Customer Reviews

A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians (Peterson Field Guide)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Stebbins does it again. As a biologist who works throughout southern California I find this book indispensable. It is a vast improvement to the last edition (which was very good to begin with) with lots of color photos, many more color plates and the range maps are great too, again with color. It has revised the taxonomy of many species and included a many of the lastest subspecies designations. This book is easy to use from the novice to the advanced and should be in any nature enthusiasts library.

I love this book because I have the National Audubon Society First Field Guide for reptiles and I would often run in to reptile that the I couldn't Identify. I knew that I needed a bigger better book. So I bought the western and eastern Peterson Field guide for reptiles and amphibians and it had a lot more reptiles and it had amphibians which I never had a book that had information about them before, it has a lot more reptiles and it's shows you were they are each located. It give you a detailed description of each animal and a detailed drawing of each animal. Because of this I have been able to identify reptiles and amphibian that I couldn't before. I don't like that they use drawing of the animals instead of pictures and the drawings just show the heads of the snakes.

great detail & pictures are in color this edition! Maps are in color also! This is helpful when out in the field looking for your "herps". Thanks to Robert Stebbins & all involved in compling all the data needed for the updated guide

This field guide is very well organized and illustrated. It is quite complete. With over 300 pages of information this is a must for westerners.

This excellent field guide identifies western NA herps down to species level, and rather than photos (which may be misleading), it has excellent generalized pictures, with lines pointing to locations of key diagnostic features. The species accounts in the back are quite useful, and the range maps comprehensive and detailed. Absolutely a critical resource for anyone who likes to catalog animals, or has interest in identifying species.

Another excellent Field Guide book! I have the first edition of this book and when one compares how the reptile and amphibian poplulation has changed in our country, it is amazing. If you purchase this book you must also buy the Field Guide to Eastern species.

Don't have too much to say. It's the best. Mainly I use the Central/Eastern North America guide, but this companion guide is of equally high quality.

Splitting up North America into two halves has been occasionally awkward for someone living in Texas, but other than that I would say this is the definitive US field guide in herpetology.

This is THE field identification guide for amphibians and reptiles found west of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas, including Alaska and western Canada. Stebbins is the expert. I am a professional herpetologist and keep a copy of each edition for my own use, as well as Conant & Collins companion book for Eastern herps. This last one I bought was a gift to a young up-and-coming naturalist who likes to collect snakes. The pictures are fantastic. Stebbins is also a wildlife artist, and has great paintings of each species. In addition, there are fine photos throughout. But the paintings are better to illustrate features that help distinguish between similar species. I recommend this little volume as a necessity for anyone who might need to identify amphibians or reptiles in the West. It handily fits into a backpack or even a large pocket to take on hikes and such.

This book is excellent. I love the texture of the cover and the pages. The colors came out well on the illustrations and everything is easy to follow. The pictures are a great way to identify creatures you find out in the field and it's just overall fun to see what you can ID while out and about. Very informative and I liked the maps in the back which show you the distribution of each animal. This helps to narrow down identifications because you're able to see which species inhabits which area. Great book!

This book is very handy, but very heavy. When i'm out in the field it is hard to carry since its bigger and weighs about 5 lbs but other than that it is a great book to have!