Best Apps and Field Guides for Puerto Rico Birds

The reference field guide

Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, by Herbert A. Raffaele, Clive Petrovic, Sergio A. Colón López, Lisa D. Yntema, and José A. Salguero Faria, is the fully revised third edition, published by Princeton University Press in 2021. It covers 347 native and introduced species, including all 19 endemics, with 87 color plates, text and art on facing pages, and species organized by habitat.

It comes in print and as an ebook, and includes information on birding sites. If you are traveling across several islands, Birds of the West Indies, by the same lead author and colleagues, covers the whole insular Caribbean; Princeton published an edition in 2020. For a Puerto Rico-focused trip, the island-specific guide is more detailed and easier to use in the field.

Photo books and Spanish-language material

Mark W. Oberle published Puerto Rico's Birds in Photographs with Editorial Humanitas, first in 2000, and the Spanish version Las Aves de Puerto Rico en Fotografías, whose 2019 edition, with Elizabeth Cromwell, runs 136 pages. BirdsCaribbean's Caribbean Birding Trail recommends it alongside the Raffaele guide as field books for Puerto Rico.

Photos help learners compare real birds, but an illustrated plate shows the key marks better in a single posture. For schools and communities, the Cornell Lab published a guide to Puerto Rico's urban birds with local names and behavior of common species. And this site's profiles gather Puerto Rican names, photos, and status for every species.

Apps: Merlin, eBird, and iNaturalist

Merlin Bird ID is free and offers four routes: Sound ID, which identifies songs with machine learning; Photo ID; simple questions about the bird; and browsing by place and season. It is powered by eBird data and lets you download packs for offline use. Before your trip, check the pack list for the one that covers Puerto Rico and download it on Wi-Fi.

eBird Mobile doesn't identify; it records. It builds checklists by place and time, suggests the most likely species for the date, flags species that are rare for the area, and works offline with regional packs. iNaturalist, run by a nonprofit, suggests species from photos and lets other users confirm the identification; it also covers plants, reptiles, and insects.

Sound libraries

In Puerto Rico many birds are heard before they are seen, from the Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo in the forest to the Puerto Rican Owl at night. Xeno-canto is an open collection of field recordings, with authorship and licensing for each file, and Cornell's Macaulay Library archives audio, photos, and video linked to eBird checklists, with filters by region.

This site's sound atlas organizes recordings of Puerto Rico species with spectrograms, which helps when comparing similar songs. One practical tip: listen to recordings before you go, and don't play them in the field to attract birds; the ABA Code of Birding Ethics asks birders to limit that use, especially in heavily birded places.

Organizations and online references

The Puerto Rican Ornithological Society (SOPI) maintains the official list of Puerto Rico birds, projects such as AtlasPR, and member activities; its articles include an English version. BirdsCaribbean, founded in 1988, coordinates the Caribbean Waterbird Census, shorebird counts from August through October, and the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival.

In Puerto Rico, the Caribbean Birding Trail includes the Camuy coastal area, the Culebra and Laguna Cartagena refuges, and the Jobos Bay reserve. Watch the numbers: that page cites 354 species and 17 endemics, counts that predate the 2022 and 2023 taxonomic changes. Cornell's Birds of the World offers detailed life histories by subscription, with some free preview accounts.

What is the best field guide to Puerto Rico birds?

Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands by Raffaele and colleagues, third edition from Princeton University Press (2021). It covers 347 species, including all 19 endemics, with 87 color plates.

Is there a Spanish photo book of Puerto Rico birds?

Yes: Las Aves de Puerto Rico en Fotografías by Mark W. Oberle, published by Editorial Humanitas; the 2019 edition, with Elizabeth Cromwell, runs 136 pages. The English version is titled Puerto Rico's Birds in Photographs.

Which app identifies birds by sound in Puerto Rico?

Merlin Bird ID, free from Cornell, includes Sound ID. Download the pack that covers Puerto Rico first, and treat each suggestion as a lead to confirm by sight, place, and season.

Is a merlin a bird or an app?

Both. Merlin is a small falcon (Falco columbarius), called Falcón Migratorio in Puerto Rico, that visits the island in winter, and it is also the name of Cornell's bird identification app.

What is the difference between eBird and Merlin?

Merlin helps you identify a bird by photo, sound, or questions. eBird records what you saw, with place, time, and count, and shares that data with science. Both are free and work offline.

Why do some sources say 17 endemics and others 19?

Because counts depend on the taxonomy used. American Ornithological Society changes in 2022 and 2023 recognized new Caribbean species, and older guides and pages keep the earlier count.