Southern Mexico

“Moving from the urban to the wild, a new breed of guidebooks focuses on flora and fauna (and not in the way Harold Gatty did). The Ecotraveller’s Wildlife Guides grew out of its nature-loving author’s frustration that ‘I could not locate a single book to take along on a trip that would help me identify all the types of animals that really interested me.’ So Beletsky wrote one that did. Combining natural history -lore, habits, best places to spot each creature-with pointers on specific sites and background on the state of conservation in the region today.”“You could empty a forest’s worth of trees, what with all the books being printed about Costa Rica. Pity that so few guides so fully focus on the country’s ecological treasures as this one does. Here, you won’t find a word about the best hotels or who’s got the coldest beer. About half of its 426 slick pages are devoted to identification plates, those colorful drawings that, for instance, help you differentiate between the mealy parrott and the red-lored parrot. Joining the multitude of bird species are equally fine drawings of reptiles, monkeys, and wild cats.”“There are so many bad guides on the market trying to do what this book does so simply and so well. …few are written with the same authority and attention to detail that wildlife biologist and zoology lecturer Les Beletsky has brought to bear in this volume. It could be the best (money) you spend all trip.””…this convenient field guide-sized book is absolutely packed with information for the visitor. This book provides excellent background and field information “ strongly recommended.”“These are books I would certainly want to read before a visit.”

Les Beletsky is a professional wildlife biologist and university zoology teacher. Prior to taking up writing wildlife guides he conducted many years of field research on the ecology and behavior of birds. He is the author of numerous books, including Costa Rica, Belize, Ecuador, Peru and Hawaii in this series.