Looking for field guides (Bug/plants)

Hello all:

I am looking for a field guide on common (wild) plants & flowers and another on insects. Something like Sibley for birding.

I didn't see see any good ones on Amazon, but then again, I didn't research very far and most of the ones they have are for garden plants.
Do the folks here have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

-- Govind

Great question, Govind. I am less than totally satisfied with the National Audubon Soc. Field guides that I use for insects and wildflowers and will watch your thread for suggestions, hopefully to upgrade what I now use.

Charlie

For insects and field guides, about the only players are:

Perterson guides: There are individual guides for general insects, general beetles, and butterflies.
Audabon guidesL Individual volumns for general insect and butterflies.
The above two are good but not great

Kaufman: Field Guide to North American insects


Some other books which I wouldn't rank as field guides but if you are going to specialize in insects:

Glassberg: Butterflies through Binoculars (eastern, western and North America)
Dunkel: Dragonflies through binoculars
There is also a Caterpillers through Binoculars for mostly butterflies but also some moths

Wagner: Caterpillars of Eastern North America

*THE* general reference for insects of the northeast United States and Southeast Canada is
Marshall: Insects: Their natural history and diversity


For insects, there simply isn't and never will be a good field guide for id'ing things in the field. Too many many insects to include plus for a lot of species, if you can get down to a family level, you are having a good day.

Last, check out Bugguide.net


For floral id, there are similar choices. Also look for choices like Wildflowers of Wisconsin or Wildflowers of the Great Lakes Region (I don't know if those books exist but there is a lot of regional guides out there). I have about 30 wildflower guides on my shelves, many of which are regional in nature for where I am likely to be found shooting.

Thanks, Dan. Good information.

I checked out the Peterson and Audabon insect guides on Amazon - the reviews were similar to yours. I saw plant guides for some Western and Southern states, so perhaps there may be one for Wisconsin.

Thanks, Dan. Good information.

I checked out the Peterson and Audabon insect guides on Amazon - the reviews were similar to yours. I saw plant guides for some Western and Southern states, so perhaps there may be one for Wisconsin.

Here is a source for books. The levels start at bugs for boys and go up to some pretty specialized texts:

http://www.bioquip.com/Search/WebCatalog.asp?prodtype=2

Gotto love any place that stocks the entire Beetles of the World:

http://www.bioquip.com/search/DispProduct.asp?pid=9967

For something a little more specific to your area, the North Woods Naturalist Series of books might be worth a look. They deal with the wooded regions of northern Minnesota, Wisconsin,and Michigan and southern Canada.

I've only seen a couple of them but I have the Damselflies of the North Woods book and I think it is excellent.

Thanks again, Dan. Very cool site indeed! Has some great books. For me this site has an added interest as my wife works on spider silk.

Thanks for the suggestions, Chris. This is more or less what I am looking for.

Will give it a try.

For wildflowers in Wisconsin (and further east) there nothing better that Newcomb's Wildflower Guide as long as you have flowers. It's a dichotomous key that quickly leads to a small number of choices. It does take some practice to use but in the long haul it's much easier to find new flowers than and of the choose by color guides.

Thanks, Mark. The initial reviews on amazon are very promising. Will take a closer look at it.