I enjoy nice field guides almost as much as going out into the field and really admire the accomplishments of the authors in combining art and utility. Many of the guides already described above are among my favorites, but two of my favorites not mentioned yet are:
San Diego County Native Plants by James Lightner - locally comprehensive and compact with a knack for highlighting key distinguishing characteristics between species. Those are rare features among plant field guides in the Western USA - Newcombe’s guide manages this in the Northeastern USA.
Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates by Charley Eisenman and Noah Charney - this one unlocks the IDs on a whole segment of the natural world that was previously a mystery to me (weird things growing on plants, etc), and is particularly useful as it is organized by features and not taxonomic group. I’m hoping for a similar treatment of fungal/microbial plant pathogens.
So many great resources here… my bookmarks and wishlists both are growing! :D
As an outdoor/nature educator in the midst of naturalist studies of my own, my interests are currently broad but ever-deepening, as is my field guide collection. I especially like these, many of which are regionally specific (Oklahoma/Midwest):
Also Forest Trees of Oklahoma which I’ve always just used online via our Forestry Dept, but it looks like they’ve removed it so I’ll have to get myself a hard copy.
Many of those mentioned in this thread are in my overall collection, too:
I love all the Golden Guides for their beautiful illustrations & lightweight portability! They tend to be the first looked through by youth in outdoor programs I run, and I think Seashells may have been one of the first I picked up even though we’re landlocked here in Oklahoma (found it at a library booksale) :)
Anything by Mark Elbroch. Especially mammal tracks and sign, bird tracks and sign, and skulls of North America.
@thompsonmark23 I’ve referenced Mammal Tracks several times this week and didn’t realize there was a skull-specific one too, thank you!
austinsmith: “Does anyone have good field guides for intertidal organisms, specifically in the US around Florida? I like being able to ID inverts I find at and around the beach.”
Blair and Dawn Witherington’s “Florida’ s Living Beaches” is an excellent book in many ways. Of course it doesn’t have every invertebrate in it, and it has a lot of other things too, but it has a heck of a lot of stuff and is easy to use.
Does anyone now of any good field guides for plants in the Northeastern US ?(I live in Ohio)
For wildflowers of the eastern US, I really like Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. You have to learn to use the key system, but it is time well spent. Published in 1977, it is still in print. (Note that one commonly-seen edition has California wildflowers on the cover–do not be fooled, it is for the NE US.)
I received a copy of 양서파충류 도감 (Amphibian & Reptile Guide; in Korean), co-authored by iNaturalist user pintail a few months ago and have been blown away by the detail inside.
Scrolling 1/3 of the way down the linked page will get you some example pages – keys, photos (including common color morphs), highlights of significant morphological features, multiple photos of amphibians at different developmental levels, sound wave figures for frog calls, venom comparison charts, seasonality graphs, and snake skin sheddings.
Since there’s another vote for Newcomb, I’m going to find a copy today and quit putting it off!
Welcome to the iNat forum, @cotinis!
There’s a new one we’ll be getting soon. We know one of the authors, it should be excellent.
Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (A Timber Press Field Guide)
https://www.amazon.com/Wildflowers-Atlantic-Southeast-Timber-Press/dp/1604697601/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1EDJPC10C04X8&keywords=wildflowers+of+the+atlantic+southeast&qid=1561162085&s=gateway&sprefix=Wildflowers+%2Caps%2C152&sr=8-1
Does anyone know of a dedicated Salticidae guide perhaps for the Northeast of North America?
A new one: “Field Guide to the Flower Flies of Northeastern North America”, by Jeffrey H. Skevington, Michelle M. Locke, Andrew D. Young, Kevin Moran, William J. Crins, and Stephen A. Marshall. Bits and pieces of this guide have been online for about a decade now, but the full thing is well worth the cost. Full-color photos, 1 species per page, covers every species in the northeast including several undescribed ones, and very clear text describing the most obvious ways to distinguish between species. Since getting my copy in May I’ve managed to observe some new-to-me species in my area, and confidently ID a couple of species for the first time on iNaturalist, and I’m not alone: several more new species have been observed on iNaturalist this summer thanks in part to this guide.
Amazon (US): https://www.amazon.com/Flower-Northeastern-America-Princeton-Guides/dp/0691189404
Amazon (Canada): https://www.amazon.ca/Field-Guide-Flower-Northeastern-America/dp/0691189404
I found a great field guide in the library today: Fishes of Arkansas by Henry W. Robison & Thomas M. Buchanan. It has keys and detailed drawings, which I haven’t seen in other fish field guides for the southeastern US.
An old thread, but thought I would echo a few of the comments about BugGuide based on my recent experiences. I’m finding that for new or unknown (to me anyway!), using both iNat and BG together is very effective. iNat’s computer vision/ID suggestion is often very helpful to get me down to genus or family level, which I can then use to in an advanced search in BG for my state and surrounding states. Often this will point to the correct genus or species, which I can use for an ‘educated guess’ on species ID on iNat (I’ll often include a link to my BG search results as justification/explanation for my choice). If the ID remains uncertain–or there are no good photos of the insect for my area–I’ll upload them to BG as an ID request, where I often get great expert advice/help pointing towards genus/species ID. If/when I do, I can use that to improve my iNat ID. Using both BG and iNat together has produced some very good results for me, and allows me to contribute some useful observations/data to both platforms for others to use…
Maybe someone would need it, but there’re some cool guides for Russian nature that helped me:
Amphibians of Russia (Dunaev, 2018), Freshwater fish of Central Russia (Vasil’eva, 2018)
Opisthobranchia of Russian seas (Martyov, Korshunova, 2011)
And great series of Crimean nature, especiall this book about fish
Also I found these links useful:
European plantparasites https://bladmineerders.nl/
UK hoverfly larvae http://www.dipteristsforum.org.uk/documents/DD/df_1_9_Colour_Guide_to%20Hoverfly_Larvae.pdf
T.S.Vsevolodova-Perel, The earthworms of the of Russia (1997) - no link, only the file
Yes, it looks really good. I have not had a chance to sit down with it and read it in detail. (I was lucky–I contributed several photos and Dr. Skevington kindly sent me a copy.)
I’d like to put in some positive words for the old fashioned field guides. The earlier editions of Peterson’s Field Guide to the Birds (eastern North America), are actually very good for learning. They have plates with small illustrations of many birds on one page. This is really helpful for getting an overview. These are long out of print, but available from used book sources.
A similar guide for beetles of eastern North America is Dillon and Dillon’s (Elizabeth and Lawrence, spouses I believe) Manual of the Common Beetles of Eastern North America (1961 as one volume, also a later reprint in two volumes, I believe). There are just a few color plates, but there are 80 monochrome illustrations (engravings) with many beetles on each plate. There are also detailed keys with very good illustrations, and handy illustrations of beetle anatomy. Though the taxonomy is somewhat out-of-date, as an overview of North American beetles it will never be equaled. Unfortunately it rather rare on the used market.
I have newer guides to both birds and beetles, but I am a big fan of the mass comparison plates, with many smaller illustrations grouped together. This is still an area where print references can excel–it is much more efficient to flip through a bunch of plates for quick visual comparison than to search through web pages.
I also like the old-fashioned paper field guides and have a bookshelf full of them, most of which are a bit outdated but still useful. The problem is that, if you’re interested in a diversity of organisms, you really can’t take them into the field with you. But digital photography has largely solved that problem since you can use the guide back at your home or office while looking at an image on your computer screen. The field guide has evolved into a desk guide, at least for nature photographers.
One of my favorites for Texas is the Dragonflies of Texas created by John C. Abbot. I have a copy that I use a lot during the summer months. I also have a Peterson Fourth Edition to Birds of Western North America which I have used since I got it back in 2012 the year I graduated, I have most of the National Wildlife Federation collection. The bird and tree guides are the best. I have the insect one and like it but it doesn’t have a lot of the stuff that I tend to find but it is still pretty good to give you a generalization and is good in that respect. I also have read the National Geographic Birds to North America that one is amazing. I don’t have a personal copy but they had it in my High School library and that was the first guide I ever used to ID birds that I would find around the school. I liked that one a lot. The best ones I like have range maps and good general information. The dragonfly guide gets bonus points for it has tips on how it lives and where you might be able to find it. It also has that handy size guide to let you know how big your targets are. Still taste is choice they say so it just depends on what you want but these are the ones I use pretty often.
I would recommend Blair and Dawn Witheringtons’ “Florida’s Living Beaches” which has all that and more besides (plants, birds, human artifacts etc). Its little bit heavy, not a pocket book, but worth the weight.
For Florida seashells, especially for beginners, I like Blair and Dawn Witheringtons’ “Florida’s Seashells: a Beachcombers Guide”. It does have a few errors, but both books are very pleasant to look at and easy to use.
Probably inaturalist when it comes to species out of the US. As for an actual guide, Birds Of Texas is great. It may sound specific but I know there are a lot of inatters in the lone star state. One thing I like is that it shows both male and female plumages where it applies. It covers all the species seen here on a regular basis, as well as several irregular ones. Small enough to carry along, also quite water resistant compared to some other guides. Has a nice built in checklist too.
Generally my preference is localized regional field guides, e.g. 'Amphibians & Reptiles of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks" by Edward D. Koch and Charles R. Peterson; or “Reptiles & Amphibians of the Mojave Desert” by Joshua M. Parker and Simone Brito.
I usually pick them up at places like Half Price Books.
Right now I am starting to get interested in birding (thanks to Jason Ward on Twitter) so I bought a couple new ones, and they aren’t regional (well big regions I suppose) - “Birds of Northern California” by David E. Quady, Jon L. Dunn, Kimball L. Garrett, and Brian E. Small and “National Geographic - A Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America” by Jon L. Dunn and Jonathon Alderfer.
The latter I like because it has range maps and it stays open easier, the former I like because it is more specific to my area even though it still has a lot of birds that aren’t here.
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The Stebbins '85 field guide to Reptiles and Amphibians is probably my all time favorite.