un lado las aves pueden alcanzar mejores estados fisiológicos, pero por otro lado puede haber un aumento de la propagación de enfermedades infecciosas cuando no se tienen buenas prácticas de limpieza de los comederos y bebederos.
Manual de Buenas Prácticas para la Observación de Vida Silvestre (en inglés)
Author: McLuckie, M., et al. (2012).
Magazine: © Rewilding Europe.
Manual de construcción de escondites (hides) para observación de vida silvestre. Explora tipos de usuarios de la observación de la vida silvestre, tipos de escondederos para la observación de vida silvestre. A su vez ofrece una guía de planificación, construcción, propiedad y mantenimiento de los escondites, así como estudios de caso y análisis.
Guía de Buenas Prácticas para la Actividad de Aviturismo en Colombia
Author: MINCIT, PTP, FONTUR (2017)
Magazine: www.mincit.gov.co
La Guía de Buenas Prácticas de Aviturismo en Colombia es presentada por el Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo, el Fondo Nacional de Turismo y la Asociación Bogotana de Ornitología como aporte al desarrollo y promoción del aviturismo en Colombia. Es un manual para que la actividad de observación de aves no produzca efecto negativo alguno, con recomendaciones específicas para los proveedores de servicios, los guías, los avituristas y, en general, para quien practica este pasatiempo.

Others

Local crafts - Unique handcrafted pieces inspired by Colombian fauna and flora

Author:   BioIlustrarte

Short description: Would you like to have a sample of Biodiversity combined with the best of art? Here you will find unique pieces inspired by the Colombian fauna and flora: Stickers, Books, Mugs, Canteens, Workshops and drawing lessons.

Contact: https://www.instagram.com/bioilustrarte/

Equipment and books for nature lovers

Author:  Bioweb

Short description:BIOWEB is the official store for nature lovers, for amateurs and professionals. Part of its profits are used to support, with equipment, books or cash, conservation-focused NGOs anywhere in the world. BIOWEB established the main office in Atlanta, GA (United States) in 2011, with a division in Bogota, DC (Colombia) where it was founded and initially created in 2006.

Contact: https://www.instagram.com/bioweb.co/