Acknowledgments -- Dreams meet reality in the American tropics : a preface -- Avian addresses : structure of a rainforest bird community -- Tropical diversity : why so many bird species in tropical forests? -- Ghosts of rainforests past : Amazonian biogeography -- High-Andean genealogy : unraveling Ice Age secrets -- Tropical travelers : migration within the Tropics -- The clubbiest of clubs : life in a mixed-species flock -- Antbirds don't eat ants : rhythms and rituals at ant swarms -- Who is the fairest? Colorfulness in tropical and temperate birds -- Fruit of the land : birds, fruit and seed dispersal -- Anatomy of a fruit eater : foraging tactics of fruit-eating birds -- A good song and dance : alternative life-styles of manakins and cotingas -- Territories or traplines? Hummingbird foraging strategies -- Cold reality : highland hummingbirds -- Sallying forth : a flycatcher Baedeker -- Finding a needle in the haystack : a vulture's view of paradise -- The costs and benefits of growing old : life and love among the caciques -- Sound strategies : sopranos should sing from the treetops -- Perilous paradise : tropical river islands -- In search of a season : when do tropical birds nest? -- Bibliography -- Index.