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

Robert Michael Pyle (Author)

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.

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)
  • #14 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Animals > Butterflies

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

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

By 

Alan R. Holyoak - See all my reviews

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

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

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.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Basic Guide, January 8, 2000

By 

Charles D. Pearson "Chuck Pearson" (Adrian, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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.