Recommended Guidebooks & Other Reference
 

A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America, Howell, Steve NG; Webb, Sophie; 1995/reprint 2005, Oxford University Press: This desk reference is "The Bible" for birding in this region.

 

A Field Guide to Mexican Birds, Peterson, Roger Tory; Chalif, Edward L; 1973, Houghton Mifflin: Some of the scientific names in this guide are not widely used today. However, common names haven't really changed, so it is very useful to carry into the field.

 
A Bird-Finding Guide to Mexico, Howell, Steve NG, 1999 Cornell University Press: ABFGM was published in 1999, so care needs to be taken that an area is still "birdable" before making a trip. I have found its checklist of species, which provides a chart/quick reference of regions in the Mexico where birds can be located, quite useful.
 

National Geographic Reference Atlas to the Birds of North America, Baughman, Mel, ed., National Geographic: Not a field guide, but an excellent reference for anyone interested in learning about NA birds

 
The Shorebird Guide, O'Brien, Michael; Crossley, Richard; Karlson, Kevin; 2006 Houghton Mifflin: I find s horebirds to be VERY difficult to identify, so TSG has been a useful addition to my library. Approximately half the book is photos; the other is species accounts. The only quarrel is that the maps cover the Canada and the US (not Mexico), but the species accounts make clear where the birds can be found throughout the world.
 

Common Birds of the Yucatan Peninsula, Neumann, Eduardo Llamosa; Rodriguez, Gladys M.; 2008 Dante: A small "quick and dirty" (hardback) guide to the most common birds in the region; may be most useful to the Yucatan's novice birders and/or tourists.

 
Links
 
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds; data on a variety of birds can be found on this site
 
http://www.tropicalbirdphotography.com/
Tropical Bird Photography by Jean M. Hoogacker; lovely photos of tropical birds
 
http://www.mayanbirding.com/
A wealth of information on species and birding in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (many of the same birds in these areas are also found in the Yucatan)
 
http://www.iucnredlist.org/
ICUN List of Threatened Species around the world
 
http://www.cave-exploration.com/
Not only is the Yucatan Peninsula rich in avian life, it is also heavily karstified and plentiful in underground passage. The sister-site to yucabirds.com is cave-exploration.com, which focuses on this aspect of the region.
 
 
Recommended Publications: Inspiration
 
The Art of Bird Photography, Morris, Arthur, 1998/reprint 2003, Amphoto Books: Even though it was first published before the popularity of digital, this is still a must-read for anyone interested in bird photography.
 
The Yucatan Peninsula, Lockwood, CC;1989 Louisiana State Univ.: This contains beautiful, varied photos (including birds) taken in the Peninsula. Published in 1989, it is interesting to see how the area has changed.
 

Chasing Neotropical Birds, Thornton, Vera; Thornton, Bob; 2005, University of Texas Press: A coffee table book, it contains stories and nice photos of interesting birds the authors have "chased" during their travels in the Neotropics.