Winter Tree Finder: A Manual for Identifying Deciduous Trees in Winter (Eastern US) (Nature Study Guides) [Paperback]

May T. Watts (Author), Tom Watts (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A great take-along on winter hikes. The "finder" guides can be hard to find, but these easy-to-use, notebook-size illustrated keys to flowers, trees, ferns, tracks, and more are worth the search. -- Terry Krautwurst, in Backpacker Magazine, September 1999

An excellent and inexpensive pocket-sized key to winter identification. -- Denise Ellsworth, Akron Beacon Journal, Feb. 12, 2000

This is an excellent and inexpensive pocket-sized key to winter identification. -- Akron Beacon Journal, February 12, 2000

Winter Tree Finder has been my bible for as long as it's been available. It fits easily into your hip pocket and contains wonderfully clear illustrations showing the branch pattern, bud shape, fruit, and appearance of all the major midwestern and eastern tree species. You can find more comprehensive tree books, but not one that better combines breadth and utility. It's a terrific book to have when you're examining your new woods. Better still, this volume is only the tip of the iceberg. Nature Study Guild also publishes four tree finder books. . .divided by region, not to mention more than a dozen guides to wildflowers, ferns, berries, mammals, and even a Winter Weed Finder. -- William Bryant Logan, in Garden Design Magazine, February 1995

Winter tree walk: It's easiest to identify trees by their leaves, but equipped with a good key like May Watts' Winter Tree Finder, you will quickly learn the dozen species that dominate any given tree stand. Start with evergreens (use Watts' Tree Finder), since there are so few species and their distinctive leaves make identification easy. -- Susan Eschbach, in The Conservationist, February 1995

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Nature Study Guild Publishers (January 1, 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0912550031
• ISBN-13: 978-0912550039
• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 6.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Plants > Trees
  • #2 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Outdoors & Nature > Reference

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great guide in a sparse field of study, March 14, 2006

By 

John G. Curington - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Winter Tree Finder: A Manual for Identifying Deciduous Trees in Winter (Eastern US) (Nature Study Guides) (Paperback)

The "Winter Tree Finder" by May Theilgaard Watts and Tom Watts is a compact little gem.

I have not been able to find such a comprehensive and easily portable guide to using leaf scars, buds, and twigs to identify trees in any other source.

The entire book is only 58 pages long and easily fits in a pocket or backpack. Page 1 includes a nice diagram and description of the parts of a twig. Then you progress through a series of questions and drawings that helps you arrive at the identification of the tree. The last few pages include an index and the rear cover has a little measuring rule.

On the whole, this is a useful and fun guide to trees while hiking in the winter.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great little book, January 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Winter Tree Finder: A Manual for Identifying Deciduous Trees in Winter (Eastern US) (Nature Study Guides) (Paperback)

This book does a very sensible job of helping people idnetify trees when the normal folliage is missing.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent & Portable!, April 6, 2009

By 

James S. MacLachlan (Frankfort, KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Winter Tree Finder: A Manual for Identifying Deciduous Trees in Winter (Eastern US) (Nature Study Guides) (Paperback)

On a 'Winter Tree ID Hike' at a local nature center, we were given this book to use as a reference. We practiced it & found that we could all easily identify trees with it - but it did take some time to READ, COMPREHEND & PRACTICE before we were all proficient. Some took a little longer &, in every case, it was because they tried to short cut the process. So if you're having trouble using it, go back & re-read. It's really quite easy, once you get the hang of it.

For such a small book, it packs a lot of trees into it - Eastern North America only. You won't find hybrids, some imports (garden) trees, but it packs in over 100 common trees & can lead anyone into a quick, accurate identification with very little practice. It's small enough to fit into a back pocket without a bulge, which means I'm more likely to have it with me when I want it. That's the biggest plus. The more comprehensive books are OK, but they're always back at the house when I need them or in the way as I walk through the woods & want to take a picture. Not this book!

I have several tree ID books & I may outgrow this one. But I haven't outgrown "The Tree Finder" by the same authors (for trees with leaves) & I've been using it for a couple of years on a pretty regular basis. Often I'll think I've found a tree that won't be in it, but there it is. It's been so worthwhile that I got a second copy to keep in the truck.