Field Guides for Adult Learners

Below are guides that highlight a whole habitat or region, including its living organisms and its abiotic factors. The Stokes Guides are unique in that they focus on the behavior and ecology of organisms, rather than on their appearance.

Audubon Society Nature Guides. New York: Chanticleer Press.
Series includes: Grasslands, Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Deserts, Eastern Forests, Western Forests, Pacific Coast, Wetlands.

Benyus, Janine M. Field Guide to Habitats Series. New York: Simon & Schuster/Fireside Books and Northword Press. Series includes: A Field Guide to Habitats of the Eastern United States, A Field Guide to Habitats of the Western United States, Northwoods Wildlife - A Watcher's Guide to Habitats.

Finder Series. Berkeley, CA: Nature Study Guild.
Pocket sized guides (for separate regions) that engage reader in using a key to identify their plant or animal. Handy and easy to use with adults and upper elementary students. Selected titles: Tree Finder, Flower Finder, Bird Finder, Fern Finder, Berry Finder.

Regional Tracking Guides. Seattle, WA: The Mountaineers.
Pocket sized guides for separate regions of the U.S., detailing tracks of both birds and mammals.

Sierra Club Naturalist's Guides. San Francisco, CA: The Sierra Club.
Series includes: The Deserts of the Southwest, The Middle Atlantic Coast, The North Atlantic Coast, The Northwoods of MI, WI, MN, and Southern Ontario, The Piedmont of Eastern North America, Southern New England.

Stokes, Donald and Lillian Stokes. Stokes Nature Guide Series. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Co. Publishers.
Series includes: A Guide to Nature in Winter, A Guide to Bird Behavior - Vols. I,II, III, A Guide to Animal Tracking and Behavior, A Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles (Tyning, Thomas), A Guide to Observing Insect Lives, A Guide to Enjoying Wildflowers, A Natural History of Shrubs and Vines.


General miscellaneous field guides (not in a series)

Eastman, J. 1992. The Book of Forest And Thicket: Trees, Shrubs, and Wildflowers of North America. Harrisburg, PA.: Stackpole Books.
Basic information and line drawings plus folklore and discussion of plant's ecological role in its particular community.

Glassberg, J. 1993. Butterflies Through Binoculars: A Field Guide to Butterflies in the Boston-New York-Washington Region.
Guidebook for identifying butterflies in the field, without collecting.

Rezendes, P. Tracking and the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks and Signs.

Roest, A.I. 1991. A Key-Guide to Mammal Skulls and Lower Jaws: A Non-Technical Introduction for Beginners. Eureka. CA.: Mad River Press.
Excellent, detailed key for identifying skulls and jaws. Clear illustrations labeling parts of skulls to focus on for ID.