FOTO VERDE TOURS' READING LIST

Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. By Gary Stiles and Alexander Skutch.
A classic, must-have for birders, this paperback is portable and highly informative for ID purposes and for natural history and ecology buffs.

The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide. By Richard Garrigues.
A new classic for birders, this compact paperback field guide is written especially for birders, with easy to use ID keys and range maps. While not as information-packed as Stiles and Skutch's book above, it is a great alternative for those who are not familiar with Costa Rica's geography and want a lightweight guide to identify many species of birds quickly.

Tropical Plants of Costa Rica: A Guide to Native and Exotic Flora. By Willow Zuchowski.
If you’re into plants, this is the book to bring along on your trip to Costa Rica. Written by a Missouri Botanical Garden botanist who has lived for years in Costa Rica, this book is full of info on the plants you’re likely to encounter during your travels here. The photographs are of decent quality and may just work better than illustrations for this plant book.

The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna between Two Continents, between Two Seas. By Jay Savage.
An excellent but quite hefty book with quality photos. Probably better to read before or after your trip but not one you’ll be likely to want to pack with your luggage.

A Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica. By Twan Leenders. Informative and small in size, this is a nice book to bring with you to Costa Rica if you are interested in herpetofauna. The pictures leave a lot to be desired, and the book is not as comprehensive as Savage's but the portability makes it a useful reference.

The Natural History of Costa Rican Mammals. By Mark Wainwright.
A fantastic little book that you’ll want to have along if you are interested in mammals. The author, a biologist, combines scientific and popular info along with great illustrations. Mammals are relatively hard to observe in Costa Rica but this book will tell you all about what you did and didn’t see.

Costa Rica: Traveller's Wildlife Guides. By Les Beletsky.
A good, though far from complete (which would be a daunting task given the country's astounding diversity!), field guide to Costa Rica’s wildlife with nice illustrations and plenty of info on commonly seen animals and even plants. It’s not a replacement for either the Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica if you’re into birds (see above) or the Tropical Plants of Costa Rica if you’re into plants (see above), but it’s a very nice, portable all-around guide.

Lonely Planet: Watching Wildlife in Central America. By Luke Hunter & David Andrew.
This book is unique in that it offers an overview of wildlife hotspots throughout Central America. It's quite compact and also serves a good source for describing some of the main species and groups of animals (from mammals to birds to herps to insects) that one is likely to encounter. In addition, the book has a number of Greg's photos, which makes it an invaluable collector's item! :-)

A Neotropical Companion. By John Kricher.
This is a fantastic paperback you’ll want to have along if you’re interested in understanding the ecology of tropical ecosystems. The author, an ecologist, does a masterful job presenting the complex hypotheses and theories explaining ecological processes in the tropics in a manner that is engaging for scientists and the generally educated public alike.

The History of Costa Rica. By Iván Molina and Steven Palmer.
A very small paperback that gives a great account of Costa Rican history from a political and economic perspective.

Costa Rica: A Quick Guide to Customs and Etiquette. By Culture Smart/Jane Koutnik.
A great little paperback book packed with historical info and things you might want to know about life in Costa Rica and the people who live here.

Voices of the Cloud Forest. Audio CD by David L. Ross Jr.
A great CD that mixes ambient sounds from a Costa Rican cloud forest (Monteverde) with bird calls and ID information. You'll enjoy this CD for learning and remembering cloud forest bird calls and playing at home to bring back memories of your visit to Costa Rica.

Natural Sounds of Costa Rica. Audio CD by Andrew Roth.
Another great audio CD that mixes ambient sound and calls for ID purposes (descriptions provided in the accompanying booklet). This CD represents more different habitats (beach, lowland rainforest, cloud forest) than the CD by Ross described above.