From Publishers Weekly From its durable, flexible cover to its color-coordinated index, this field guide will serve as an excellent identification resource for experienced and novice lepidopterists. Kaufman (Kingbird Highway) provides butterfly watchers with more than 2,200 digitally edited photographs and an easy-to-use species index-a format that defines the Kaufman Focus Guides. The photographs have been gleaned from scores of skilled nature photographers. Co-author Brock (Butterflies of Southeastern Arizona) brings more than 30 years of butterfly watching around the world to the informative, non-technical writing in the book. The readable capsule narratives are enhanced by the startling clear color images, which make identification of species much easier. The guide offers images of larval (caterpillar) stage butterflies along with details on feeding preferences of butterflies in their different stages of development. It also gives migratory information on these delicate and beautiful creatures. The book ranges geographically from the lower 48 states through Canada and Alaska, with maps provided for all butterflies depicted. These maps also indicate both common and rare species, along with seasonally occurring butterflies. This book will appeal to bird watchers, hikers, gardeners and outdoor enthusiasts. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Based on Kaufman's successful Birds of North America, this guide contains 2300 images. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. A terrific book for anyone interested in butterflies. -- Jim P. Brock, an active lepidopterist for more than thirty years, has studied butterflies throughout North America as well as in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Brazil. The coauthor of Butterflies of Southeastern Arizona (1991), he has also written many magazine articles and has led butterfly-watching tours in the United States and Mexico.Kenn Kaufman is a legend among birders. At sixteen he hitchhiked back and forth across North America, traveling eighty thousand miles in a year, simply to see as many birds as he could; he came back to tell the story in KINGBIRD HIGHWAY. A field editor for AUDUBON and a regular contributor to every major birding magazine, he is the youngest person ever to receive the Ludlow Griscom Award, the highest honor of the American Birding Association. His natural history pursuits have taken him to all seven continents, but he has made a special study of North American birds. His books include LIVES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, the PETERSON FIELD GUIDE TO ADVANCED BIRDING, and the FOCUS GUIDE TO BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. He resides in Tucson, Arizona. Read more
Features & Highlights
More than 2,300 images of butterflies in accurate, lifelike poses highlight this complete guide to North American butterflies, which includes handy indexes, range maps, and helpful identification tips.
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Reviews
★★★★★
5.0
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Practical and well-designed
The latest Kaufman Focus Guide, designed for beginners, features a pictorial table of contents, a primer on identification and habitat, butterfly lifecycle and where to find the critters, other butterfly activities, such as gardening and photography, and further sources of information, such as books, websites and organizations. It concludes with an index of larval food plants, an index of scientific names, an index of English names which doubles as a life list and a final one-page quick-find, color-coded index.
In between are 2,300 digitally edited photographs, which have the easy-comparison advantages of paintings, and concise descriptions, with range map and primary larval foodplant. Each page of illustrations also includes an "actual size" figure, which is amazingly useful in the field. Similar species are grouped together for convenient comparison.
This is another practical, well-designed and beautiful addition to the Focus Guide series.
73 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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THE one volume field guide to North America's butterflies - and great for beginners!
According to the preface, Kaufman Guides are "the best and fastest way to get started... to send you outside quickly, putting names on what you find". That was certainly true of the "Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America". Does it work here too?
Firstly, this is the only true field guide to cover every one of the 650 species regularly occurring north of the US-Mexican border. Other comprehensive books exist, like Scott's wonderful "The Butterflies of North America: A Natural History and Field Guide" (on Amazon: ISBN 0804720134), but they are really too heavy and not designed for the field. In contrast, this book is about the same size and shape as the well-known Peterson Field Guides, but with a hardier, flexible cover.
Unlike most Peterson Field Guides, however, the facing-page format allows illustrations, text, and map for each butterfly to be viewed simultaneously at one opening of the book. That is a major advantage. As for the illustrations, Kaufman opts for digitally enhanced photographs over paintings. There are more than 2,200 depictions of butterflies in natural conditions, all of them processed digital images based on photographs of live animals. The plates show the uppersides and undersides of most butterflies, both sexes are illustrated where they differ markedly, and regionally distinct forms are shown too. Range maps show where each species is common or rare and at what time of year.
At the end of the day this is a very welcome addition to the field guide literature and perhaps THE book to take into the field for identifying these insects, especially for beginners. Having said that, I would not be without the superb Peterson Field Guides "A Field Guide to Western Butterflies" and "A Field Guide to Eastern Butterflies" (on Amazon: ISBN 0395791529 & ISBN 0395904536 respectively) or the relevant volume of "Butterflies through Binoculars: The West" or "Butterflies through Binoculars: The East" (on Amazon: ISBN 0195106695 & ISBN 0195106687 respectively).
As for caterpillar identification, that is a whole new can of worms and would probably made this book twice as big, not to mention twice as long to write! My feeling is that it may be better to keep the two stages apart and interested readers should refer to the newish "Caterpillars in the Field and Garden : A Field Guide to the Butterfly Caterpillars of North America" (on Amazon: ISBN 0195149874).
The Kaufman Guides are a wonderful series - let's hope they keep expanding to cover new subjects.
67 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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The Ultimate Book For Easy Identification for Beginners
There is one big problem with all Kaufman Focus Guides - they don't make a broad enough line of them! If I were able to have only 1 book on a given subject (birds, butterflies, mammals, etc.) I would always choose the Kaufman Focus Guide. I find their excellent pictures far superior to the illustrations that most books use, for one thing.
I shoot a lot of nature pictures and wanted to identify the butterfly and moth shots I was getting. I have several other guides - National Audubon Field Guide to Insects & Spiders - Golden Guide to Butterflies & Moths, Peterson First Guide to Butterflies & Moths. But the Kaufman book makes it easy to find and identify a species and to find the very subtle differences between very similar butterflies.
The pictorial table of contents makes it easy to understand various groupings of butterflies. I saw one review critical for the taxonomic system the book uses... the relevant thing for me, as an amateur, was to be able to quickly and easily make an identification and to have accurate information to distinguish between many different butterflies that look very much alike. This book definitely fills the bill. As another reviewer mentioned, it would certainly have been nice to have caterpillars included - but few things are perfect.
If you just want to identify butterflies - this is the book to get!
38 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Best of the bunch for butterfly guides
While I'm not a professional lepidopterist, I do have a keen interest in this fascinating group of insects. I've used many of the available field guides, but this one has become my hands-down favorite. It would be nice if it had some caterpillar identification information, but, to me, that's about its only drawback.
If I had to buy one butterfly field guide (for North America) this would be it.
24 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Excellent reference for identifying butterflies!
This is a great reference book for identifying butterflies. I especially liked the detailed photos and illustrations that showed butterflies as they would generally appear in nature. Other books often show the butterfly with wings open, but not with wings folded up, for example. This book shows both, including the differences between male and female butterflies and other details, so it makes it easy to compare your photo with the book's. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who takes lots of butterfly photos and wants to identify what you've photographed.
19 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Designed for beginners?
So far, this the best field guide for amateurs and advanced naturalists alike. It contains many more species than seen in other books I have purchased on butterflies. It is is excellent that Kaufman and Brock gave their efforts to photograph so many specimens, even some of the rarest species. One the rare butterflies, the best descriptions to identify them are given. If you think you've found an uncommon butterfly, consult this book. You will know, believe me. Stating that this is geared toward amateurs only is a complete understatement. Butterflies Through Binoculars is great, but this equals the other one, in specifics, photo quality, and field identification! Thank you Ken Kaufman.
11 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Butterflies
I checked out this book at the library so many times I thought I'd better get one of my own. Found it for the right price at Amazon.com. It's an excellent butterfly book for the novice identifying butterflies of North America.
7 people found this helpful
★★★★★
4.0
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Well organized reference
This reference is easily used by a beginning non-professional as it contains the information in one place (unlike Peterson). Wish it had included the Caterpillar stages, but I suppose that is the topic for another reference source.
5 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Go-to guide for identifying and studying butterflies
As a beginner, I found the grouped photo summaries in the beginning of the book, helpful in zeroing in on which butterfly I was watching. Photos and illustrations of actual size of each butterfly are well done and helpful.
2 people found this helpful
★★★★★
4.0
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Comprehensive guide
Easy format to use for quick identification. I bought it used; it was in great condition. Thanks!