Hi all,

I'm sure Ian would agree that the Stiles/Skutch guide is still an
awesome book. Skutch's knowledge of Costa Rican birds is legendary,
and Gary Stiles is one of the world's experts on hummingbirds & a
great ornithologist as well. I'd love to see the new book also, and
it may be excellent, but it would have to be pretty amazing to outdo
Stiles/Skutch in my mind.

If anyone is interested, I still have a detailed itinerary with
numerous links to accommodations from a 2004 trip, bird & mammal
list, etc that I'd be happy to forward -- just e-mail me off-list.
I was going to send it to the person that inquired about a week ago
on Tweeters, but I lost the name & address -- so try me again. I
should mention that October/November are THE wettest months, so
definitely take your best rain gear & just realize you will dry out
eventually!! The Pacific slope is dryer, but that will only be
relative that time of year. If you go to the Monteverde area, be sure
to visit the nearby Santa Elena Preserve -- much less crowded and
every bit as good habitat wise -- probably the most beautiful forest
I've ever seen anywhere. They have excellent hummingbird feeders (I
saw 5 life hummers in about half an hour) and a small gift shop that
sells very nice "tourist" stuff at very reasonable prices compared to
elsewhere -- and the profits benefit the Preserve and the local
public school.

Mark




>HI:
> There's a NEW Costa Rica bird guide that just came out! Its done by
>Cornell University Press and is more up to date and smaller in size than
>the Stiles/Skutch book.
>
>--
>
>Ian Paulsen
>Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
>A.K.A.: "Birdbooker"
>"Rallidae all the way!"


--
Mark Egger
Seattle, WA
USA
mailto:m.egger at comcast.net