Birds of Tropical America

Steven Hilty is a professional guide with Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, the largest international birding tour organizer in the world. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona and is a Research Associate at the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History.

• AcknowledgmentsDreams Meet Reality in the American Tropics: A PrefaceAvian Addresses: Structure of a RainforestBird Community Tropical Diversity: Why So Many Bird Species in Tropical Forests?Ghosts of Rainforests Past: Amazonian BiogeographyHigh-Andean Genealogy: Unraveling Ice Age SecretsTropical Travelers: Migration Within the TropicsThe Clubbiest of Clubs: Life in a Mixed-Species FlockAntbirds Don't Eat Ants: Rhythms and Rituals at Ant SwarmsWho Is the Fairest? Colorfulness in Tropical and Temperate BirdsFruit of the Land: Birds, Fruit and Seed DispersalAnatomy of a Fruit Eater: Foraging Tactics of Fruit-Eating BirdsA Good Song and Dance: Alternative Life-Styles of Manakins and CotingasTerritories or Traplines? Hummingbird Foraging StrategiesCold Reality: Highland HummingbirdsSallying Forth: A Flycatcher BaedekerFinding a Needle in the Haystack: A Vulture's View of ParadiseThe Costs and Benefits of Growing Old: Life and Love Among the CaciquesSound Strategies: Sopranos Should Sing From the TreetopsPerilous Paradise: Tropical River IslandsIn Search of a Season: When Do Tropical Birds Nest?EpilogueBibliographyIndex

Birds of Tropical America offers a comprehensive look into the lives of some of the most fascinating birds in the world. The book will entertain and educate the amateur birder and professional ornithologist alike and would be a valuable addition to libraries at home and university. (Condor) Hilty, who has led birding expeditions to Central and South America and the Caribbean, supplies not a field guide to species identification but rather a natural history of tropical birds. He writes about tropical diversity, nesting habits, the structure of a rain forest bird community, biogeography, Andean genealogy, bird migration within the tropics, bird color and patterns, seed dispersal, foraging techniques, courtship rituals, and song patterns. This is a fascinating book for enthusiastic birders and stay-at-home naturalists alike.(Booklist) [Hilty] deals with such fascinating topics as why there are so many species in tropical America, why antbirds don’t eat ants, why there are so many flycatchers, why tropical birds are so colorful (or not), how hummingbirds survive and even prosper in the Andes, and what makes manakins and cotingas do their curious songs and dances. He writes with knowledge, grace, and humor. . . . After [Alexander] Skutch, Hilty is the finest synthesizer and popularizer of the life of Neotropical birds.(Birding)