Peterson Field Guide(R) to Eastern Butterflies (Peterson Field Guides) [Paperback]

Paul A. Opler (Author), Roger Tory Peterson (Author), Vichai Malikul (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Peterson Field Guides | Publication Date: April 30, 1992

This all-new edition of the classic guide contains information on identifying marks, ranges, habitats, and other pertinent facts concerning 524 species of butterflies. Opler expands on a tradition of viewing these beautiful creatures as living organisms to be understood and conserved, not merely as specimens to be acquired. 48 color plates.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Paul A. Opler is the author of several books and videos on butterflies, including the Peterson First Guide to Butterflies and Moths. He is the author of more than 100 scientific papers and is a senior research scientist at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. He serves as vice president of the North American Butterfly Association and of the Xerces Society. He is past president of the Lepidopterists' Society and is active in efforts to conserve insects and their habitats.

Vichai Malikul, who was born in Bangkok, Thailand, is a scientific illustrator at the Department of Entomology of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Roger Tory Peterson, one of the world's greatest naturalists, received every major award for ornithology, natural science, and conservation, as well as numerous honorary degrees, medals, and citations, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Peterson Identification System has been called the greatest invention since binoculars, and the Peterson Field Guides® are credited with helping to set the stage for the environmental movement.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (April 30, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039563279X
• ISBN-13: 978-0395632796
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 6.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,798,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > History > Americas > Greenland

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars enerally good pocket guide to American butterflies, July 11, 1998

By 

Kyrill Kunakhovich ([e-mail]) (Charlottesville, Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Field Guide to Eastern Butterflies (Peterson Field Guide) (Paperback)

The maps in this book are a useful feature, but they are not provided for many of the species. The colour plates are very disappointing, as they often show only one gender of the butterflies and also ignore various subspecies and geographical variations. As the plates are made up drawings, it is often hard to identify species using this field guide, and the reader is left guessing as only the most common variation is shown. The text is quite well done, but moreadditions and details can be made. This book is hardly good as a main field guide (I greatly recommend "The butterflies of North America: a natural history and field Guide" by James A. Scott -- by far the best single-volume guide to American Butterflies), but it is useful as a pocket book that is light and does not take up much space.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ok for a field guide, if you don't mind getting frustrated., August 10, 2001

By 

Nancy Eustace Clark (Richmond, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Field Guide to Eastern Butterflies (Peterson Field Guide) (Paperback)

As an amateur watcher just wanting to know which butterflies were in my garden, I was somewhat disappointed. I spent a great deal of time trying to compare the butterfly with the poorly represented plates. The few pictures scattered through the book were better, but I found errors in the identification given for the picture and the identification given in the plate and one was even not listed on the page they gave (or no where I have yet to find). The range listed were difficult for me to know if this species was in my backyard and not every species had a range map. These errors I found in one whole afternoon while trying to identify only THREE butterflies in my garden. Some of the book I like, like some of the intro information, but I guess other books have this info also. I was frustrated.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I guess its still the best general guide, but ..., July 9, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Peterson Field Guide(R) to Eastern Butterflies (Peterson Field Guides) (Paperback)

For almost half a century, Klots' Guide in the Peterson serieswas the best general text for identifying butterflies ineastern North America. I suppose this new edition still is,but it is a real disappointment in many respects. Itperpetuates the old style of illustration throughout withmuseum- spread specimens, many of which do not look at all theway butterflies are seen in the field. Skippers (where help isalways most needed) suffer particularly from this - surely amodern guide should also show them in side view, with wingsdeterminedly clamped together, with the useful body detailsand colouring and wing postures noted. Various scales are usedwilly nilly - it is not helpful to someone who needs a fieldguide to show the Great Spangled Fritillary the same size asthe Meadow Fritillary, for example. Several of the speciesthat strongly grade south to north in shade are shown in onlyone, southern, version - a Canadian would be hard put torecognize our Wood Nymph from the illustration here.Many species have more forms than are shown - Spring Azure forinstance. Some species are much more prone to sun-bleachingthan others - beginners would find a portion of an unwornMourning Cloak wing without a trace of yellow left, forexample, an instructive illustration of this....Given the rapidly increasing popularity of butterfly watching,the market is wide open for a better field guide. This one isa desk guide, for those who still carry a cyanide bottle withthem.