Ornithology Literature

In the early 90s the accelerated fragmentation of the Paraguayan Atlantic forest led to a series of expeditions by teams from Cambridge University to survey the remaining forest sites. The findings of these surveys are summarised in Bird Surveys and Conservation in the Paraguayan Atlantic forest (Brooks et al 1993).
The publication of A Status, Distribution and Biogeography of the Birds of Paraguay (1995) by Floyd Hayes was a landmark in Paraguayan ornithological history. Based around a checklist of critically evaluated records and enhanced by extensive personal observations, it represented a giant leap forward in our knowledge of the distribution and population of the country´s birdlife. Crucially it collated and reviewed old, scarce and hard to obtain references, something that no checklist had previously done. A growing interest in Paraguay saw the Neotropical Bird Club donate a whole issue of its journal Cotinga 4 to articles about the country.
Hayes work was built upon and updated in 2004 by the publication of An Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Paraguay (Clay and del Castillo) in association with Guyra Paraguay, which incorporated newer data from their Database of Biodiversity.  The Atlas de las Aves del Paraguay (del Castillo 2006) represented the first attempt to map the records in the database.
Guyra had previously produced numerous less ambitious publications including 101 Aves Comunes de Paraguay (Morales et al 2002) which warranted a re-print with the edition of another species 102 Aves Comunes del Paraguay (2004). Both are basic guides aimed at helping readers to identify and appreciate the species that they are most likely to see. The publication of their Guia de Campo de las Aves del Paraguay (Narosky and Clay 2006) is the first field guide to cover all the birds of Paraguay. It is a reworking of the classic work on Argentinian birds with the addition of the species that do not occur in Argentina.
Currently the only English-language guides suitable for use in Paraguay are books dealing with Argentina (of which Narosky´s Field Guide to the Birds of Argentina is perhaps the best) and de la Peña´s Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica. The latter is an “illustrated checklist” and whilst it claims to cover all the species in Paraguay there are number of omissions, errors and inaccuracies, especially in the illustrations and maps.
The absence of a reliable English-language field guide dealing specifically with Paraguay has undoubtedly been a factor in dissuading researchers and casual visitors from choosing Paraguay as a birding destination, thereby seriously hindering the advancement of our knowledge of the country´s avifauna. While this means exciting birding and new discoveries for anybody who does venture out here, it also means that Paraguayan ornithology lags behind its neighbours somewhat. This encouraged FAUNA Paraguay to produce a Field Guide to the Birds of Paraguay, due for publication in 2009 as part of the acclaimed Helm Field Guide series. This guide is designed very much to be a 21^st Century field guide - of optimal use in the field, containing detailed descriptive and identification information in addition to up-to-date distribution data, and accurate and beautiful colour plates illustrating every species.
FAUNA Paraguay is involved in producing the Mini-guides to the Birds of Paraguay, an ambitious bilingual series designed to produce high quality, fully-illustrated guides to the birds of the major birding hotspots in Paraguay. These guides are produced with the assistance of international volunteers who contribute to the fieldwork and the writing of the mini-guide on which they work.
FAUNA Paraguay continues to work to increase the volume of publications coming out of Paraguay in an effort to raise the country´s profile internationally. The inception of the Bellbird journal of Paraguayan zoology in 2006 is another major step towards putting Paraguay on the birding map.
Below is a working bibliography of major ornithological references dealing specifically with Paraguay. Some of these references are offered for download in pdf form with the permission of the copyright owners. The size of the download accompanies the link - large files may take a long time to download on a slow internet connection.
The publications which are not available for download can be found in our library. This list does not include FAUNA Paraguay publications or publications from the featured journals on this website - Notulas Faunisticas, Boletin MHNP or Bellbird - these can all be found on the publications page.

FAUNA Paraguay E-library: Click on the links to download the publications.

Publications in Ararajuba and the Revista de la Sociedad Brasileira de Ornitologia

Publications in The Auk

Publications by the American Museum of Natural History

Publications in the Wilson Bulletin and Wilson Journal of Ornithology

Classics for download
1.de Azara F 1802-1805 - Apuntamientos para la Historia Natural de los Páxaros del Paraguay y Rio de la Plata - Madrid Imprenta de la Viuda Ibarra.
Download Tomo 1 21.4MB     
Download Tomo 2 24.8MB
2.Bertoni A de W 1901 - Aves Nuevas del Paraguay. Catálogo de las Aves del Paraguay - Annal Cient. Parag 1: p1-216.
Download in pdf
3.Bertoni A de W 1907 - Segunda Contribución á la Ornitología Paraguaya. Nuevas Especies Paraguayas - Rev Inst Paraguay 1906: p298-309.
4.Brabourne L 1914 - Aviculture in Paraguay - Aviculture Magazine 3: p185-191.
5.Brooks DM 1991 - Some Notes on the Ciconiiformes in the Paraguayan Chaco - Newsletter of the Specialist Group on Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills 4:1 May.
6.Brooks DM 1991 - Algunos Antecedentes Sobre las Poblaciónes del Norte de flamenco Chileno Phoenicopterus chilensis - Boletín Grupo Phoenicopteridae Sur Andina Año 2 Numero 6 p2.
7.Brooks DM 1997 - Avian Seasonality at a Locality in the Central Paraguayan Chaco - Hornero 14: p193-203,
8.Brooks DM 2000 - New Distributional Records for Birds in the Paraguayan Chaco - Cotinga 13: p79-82.
9.Brooks TM, Clay RP, Lowen JC, Butchart SHM, Barnes R, Esquivel EZ, Etcheverry NI, Vincent JP 1995 - New Information on Nine Birds from Paraguay - Ornitologia Neotropical 6: p129-134.
10.Brooks DM, Tobias JA, Balmford A 1999 - Deforestation and Bird Extinctions in the Atlantic Forest - Animal Conservation 2: p211-222.
12.Capper DR, Clay RP, Madroño A, Mazar Barnett J, Burfield IJ, Esquivel EZ, Kennedy CP, Perren M, Pople RG 2001 - First Records, Noteworthy Observations and New Distributional Data for Birds in Paraguay - Bulletin BOC 121: p23-27.
13.Cartes JL 2006 - El Bosque Atlántico en Paraguay - Guyra Paraguay, Asunción.
14.Centro de Datos para la Conservación 1989 - Lista Preliminar de las AvesParaguay - Inédito.
15.Clay RP 1999 - A Review of the Status of the Spot-winged Wood-quail in Paraguay p33-40 in Conservation of Quail in the Neotropics Proceedings of VI Neotropical Ornithological Congress 4-10 October 1999 - Centre for Study of Neotropical Birds.
16.Clay RP, Capper DR, Mazar Barnett J, Burfield IJ, Esquivel EZ, Fariña R, Kennedy CP, Perrens M, Pople RG 1998 - White-winged Nightjar Caprimulgus candicans and Cerrado Conservation: The Key Findings of Project Aguara Ñu 1997 - Cotinga 9: p52-56.
17.Clay RP, del Castillo H 2004 - Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Paraguay - Guyra Paraguay, Asunción.
18.Clay RP, Lopez-Lanus B, Tobias JA, Lowen JC, Mazar Barnett J 2000 - The Display of the White-winged Nightjar - Journal of Field Ornithology 71: p619-626.
19.Clay RP, Madroño A 1997 - The First Reported Nest and Eggs of the Russet-winged Spadebill Platyrinchus leucoryphus - Cotinga 8: p83-85.
20.Clay RP, Madroño A, Lowen JC 1998 - A Review of the Status and Ecology of the Black-fronted Piping-guan Pipile jacutinga in Paraguay in Biology and Conservation of the Piping-guans (Aves: Cracidae) - Cracid Specialist Group Special Publication Number 1: p14-25.
21.Clay RP, Madroño A, Villanueva S 1999 - Estudios de las Colonias de Nidicación y Monitoreo del Chopi Say´ju Xanthopsar flavus en los Humedales de San Miguel Potrero y Zonas Aledañas - Inédito.
23.Contreras JR 1995a - Actualizaciones Ornitológicas Para el Atlas Ornítogeográfico de la Republica del Paraguay. Passeriformes: Hirundinidae - LOLA.
26.Contreras JR, Gonzales-Romero N, Berry LM 1990 - Lista Preliminar de la Avifauna de República del Paraguay - Cuadrnos Técnicos Félix de Azara 2 Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina.
27.del Castillo H, Clay RP, de Egea J 2006 - Atlas de las Aves del Paraguay - Guyra Paraguay, Asunción.
28.Dlhouy C, Weber C 1991 - Chek-list des Oiseaux Récoltés au Cours des Missions du Museum de Genéve au Paraguay (1978-1990) - Museum de Genéve Inédito.
29.Ericson PGP, Amarilla LA 1997 - First Observations and New Distributional Data for Birds in Paraguay - Bulletin BOC 117: p60-67.
30.Hayes FE 1991 - Raptor Densities Along the Paraguay River: Seasonal, Geographical and Time of Day Variation - Journal of Raptor Research 25: p101-108.
31.Hayes FE 1995 - Status, Distribution and Biogeography of The Birds Of Paraguay - American Birding Association Monographs in Field Ornithology Number 1.
32.Hayes FE, Areco de Medina 1988 - Notes on the Ecology of the Avifauna of Choré, Department of San Pedro, Paraguay - Hornero 13: p59-70.
34.Hayes FE, Goodman SM, Fox JA, Granizo Tamayo T, López NE 1990 - North American Bird Migrants in Paraguay - Condor 92: p947-960.
35.Hayes FE, Goodman SM, Lopez NE 1990 - New or Noteworthy Bird Records from the Matogrosense Region of Paraguay - Bulletin BOC 110: p94-103.
36.Hayes FE, Granizo Tamayo T 1992 - Bird Densities Along Three Tributaries of the Paraná River in Eastern Paraguay - Hornero 13: p254-256.
37.Hayes FE, Scharf PA 1993 - Birding in Paraguay - Birding April 93: p119-125.
38.Hayes FE, Scharf PA 1995 - The Birds of Parque Nacional Cerro Corá, Paraguay - Cotinga 4: p20-24.
39.Hayes FE, Scharf PA 1995 - The Birds of Parque Nacional Ybycuí, Paraguay - Cotinga 4: p14-19.
40.Hayes FE, Scharf PA, Loftin H 1991 - A Birder´s Field Checklist of the Birds of Paraguay - Russ´s Natural History Books.
41.Hayes FE, Scharf PA, Ridgeley RS 1994 - Austral Bird Migrants in Paraguay - Condor 96: p83-97.
42.Ihering H 1904 - As Aves do Paraguay en Comparacao com as de Sao Paulo - Revista Museo Paulista 6: p310-344.
43.Laubmann A 1939 - Wissenschhaftliche Ergebnisse der Deutschen Gran Chaco-Expedition: Die Vogel von Paraguay 1 - Stuttgart Strecker und Schroder.
44.Laubmann A 1940 - Wissenschhaftliche Ergebnisse der Deutschen Gran Chaco-Expedition: Die Vogel von Paraguay 2 - Stuttgart Strecker und Schroder.
45.Lesterhuis AJ, Clay RP 2001 - First Record of a Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres in Paraguay - Wader Study Group Bulletin 95: p68.
46.Lesterhuis AJ, Clay RP 2003 - The First Record of Dunlin Calidris alpina in Paraguay and a Summary of the South American Records of the Species - Hornero18: p65-67.
47.Lopez N 1985 - Avifauna del Departamento de Alto Paraguay - El Volante Migratorio 4: p9-13.
48.Lopez N 1997 - Evaluación del Habitat, Densidad Relativa y Situación del Chopi Say´ju Xanthopsar flavus en San Miguel Potrero, Departamento Itapúa - Entidad Binacional Yacyretá.
49.Lopez N 1999 - Avifauna de la Zona de Influencia de la Represa Yacyretá y del Refugio de Vida Silvestre Yabebyry - p117-145 in Conservacion de la Vida Silvestre en el Área de Influencia de la Represa Yacyretá - Asunción Paraguay.
50.Lowen JC, Bartrina L, Brooks TM, Clay RP, Tobias J 1996a - Project YACUTINGA 95: Bird Surveys and Conservation Priorities in Eastern Paraguay - Cotinga 5: p14-19.
51.Lowen JC, Bartrina L, Clay RP, Tobias JA 1996 - Biological Surveys and Conservation Priorities in Eastern Paraguay - CSB Conservation Publications
52.Lowen JC, Clay RP, Mazar Barnett, Madroño A, Pearman M, Lopez-Lanus B, Tobias JA, Liley D, Brooks TM, Esquivel EZ, Reid J 1997 - New and Noteworthy Observations on the Paraguayan Avifauna - Bulletin BOC 117: p275-293.
53.Lowen JC, Clay RP, Brooks TM, Esquivel EZ, Bartrina L, Barnes R, Butchart SHM, Etcheverry NI 1995 - Bird Conservation in the Paraguayan Atlantic Forest - Cotinga 4: p58-64.
55.Madroño A 1995 - El Chaco Paraguayo: Ambientes Naturales, sus Aves y Problemas de Conservación - Cotinga 4: p25-29.
56.Madroño A, Abelaira A, Jiménez de Miguel B 1994 - Formicivora melanogaster Una Nueva Especie para el Paraguay (Aves: Formicariidae) - Nótulas Faunisticas 65: p1-4.
57.Madroño A, Clay RP, Robbins MB, Rice NH, Faucett RC, Lowen JC 1997 - An Avifaunal Survey of the Vanishing Interior Atlantic Forest of San Rafael National Park, Departments Itapúa/Caazapá, Paraguay - Cotinga 7: p45-53.
58.Madroño A, Esquivel EZ 1995 - Reserva Natural del Bosque de Mbaracayú: Su Importancia en la Conservación de Aves Amenazadas, Cuasi-amenazadas y Endémicas del Bosque Atlántico - Cotinga 4: p52-57.
59.Madroño A, Esquivel EZ 1997 - Noteworthy Records and Range Extensions of some birds from the Reserva Natural del Bosque Mbaracayú, Departamento del Canindayú, Paraguay - Bulletin BOC 117: p166-176.
60.Madroño A, Robbins MB, Zykowski K 1997 - Contribución al Conocimiento Ornitológico del Bosque Atlántico Interior del Paraguay: Parque Nacional Caaguazú, Caazapá - Cotinga 7: p54-60.
61.Mazar Barnett J, Coonier EG, Velázquez M, Clay RP 2002 - Primer Registro de Nidificación y Actualización Sobre la Presencia de Botaurus pinnatus en Paraguay - Hornero 17: p49-51.
63.Mazar Barnett J, Madroño A 2003 - Aves de la Reserva Natural del Bosque Mbaracayú - Guyra Paraguay/Fundación Moisés Bertoni.
64.Paynter Jnr RA 1989 - Ornithological Gazeteer of Paraguay 2^nd Edition - Harvard.
Download pdf 2.67mb
65.Pereyra JA 1950 - La Obra Orntiológica de Azara: Apuntamientos para la Histroia Natural de los Páxaros del Paraguay y Rio de la Plata: Comentada y Actualizada - Buenos Aires Biblioteca Americana.
66.Perez N, Colman A 1995a - Aves de Área Itaipú - Biota 2: p25-55.
67.Perez N, Colman A 1995b - Aves del Refugio Biológico Mbaracayú, Salto del Guairá, Paraguay - Biota 4: p1-24.
68.Perez N, Colman A 2003 - Ornitofauna del Área de Itaipú: Lista de Aves por Sitio - Itaipú Binacional.
69.Peris SJ 1990 - Peso y Biometría de Algunas Aves del Chaco Húmedo (Presidente Hayes, Paraguay) - Ornitologia Neotropical 1: p31-32.
70.Peris SJ, Cabello LA, Suarez F, Peco B 1987 - Las Aves del Bajo Chaco: Evaluación Preliminar - Inf Cient Inst Cs Bás Asunción 5: p27-33.
71.Podtiaguin B 1941 - Catálogo Sistemático de las Aves del Paraguay. Aumentado por las Contribuciones al Conocimiento de la Ornitología Paraguaya - Rev Soc Cient Parag 5: p1-109.
72.Podtiaguin B 1944 - Catálogo Sistemático de las Aves del Paraguay. Aumentado por las Contribuciones al Conocimiento de la Ornitología Paraguaya - Rev Soc Cient Parag 6: p7-120.
74.Robbins MB, Zimmer KJ 2005 - Taxonomy, Vocalisations and Natural History of Philydor dimidiatum Furnariidae with Comments on the Systematics of Syndactyla and Simoxenops - Bulletin BOC 125: p212-218.
75.Salas-Dueñas D, Mereles F, Yanosky A (eds.) 2004 - Humedales de Paraguay - Comité Nacional de Humedales, Asunción.
78.Steinbacher J 1968 - Beitrage zur Kenntnits der Vogel von Paraguay - Abhandl. Senckenbergischen Naturf Gesell 502: p1-106.
79.Steinbacher J 1968 - Weitere Beitrage uber Vogel von Paraguay - Senckenbergiana Biologic 49: p317-365.
81.Storer RW 1989 - Notes on Paraguayan Birds - Occasional Papers of Museum ofZoology of University of Michigan 719: p1-21.
82.Wetmore A 1926 - Observations on the Birds of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile - Bulletin of US National Museum 133.
83.Zapata ARP 2003 - Primer Registro de Schistochlamys ruficapillus ruficapillus (Emberizidae) para Paraguay - Hornero 17: p97-98.
84.Zykowski K, Clay RP 2001 - First Documented Record of the Dusky-legged Guan Penelope obscura in Paraguay - Bulletin of the Cracid Specialist Group 13: p20-21.

Sound Recordings

The only commercial sound recording dealing specifically with Paraguayan birds is the excellent Cantos de Aves del Bosque Atlántico del Alto Paraná by Alejandro Bodrati and Myriam Velazquez which contains recordings of 75 species. Many recordings made in Argentina are also of use in Paraguay, notably Stranecks comprehensive Las Vozes de las Aves del Argentina Series - Aves de Misiones is useful for the Paraguayan Atlantic forest, Aves Pampeanas for wetland and grassland areas and Aves de las Serranías Centrales contains recordings of many Chaco species. Its only drawback is that it is available only on cassette. Viellard´s Birds of the Pantanal, while recorded in Brazil is equally relevant to the Paraguayan Pantanal, though many of the featured species are easily located without sound equipment.

A series of recordings are available dealing with single families, notably those in the "Voices of Neotropical ..." series. Particularly useful are those dealing with Tinamous, Pigeons and Doves, Nightjars, Owls and Rails. The recent publication of Songs of the Antbirds by Isler and Whitney has been a major step in helping to locate these secretive birds. Voices of the New World Parrots by Whitney et al is another publication in the same vein, useful for identifying parrots as they fly screeching overhead.
The impressive CD-ROM Birds of Bolivia by Sjoerd Mayer is a highly-recommended work with a vast collection of bird calls and photographs, many of relevance to Paraguay. In fact some of the calls were actually recorded here.

If you are looking to read up on Paraguayan birds, then you will soon discover that there is a frustrating lack of literature dealing specifically with the country. What does exist is generally in the form of short papers scattered through a variety of periodicals and journals, difficult to obtain even at the best of times. Here we provide a brief run-down of the major work dealing with Paraguayan ornithology through the ages.
The earliest attempts to cover the country´s birds in print were made by de Azara (1802, 1805) and Bertoni, though these works are now museum pieces and both suffer from a lack of available reference material at the time that they were written. Following on from these early efforts Podtiaguin´s (1941) attempt to produce a manual of Paraguayan birds was aborted before the completion of the non-passerines. With Paraguay considered an unstable working environment for many years, the first shot at a checklist was not made until Schade and Pallarés (1967-71) undertook a review of the knowledge of the time, assisted mainly by the collection at the Museo Zoologíca at the Universidad de Asunción. The next major step forward was Paynter´s ornithological gazeteer (1977, revised 1989) which included a superb bibliography of Paraguayan ornithology, that sadly highlights the lack of attention that the country has received from researchers. Several further checklists published in the decades following Schade and Pallarés, were produced uncritically and amounted to little more than compilations of existing lists.

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Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law. Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay. Photographs on this web-site were taken by Paul Smith, Hemme Batjes, Regis Nossent, Alberto Esquivel, Arne Lesterhuis and Hugo del Castillo and are used with their permission.

Our partner website Xeno-Canto hosts a great number of calls from New World birds and the vast majority of Paraguayan species are featured. Numerous recordings made in Paraguay by FAUNA Paraguay recordists Paul Smith and Arne Lesterhuis also feature. And of course don´t forget to check out the bird species galleries here on the FAUNA Paraguay page where new bird recordings are being added regularly.