Field Guides & Identification books

Discussions
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Since everyone here is a nature photographer, I thought I’d share my collection of field and identification guides. As of today I’m up to 36. (No, I don’t have a problem, I can stop anytime.:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:)

I’ve grouped them by Dewey classification and have taken a screenshot of my virtual shelves on LibraryThing. The links go to the book records on LT as well. If you click on reviews when you get there, many of them will be mine. I’m Bookmarque on LT.

Some of them are region specific and I have come to love the Great Lakes series since it’s so localized to my area. I even have one about poop and tracks! Lol. I don’t often carry one in the field, but use them when I am editing and posting pictures so I can be reasonably sure of what I’ve captured.

Standouts are marked by :+1:

Hopefully you’ll find this list useful and I would love to see what guides you rely on either in the field or after you get home so you and ID what you photographed.

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Birds & bird adjacent which apparently includes reptile & amphibians

Audubon Handbook: Eastern Birds

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians

Bird Feathers by S. David Scott & Casey McFarland :+1:

The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Sibley :+1:

Scats and Tracks of the Great Lakes by James Halfpenny

Insects & Spiders -

Bees: An Identification and Native Plant Forage Guide
by Heather N. Holm👍

Bumblebees of North America by Paul H. Williams :+1:

Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America

Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David L. Wagner

Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America by James P. Brock :+1:

Beetles of Eastern North America by Arthur V. Evans:+1:

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders

Common Spiders of North America by Richard Alan Bradley :+1:

Damselflies of Minnesota, Wisconsin & Michigan by Robert DuBois:+1:

Dragonflies of the Northwoods by Kurt Mead:+1:

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Seashells

Mushrooms, moss, liverworts & hornworts -

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms

Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora

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FG shelf 21863×551 223 KB

Common Mosses of the Northeast and Appalachians by Karl B. McKnight :+1:

Mosses, Liverworts and Hornworts by Ralph Hope

Trees, ferns, wildflowers & more mushrooms -

Peterson Field Guide to Ferns Northeastern and Central North America

Peterson Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs

Wildflowers of Wisconsin and the Great Lakes Region: A Comprehensive Field Guide by Merel R. Black

National Audubon Society Field Guide to Wildflowers Eastern Region

Wildflowers of Wisconsin by Stan Tekiela

Wetland Plants of the Upper Midwest: A Field Guide to the Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin by Steve W Chadde

Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada by Timothy J. Baroni:+1:

North American Mushrooms: A field guide to edible and inedible fungi by Orson K. Miller

Mushrooms of Northeast North America: Midwest to New England by George L. Barron :+1:

Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest by Theresa Marrone

General and regional guides -

Mushrooms of the Midwest by Michael Kuo and Andrew S. Methven

Pond Life: Revised and Updated (A Golden Guide from St. Martin’s Press) by George K. Reid

National Audubon Society Field Guide to California

Kaufman Field Guide to Nature of the Midwest by Kenn Kaufman, Kimberly Kaufman and Jeff Sayre

National Audubon Society Field Guide to New England

And lichens, which the center of the universe is apparently Isle Royal in Lake Superior -

Lichens of the North Woods by Joe Walewski

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Mushrooms Demystified is excellent if you’re a mushroom forager.

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Yes it is, also for learning about mushrooms in general, although I find the taxonomy is changing a lot now that we have DNA analysis available. In terms of ID, it’s not a great one, but then again I can use 6 books and the internet and still not have an ID with pictures alone. You need spore prints which is too much of a pain when you’re out hiking.

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David Auurora, the author of the book, taught a class at UCSF using the book as the text. I was fortunate enough to take it back in the 80’s. The book, in my opinion, was written for people who liked to eat wild mushrooms. Even when he wrote it there was confusion about some of the agaricus species which he discovered with stomach cramping on some and not the others. It’s very dated by npw I’m sure. There were no colorful pretty pictures. It was also oriented to the western United States. Since that class I’ve safely eaten wild mushrooms from California to Alaska.

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