Birds of the West Indies

The Caribbean Islands known as the West Indies have been the focus of a considerable number of bird field guides, more than for most regions of the world. None, however, really compare to the excellence of the new Birds of the West Indies. The authors, experts on the birds of this region, should be congratulated for producing such an outstanding book. In the introduction, the authors state their aim to produce a book that is not only attractive and portable, but is scientifically accurate and discusses the key identification issues – in this I believe they have probably exceeded expectations.

Birds of the West Indies is a comprehensive field guide to the 700 or so bird species that occur from Grand Bahama, which lies just east of Florida, to Granada (just north of Trinidad and Tobago), and encompasses the Swan Islands, San Andrés, and Providencia to the east of Central America. Within this region lie the four large Greater Antilles Islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (comprised of Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico, along with some islands of the eastern North American continental shelf – the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the long oceanic island chain of the Lesser Antillean Islands. These islands comprise the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, St Martin, St Barthélemy, Saba, St Eustatius, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados, Isla de Aves, and Santa Catalina. The Cayman Islands, to the south of Cuba, are of course included, but the Florida Keys and other islands on the North American continental shelf, as well as islands such as Curacao and Aruba on the South American continental shelf are not included because their avifauna shows strong affinity to that of North and South America, respectively, rather than to that of the West Indies.

Taken together, these islands support a remarkable six endemic bird families and there are almost 200 endemic species – currently about 190 endemics are recognized but, as this book clearly demonstrates, this number is likely to grow with further taxonomic studies. Endemics include species from well-known families such as the pigeons, woodpeckers, trogons, tyrants, and new world blackbirds, orioles, and warblers, but the allure of the West Indies is perhaps cemented by birds such as the five species of Tody, the tremblers and lizard-cuckoos, the four species of spindalis, and enigmatic single island endemics like the Palm Chat (Hispaniola), the diminutive Bee Hummingbird (Cuba) and magnificent St Vincent Amazon. The islands also support a considerable number of endemic genera, such as Starnoenas (Blue-headed Quail-dove, beautifully illustrated on the front cover), Margarobyas (Bare-legged Screech-owl), and Allenia (Scaly-breasted Thrasher).

The region also receives many regular migrants as well as vagrants from both North and South America, adding to the excitement of birding here. Sadly, a considerable number of species are threatened, and some are already extinct or likely so, such as Jamaican Petrel, Eskimo Curlew, Jamaican Poorwill, Cuban Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Semper’s Warbler (St Lucia), and Bachman’s Warbler (which wintered in Cuba). Others, such as the recently-recognized Bahama Nuthatch, Cuban Kite, and Ridgway’s Hawk, are considered as some of the most threatened species on the planet. This highlights the inherent risks that specialized island species often face, and a substantial number of the region’s endemic birds are listed as threatened in Red Data Books. Whilst this is depressing in itself, it means that there are a significant number of highly sought-after endemics that can be very challenging to find, such as Grenada Dove, Puerto Rican Amazon, Zapata Rail, Zapata Wren, Whistling Warbler, and St Lucia Black Finch, adding to the allure and challenge of birding in these islands.

Amongst the species included in this guide are about 20 of hypothetical occurrence that have full species accounts – such as Red-necked Grebe, Purple Grackle, and Slender-billed Gull – although oddly, others such as Yellow-legged Gull and American Woodcock are relegated to Appendix 2 (see below).

The book starts with a concise 12-page chapter that includes sections on the Geographical Scope, Climate, and Habitats. The Introduction also includes a short description of Bird Conservation issues in the West Indies that lists all threatened species (about an eighth of regularly occurring species in 2019). This is followed by a section on Birding in the West Indies that includes a regional map showing 29 birding hotspots that are briefly described. This map is repeated inside the back cover, whilst a regional topographical map inside the front cover defines the area that this book covers, and labels the main islands or island groups. Although the maps lack a scale (or a key to the topographical shading on the maps), Cuba alone can be seen to be roughly the size of Costa Rica and Panama combined.

For those users who are unfamiliar with the “Lynx and BirdLife International Field Guides” series, The Introduction is followed by an essential section on how to use the guide. Understanding this is important because field guides in this series include separate accounts and illustrations for taxa that have been assigned to Subspecies Groups, defined as “informal taxonomic units used in several recent world checklists to highlight seemingly monophyletic groups of taxa that at present appear to sit between the species and subspecies levels”. This innovative approach will undoubtedly prove confusing to some users, even after reading the explanation of how these subspecies groups are defined, but it will help users identify taxa that might be split in the future. One good example of a Subspecies group is that of Western Spindalia Spindalis zena. This species comprises five subspecies groups of which four occur in the West Indies. These four groups all have a full species account, with an illustration and map. Looking at the plates, it seems that the differences between these subspecies is almost as great as the differences between the four recognized species that occur, and it is not hard to imagine that Western Spindalis on Cuba, for example, Spindalis (zena) pretrei will soon be considered a good species in its own right.

The bulk of the book, some 306 pages, is devoted to the species accounts. Using the taxonomy of HBW and BirdLife International Checklist of the Birds of the World, and including updates that had already been adopted in HBW Alive, the species accounts include illustrations and colour-coded maps for all regularly occurring species as well as separate accounts, illustrations, and maps for numerous taxa in the Subspecies Groups mentioned above. Vagrants are illustrated and have a species account, but do not have a map. For each taxon, the accompanying text covers status, habitat and behaviour, identification features (according to age and sex where relevant), geographical variation, voice, and quite thorough information regarding similar species. Where relevent, useful taxonomic notes are included, as well as short note on geographical variation. Overall, a remarkable amount of information is succinctly packed into this book.

The maps are excellent, using a colour code to indicate status, and each is clearly marked with an E for an endemic West Indies species. For single island endemics occurring on the four larger islands, the map shown is only the island on which the species occurs. This enables the inclusion of a considerable amount of detail about range, where known, rather than just colouring a single island on a regional map. One thing that the maps brought home to me was the remarkable number of introduced species in these islands. Indeed, the very first plate in the book (depressingly) only illustrates introduced species. The introduction of so many exotic birds and other fauna and flora is clearly of very high concern for conservation in this region.

With more than 1,600 paintings (by 29 artists: the majority of illustrations sourced from HBW), this guide illustrates all species and distinctive subspecies that occur in the West Indies. Birds in flight, both sexes, juveniles, and non-breeding plumages are illustrated where appropriate. Overall, the plates are excellent, although a few appear a little empty. Also, it would perhaps have been useful to illustrate first-winter plumages of some North American migrant species, although there are brief identification notes in the text. The plates not only depict the birds, but also incorporate 650 range maps for all species except vagrants. Sitting right next to the illustration of the bird, these colour-coded maps give the user an instant idea of where the bird occurs, and whether it is a resident or non-breeding visitor. Where appropriate, maps also differentiate between the range of different subspecies by denoting parts of the range with “A”, “B”, etc. and linking this to the subspecies named in the text.

Another feature of the HBW and BirdLife International Field Guide series are QR codes. These are included for every species account, and scanning a code takes the reader to webpages of additional information as well as images and sounds of the species involved.

As with other guides in this series, the text font is very small. Some users may find this a problem in poor light, but clearly this is necessary if all of the text is to appear opposite the relevant plate, which is indispensable in a book of this nature. The species accounts are succinct and adequate to identify the majority of birds that one might encounter. A considerable amount of text relating to identification is devoted to some of the problematical species that might occur on the same island, such as the Catharus thrushes and migrant North American flycatchers.

The final part of the book comprises two Appendices and a 7-page list of References. The first Appendix is a Regional Checklist that lists the English Names of all the species that have been convincingly shown to have occurred in the wild within the West Indies. It is a spreadsheet that indicates whether species are endemic, regular, vagrant, extinct, or introduced and shows which islands or island groups (of which there are 28 in the list) they occur on. Also enclosed with the book is a card that carries a unique code enabling the free download of a full 29-page checklist of the birds of the West Indies from the publisher’s website. This is a very useful checklist, with a map with numbered islands or island groups and ten columns to fill in with birds you have seen. It also indicates which islands each species occurs in. When combined with the map and text on hotspots, it is a very useful tool for planning any trip to these islands. The second Appendix is an annotated list of birds that have been claimed within the range covered by the book, but for which evidence is insufficient to verify their occurrence.

For serious birders visiting these islands, Birds of the West Indies will undoubtedly prove to be indispensable, even for visits to single islands in the region. It is compact enough to carry in a small bag, comprehensive in its coverage, easy to use, competently illustrated, and up-to-date. What more could you want?!

– Reviewed by Frank Lambert