field guides

FIREFLIES, GLOW-WORMS AND LIGHTNING BUGS, by Lynn Frierson Faust (Eastern and Central U.S. and Canada), is both charmingly written and technically expert, awakening us to their diversity.

SWIFT GUIDE TO BUTTERFLIES: By Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg, president of the North American Butterfly Association. A fully revised photo-driven butterfly ID tool. Even an easy photo-driven index.

THE NATURALIST’S NOTEBOOK by Nathaniel Wheelwright and Bernd Heinrich is a guide to being a better observer of nature in every season, with a 5-year blank calendar-journal at the back to call your own.

GARDEN INSECTS of North America (Princeton): Whitney Cranshaw and David Shetlar’s comprehensive, easy-to-use reference is a gardener’s must-have tool; now fully revised (Dec. 2017).

SPIDERS AND THEIR KIN is a tiny treasure, a little book that will get you understanding and appreciating these incredibly important creatures, and even beginning to ID the major groups. Best $7ish ever spent.

PETERSON REFERENCE GUIDE TO SPARROWS OF NORTH AMERICA, by Rick Wright, helps you get to know “your” sparrows (and juncos and towhees).

PETERSON GUIDE TO WOODPECKERS: Learn from a longtime conservationist and woodpecker expert why most species are mainly black and white, and how they evolved to withstand all that hammering and much more, plus in-depth species profiles.

COMMON SPIDERS OF NORTH AMERICA: Want to get really serious about spiders? This is the book, richly illustrated and packed with learning: ID hints, native ranges, even behavioral insights into different species.

BETTER BIRDING: Not a field guide, but a science-heavy guide to how pros observe birds using contextual cues, from senior staffers of eBird.org and American Birding Association. Includes raptors; sea, water and shorebirds; birds of the woodland edge; etc. Science-heavy.

COMMON LICHENS is an intimate look at these not-plants, not-animals that are essential to Earth’s health.

MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA: Who knew I lived alongside 52 species of mammals of America’s 462 total?

TRACKS AND SIGN OF INSECTS by Charley Eiseman demystifies all the lumps and bumps and squiggles and webs you see outdoors and ask, “What’s that?”

KAUFMAN FIELD GUIDE TO BUTTERFLIES of North America: Probably the only butterfly book you’ll ever need, plus easy to use.

KAUFMAN GUIDE TO INSECTS, a perfect overall guide to representative insects of every major group, with biology and life histories.

WEEDS OF NORTH AMERICA (Chicago University Press): the continent’s 500 most troublesome plants, identifiable in all their life stages, seed to maturity.

DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES of the West (Princeton University Press), Dennis Paulson’s ode to Western odonates.

TREES OF WESTERN NORTH AMERICA, from Princeton: 630 native and naturalized species, ID’d and profiled.

TREES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA, from Princeton, with 825 native and naturalized species ID’d and profiled.

THE SIBLEY FIELD GUIDE TO BIRDS of Eastern North America is my daily go-to for confirming who’s who out there. By David Sibley.

THE SIBLEY GUIDE TO BIRDS, the current master work of North American birds, written and illustrated by David Sibley.

DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES of the East (Princeton Field Guides) by Dennis Paulson, an ode to the Eastern odonates.

PETERSON FIELD GUIDE TO MOTHS of Northeastern North America is an eye-opener for anyone who thought only butterflies were interesting.

HAWKS IN FLIGHT by Pete Dunne and colleagues, a look into the world of raptors–their ID, and life histories.

BARK: A FIELD GUIDE to Trees of the Northeast, by Michael Wojtech, teaches ID by bark, and also what bark does and how it evolved.