or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies
 
See larger image
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies [Vinyl Bound]

Robert Michael Pyle (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

List Price: $21.95
Price: $14.83 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $7.12 (32%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Monday, January 30? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Vinyl Bound $14.83  
Paperback --  
Unknown Binding --  

Book Description

Butterflies are among the natural world's most colorful and intriguing creatures, so what could be more useful than a handy field guide with more than 1,000 photographs of all the butterflies of North America north of Mexico, including all true butterflies, the most common skippers, and many migrants and strays. The color plates are visually arranged by shape and color, and thumb-tab silhouettes provide a convenient index to identification of butterflies in the field. The species account for each butterfly provides measurements, descriptions of each stage of the life cycle, and information on coloring or distinguishing markings, flight period, habitat, and range.

Frequently Bought Together

The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies + National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders (National Audubon Society Field Guides) + The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians
Price For All Three: $41.88

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product Details

  • Vinyl Bound: 928 pages
  • Publisher: Knopf; Chanticleer Press ed edition (July 12, 1981)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0394519140
  • ISBN-13: 978-0394519142
  • Product Dimensions: 4 x 1.4 x 7.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,116 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ROBERT MICHAEL PYLE is the author of fourteen books, including Chasing Monarchs, Where Bigfoot Walks, and Wintergreen, which won the John Burroughs Medal. A Yale-trained ecologist and a Guggenheim fellow, he is a full-time writer living in southwestern Washington.

 

Customer Reviews

26 Reviews
5 star:
 (18)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

119 of 119 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Good field guide for the interested amateur..., September 14, 2000
This review is from: The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies (Vinyl Bound)
This field guide has significant strengths and weaknesses. First, the strengths. This book provides what most casual butterfly enthusiasts want, page after page of photos of butterflies (several hundred photos as a matter of fact). The photographs are good, for the most part, showing differences and similarities between many butterflies included in the book. (Most taxonomic characters are not readily seen in photos though.) One particularly helpful feature is that for many butterflies, such as skippers and those bearing eye-spots, both the upper and underside of wings are shown.

The butterflies are arranged, for the most part, by wing coloration or shape. This can help with more rapid field identification. There is also a section in the back of the guide that provides more information on butterflies listed.

The book is a convenient size, readily able to fit into a jacket or back pocket.

OK, now for the weaknesses.

As with other field guides published by the Audubon Soc...I can't figure out why the editors didn't include the scientific names along with the common names by each photo. If you want to use this book for any kind of taxonomic work, it becomes an annoying exercise in page flipping from the front to the back of the book. More serious entomologists will, of course, use taxonomic keys to identify specimens, but for the amateur collector who may not have or know how to use such keys, the format of the book can be frustrating.

There are too few photos of caterpillars, chrysalises, etc. at the front of the book. I know of no field guide that provides much on early life stages, and this guide is no different. Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased that they included a section on caterpillars, I just wish there were more.

There is very little information on the kinds of characteristics usually used in butterfly taxonomy...antenna type, wing veination, etc...presented in the book. A significant weakness.

Even with the large number of photographs, a photo cannot, in my opinion, do the same job of a well-done illustration in helping someone identify what they are looking at. As photo-based guides on butterflies, this is probably one of the best out there. Still, I wish there were a good general guide based on illustrations.

With that said, it is important to realize that no single field guide can ever hope to be comprehensive in treating the butterflies. There are simply too many species and variations out there to make a portable field guide.

With all that said, I think that this is a good, useful guide, but with a few changes it could be even better.

4 stars.

Happy butterfly spotting!

Alan Holyoak, Dept of Biology, Manchester College, IN

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Up to the usual Audubon Society high standards, June 7, 2001
By 
Atlanta Network Guy (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies (Vinyl Bound)
I use both Audubon Society and Petersons small wildlife identification guides and find that are quite good with their own plus and minuses. Petersons is better for taking into the field for things that move (animals and insects) due to the layout which allows for quicker identification. Audubon is better for things that can't get away (plants) and with animals and insects, for obtaining data about the creature's habitat. This guide is as good as any other in their series, which is to say that it is very good.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Basic Guide, January 8, 2000
This review is from: The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies (Vinyl Bound)
This book covers all of the native and introduced species of butterflies in North America north of Mexico. There are good quality photographs taken in the field of most of the adults and some of the caterpillars and eggs. Not all of the variations are shown but showing many variations of each species in a national guide would make it too big and confusing to easily use in the field. Ranges are described verbally but there are no maps. Host plants are named and listed alphabetically in the index. The volume is a convenient size to carry and has a sturdy plastic cover.

As a national guide this book is a good next step from the Golden Guide. It is also a good source of information for planning a butterfly garden.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews




Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject