Princeton University Press continues its fine collection of bird identification books with recent release of books covering the West Indies and Australia. This source (Princeton) is worth a look if you plan to go birding in either of those locations or in Central or South America, Africa, Antarctica, Europe, Russia, China, or Japan. The West Indies book includes dozens and dozens of species we see here during breeding season. This is where many species go to spend the cold months, or at least are seen there as vagrants. A birder on one of the West Indies islands would be as happy to see a Song Sparrow, for instance, as I was a few years ago to see a Red-legged Honeycreeper on the largest of the seven islands known as the Dry Tortugas. This cluster of islands, mostly sand and coral, is 70 miles west of Key West, part of Florida, but barely. Honeycreepers are native to Central and South America, including Cuba (a wonderful place to bird that we might one day be able to visit again).
About the Tortugas: If you're birding in Florida and get as far south as Key West, you can take a day trip to the islands via a local ferry boat. You'll be visting a national park, home to Fort Jefferson, a massive structure intended to provide security for the US., then abandoned uncompleted in 1862. Birders go to the islands for best U.S. chances to see Brown and Black noddys (members of the tern family), upwards of 80,000 Sooty Terns during nesting season, Brown and Masked boobies, the only U.S. nesting colony of Magnificent Frigatebirds, plus any of the 300+ species recorded on the island (depending upon season and good fortune). Bring a lunch (and plenty of water; there is no fresh water on the island), see the fort, enjoy the sand, and see some birds you're unlikely to see elsewhere in this country.
