South America

Birding South America
South America is the continent with countries boasting the biggest lists of avifauna… and, in part, it is still wild enough to be turning up new species. From The High Andes with human settlements higher than anywhere else to the river deltas and coastal mangroves, cloud forest and rainforest, desert and pampas the habitat ranges are also as diverse as anywhere on earth.
From the tiny hummingbirds to the giant condors and rheas South America has enough birds in every ecological niche to excite birders everywhere.
However, whilst South America has the most diverse avifauna and an incredible range of habitat offering such a wealth of potential to any naturalist it is also a great cause for concern. Rampant logging, slash and burn agriculture, insensitive development and inappropriate mining techniques are doing their best to lay huge areas waste. Some of the most pressing challenges for conservation are right here. Whilst species of birds are still being discovered many more hover on the edge of extinction.

-
Number of bird species: 3476
As at November 2016
-
Birds of Northern South America, Volume 1 and Volume 2
| By Robin Restall, Clemencia Rodner & Miguel Lentino | Christopher Helm | 2006 | Paperback | ISBN: 9780713660265 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Birds of South America: Passerines
| By Robert S Ridgely & Guy Tudor | Christopher Helm | 2009 | Paperback | 750 pages, colour plates, colour distribution maps | ISBN: 9781408113424 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica
| By Martín R de la Peña & Maurice Rumboll | Princeton UP | 2001 | Paperback | 304 pages, 97 plates with colour illustrations, 5 plates with b/w illustrations; b/w illustrations, 1000+ b/w distribution maps | ISBN: 9780691090351 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Collins Field Guide to the Birds of South America: Non-Passerines
| (Non-Passerines, from Rheas to Woodpeckers) | By Jorge R Roderiguez Mata, Francisco Erize & Maurice Rumboll | Harper Collins | 2006 | Hardnack | 384 pages, 156 colour plates, 1270 Distribution Maps | ISBN: 9780007150847 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Illustrated Checklist: Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica
| By Martin de la Pena & Maurice Rumboll | HarperCollins | 1998 | Paperback | 304 Pages, 97 Colour Plates, Maps | ISBN: 9780002200776 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Where to Watch Birds in South America
| By Nigel Wheatley | Helm | 1994 | Paperback | 431 pages | ISBN: 9780713639094 Buy this book from NHBS.com
*Individual Country Bird Apps
See Individual Country pages for apps relating to just that CountryAll Birds Northern South America
Apple iOS || a field guide to all the species recorded in Ecuador, Colombia, Guiana, Peru, Venezuela | Mullen & Pohland GbR | Sunbird Apps | This mobile field guide includes all 2,311 bird species found in the Northern part of South AmericaUseful Information-
BirdPlanner.com
http://www.birdplanner.com BirdPlanner is a free site that enables you to generate bird lists for any place in the western hemisphere -
Neotropical Birds
http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/home Neotropical Birds Online is an authoritative, online resource for life histories of Neotropical birds. These accounts are intended primarily for ornithologists, especially those based in the Neotropics, but also will prove useful to wildlife biologists, conservationists, amateur ornithologists with strong interests in avian natural history, and biology teachers and students. Neotropical Birds Online is available free of charge. The scope of Neotropical Birds Online is all bird species that regularly occur in the Neotropics, from Mexico and the Caribbean south to southernmost South America. The emphasis is on species that breed within this region, but the eventual goal is to provide accounts for all species that regularly occur within this region
Organisations-
Neotropical Bird Club
WebsiteSince 1994 Neotropical Bird Club, which is UK registered charity 1040130, has attracted over 900 members in 50 countries. Membership is open to all who have an interest in the wild birds of the New World tropics and their conservation. -
Neotropical Migrant Birds
WebsiteNeotropical migrant birds are the songbirds that represent over 50%, more precisely, 340 of the 600 species, of North American birds -
Optics for the tropics
WebsiteOptics for the Tropics, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charity organization providing quality optical equipment in the Caribbean and Latin America where resources are very limited. We distribute equipment to ornithologists and educators working to further bird conservation
Forums & Mailing Lists-
AVIFAUNA
Mailing ListSouth AmericaNeotropical birds [Espa
Guides & Tour Operators-
Birding Ecotours
Tour OperatorBirding Ecotours aims to provide world-wide birding experiences of superb quality, while contributing to environmental conservation and disadvantaged communities. Please contact us for detailed information, queries and quotations as we are happy to help you in every aspect of planning your birding holiday. -
Clark Expeditions
Tour OperatorBirdwatching, Natural-History, Adventure and Wildlife Expeditions - We are a small tour-company with main office in Salta province, in the Andean North of our country. Totally devoted to the Ecotourism and Nature-based Expeditions, our programs include Wildlife Safaris to the National Parks, Trekking and Natural-History Tours, all over northern Argentina. We specialise in Birdwatching Tours, which we operate at the highest quality throughout southern South America including some of the most important areas often with the most difficult access, in the Paraguayan Chaco, the Brazilian Pantanal, the Amazonian and Yungas forests of Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. We cater to both, individuals with tailor-made itineraries and groups being operated by overseas companies. -
Kolibri Expeditions
Tour OperatorKolibri Expeditions provides birding trips to all corners of South America. We are based in Lima, Peru. General Director is Gunnar Engblom, a well known tour leader and bird guide -
Lost World Adventures
Tour OperatorLost World Adventures arranges specialised tours and expeditions in South America and other exotic New World destinations. Our company was founded in 1986, when we pioneered our first adventure trips into Venezuela. We now arrange travel throughout Latin America, including Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador and Galapagos Islands, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. -
Manu Expeditions
Tour OperatorOur bird watching trips are lead by very experienced neo-tropical ornithologists. we pride ourselves on the quality of our leaders and support staff, not to mention our office staff in Cusco that make things work. -
Rainforest Cruises
Website...are a travel company that specialises in Amazon river tours and Galapagos cruises -
Rockjumper
Tour Operator
Places to Stay
Click on WAND to see Fatbirder’s Trip Report Repository…-
Ecotourism in America
AccommodationThis is a website entirely devoted to nature based travel in the Americas. Here you can find a detailed description of each establishment organized by name, country or activity
Other Links-
InfoNatura
WebsiteWelcome to InfoNatura, a source for conservation information on the birds and mammals of Latin America and the Caribbean -
Xeno-canto
WebsiteXeno-canto hosts over 1400 species from Colombia, Peru and Brazil, over 1300 from Ecuador, over 1200 from Bolivia and more than 1100 from Venezuela
Blogs-
Aves de Los Andes
BlogEcology, biology & photography of the birds of the Andes - Argentine, Chile, Bolivia & Per
Photographers & Artists-
Lee Dingain's Photostream
GallerySeveral of my friends have mentioned that they've never seen the photos I take on my travels, so in response I've decided to set up a Flickr account. So far I've only created a few photo sets (all of South America), with the Galapagos being the most complete set, but I'll be adding many more photos over the next few days and weeks
Fatbirder - linking birders worldwide... Wildlife Travellers see our sister site: WAND
Skip to content