Field Guides for identifying?

[Trivium Academy]

We're in Georgia and will live in GA for a long time (if not our whole lives) and I want small but concise field guides for identifying purposes. Are the DK Smithsonian or Petersen Field Guides best? Or do you have a different suggestion? We already have a great Birds of Georgia book, btw.

We're starting nature study and I want to equip our backpacks.


I did find this title for trees which seems to be great for discussions and identifying
http://www.amazon.com/Identifying-Trees-All-Season-Eastern-America/dp/0811733602/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product
Identifying Trees: An All-Season Guide To Eastern North America

[hsm]

Some ideas for beginner-young children field guides. Good ones--adult level can be pretty pricey. We've been quite sucessful starting out with a good regional bird guide and finding the following "beginner-type" used and cheap. As the kids grew older and discovered what subjects interested them most, we began spending money on more expensive adult level guides. Also, our local libraries have the major brands
not in every area but in enough to get the feel of which set up you prefer. We've used audobon, peterson, and others with sucess. Some of my friends (not really nature people) and their kids, who have tried the adult ones have been overwhelmed because of all the info. also, state parks if you live near one sometimes have a bunch for free or sale and you can look at before you buy. links below

hth a little

overview drawings
http://www.amazon.com/North-american-wildlife-revised-updated/dp/0762100206/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202675531&sr=1-13

these two are for very young
http://www.amazon.com/More-Fun-Nature/dp/1559717955/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202675608&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Fun-Nature-Take-Along-Guide-Boring/dp/1559717025/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202675608&sr=1-1


this series has one almost in every topic
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Sky-Identification-Golden-Martins/dp/1582381267/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202675651&sr=1-1

peterson has some young naturalist and another youth series (name escapes me now) ones that are easy to use for the young. My kids loved them.

[Trivium Academy]

We have the Fun With Nature and it frustrated us this week because we couldn't identify our backyard tree with it, it's too limited in what it contains. THe DK Eyewitness Tree book failed us too. :(

I just want a bird (we have), trees and insects. Other than that it'll be dependent on their interests when they are older like you said.

[hsm]

I like the little golden insect guide. Also the spider one is fun. Drawings but very clear. A great website is whatsthatbug.com There is one for trees which is pretty good. but for trees, I like photos For the trees, I'd go with one specific to GA if at all possible or get an Eastern Forests one--but I'd really try to look a bookstore/nature place if at all possible. Some are just organized in ways that make more sense to you "personally" over another. Also, Sams/Costco type places often have nice field guides in their gift book area. From a family who often reads these as bed time stories....you should get some great responses to this post !

[DawnUK]

Have you tried the Fandex guide for the trees? There are so many types of trees, but Fandex guide has about 50, I think. It's nice to be able to flip through it to the leaf shape, and then check the back of the card for information to confirm. It's not helpful to us here in England, though. I brought it to a country park one day and the park ranger was so impressed with it that she asked to look at it. She told me only two of the trees in the whole guide grow in England! It's no longer in our nature backpack, but I'm saving it for when we move back to the states.
--Dawn

[PamInMN]

I've always recommended The Golden Guide to Birds/Trees/ etc..... as a first guide...... it covers the whole U.S. but is easy to use. From there.... I recommend the Petersen Field Guides..... My College Prof. used them exclusively because he found that the artwork was better then the pictures in Audubon Field Guides....... with a drawing you sort of subconciously know that there may be variations in color, etc...... with a photo (Audubon, etc) you will expect the animal/tree/whatever to look exactly as portrayed in the photo.

As a kid I used the Golden Guides and went through and put a circle by all the birds that would likely be in my area (Roswell)..... then I could quickly reference the book and know at a glance if what I saw was what I thought. :p

Hope that helps.

[Margaret in CO]

I'm a field guide junkie! :D We have Peterson's (birds, mammals, nests, hawks, rocks, wildflowers, animals tracks, etc.), Sibley's, Audubon's, local ones, and on and on. I like Audubon's birds because my dh can look for the shape and the color. My latest find is Audubon's guides to the area--yours would be SE states. It's good because you don't have to schlep around a zillion guides. I love my Sibley's because it shows all the cross-breds and variations--quite handy here!

[mcconnellboys]

For little guys and just general ease of use to carry in backpacking, etc., I really like the little Golden Guides for regions or particular states. I have bigger guides back home in case we need more info, but they're way too much to lug around, along with water, etc....

Regena

[Trivium Academy]

LOL! I've got many books about trees and insects coming so I can check them out (pun intended) before deciding and so we can "test" them. It's so hard to detemine by Amazon's sample pages what would be a good fit for us. I also requested Comstock's Nature Study book so I can reassess whether I'd use it.

I have Keeping A Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie and a few other nature study books, it's just been hard to get into this, esp. with ds3.

Thank you all for your help, my appreciation is boundless

[NYSue]

We were told that Peterson guides are the absolute best. I have to admit that they are very complete. They now have First Guides which are abridged versions of the original guides. They may be better for children.

Personally, my kids enjoy the Golden Guides. They are not as intimidating as Peterson :)

[hsm]

handbook of nature study online---maybe you could check out something else on interlibrary loan.... lol

http://www.archive.org/details/handbookofnature002506mbp

[Trivium Academy]

Not only can I take it off ILL, I can have it for free??? Without sagging my bookshelf, taunting me that I might not use it?
http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/hug004.gif

[Mamagistra]

Coming in a bit late, but Peterson's is fabulous for birds. The illustrations show outstanding features clearly and the text is on the facing page so as to minimize flipping around for info. Dds 10 and 8 use it regularly...I really can't say enough about it.

We use the Golden Guide for reptiles and amphibians, as well as butterflies/moths, and National Audubon Society guides for insects and spiders, mammals, trees, and mushrooms. Trees and mushrooms are particularly hard but so rewarding. What's not to love about finding the fragrant root of a sassafras tree or a peculiar yellow fungus called scrambled egg slime? :)

P.S. Do you know about the Great Backyard Bird Count (http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/) this week? It's great fun!

[Trivium Academy]

What's not to love about finding the fragrant root of a sassafras tree or a peculiar yellow fungus called scrambled egg slime? :)

P.S. Do you know about the Great Backyard Bird Count (http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/) this week? It's great fun!

We tried the bird count last year and we had so many birds in our backyard, we kept losing count. Don't the birds KNOW they have to stay still until we count them ALL??? Lol.

Peculiar yellow fungus called scrambled egg slime? :p Yuck. Yep, looking forward to studying nature. Sounds like fun! excuse me, I feel queasy....lol.

[Julie in GA]

(And we live in Georgia, not that that really has anything to do with it, of course.) :D I also prefer drawings to photos, because the artist tends to know what to emphasize and what to minimize, whereas photos capture everything, including whatever distortions the sunlight may create, and I have a harder time identifying things with photos.

[PamInMN]

For those in Georgia who are around Kennesaw Mountain...... springtime is the best time to go birding there..... tons of Warblers and other transients!! There are birdwalks hosted by the Atlanta Audubon Society... those are good. ...or just walking up with your family/friends/etc.

[one l michele]

They may be oop, but I ordered the rocks and minerals one used at Amazon.