Perto Rico birding guide

[Dr. John]

We will be visiting Puerto Rico in the fall.  I wanted to buy a guide for the Caribbean in general, since we could then use it on subsequent trips anywhere in the area.  The best one appears to be Birds of the West Indies by Raffaele et al.  Would people agree or is there another guide that is better?

[winz]

I have Birds of the West Indies by Raffaele et al. and found it very useful when I visited Jamaica.  It however does not cover Trinidad, Tobago, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire as these are considered part of South America.  There are no photographs, only drawings which are quite representative of the birds drawn.  I would highly recommend it.

[Dr. John]

Thanks for your response.  We'll buy it and give it a try.

[Pat Hodgson]

The Raffaele book is a lovely one.  James Bond's Birds of the West Indies is quite dated, but has the advantage of being pocket-sized.