Books I Use

I've spent a few years taking various field guides out of the library, or at least browsing in a book store. Some I've found at MassAudubon Sanctuaries, and others only through Amazon. These are the ones I found the most useful. A Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Massachusetts by Blair Nikula, Jennifer L. Loose, and Matthew R. Burne is so far my favorite one. I bought it before any of the others at Stony Brook in Norfolk. Every id has full color pictures of males and females as applicable, as well as location, status, and time of year they can be seen. I haven't seen it in a library, and you can't get it on Amazon. I've seen it on some wildlife sites, and at several MassAudubon Sanctuaries. I find it to be hands down the best dragonfly guide out there, and possibly the only one. Link to site where you can buy it: Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Publications Butterflies of New England by David Weber. I like this one too, but it doesn't include caterpillar photos, which I think could make it a great rather than a good book. It does use photos unlike some cheaper guides I've seen which use drawings instead. I've never been great at identifying animals from drawings to life. Mushrooms of Northeast North America by George Barron. At this point you should be noticing a pattern. I find this book organized in an easy to follow manner with full color id pictures throughout. Even if I don't figure out exactly what I took a photo of I get some guesses. And it's much easier to follow than trying to google 'orange mushroom eastern US'. National Wildlife Federation Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America by Arthur V. Evans and Craig Tufts. Again full-color photos. Especially important to me is that the photos and the information are on the same pages. You don't dig through a huge section of photos then have to dig through all the pages in the back to find the accompanying info. New England Waterfalls by Greg Parsons and Kate B. Watson. This one I haven't gotten to use yet, but i do so far like it. It has locations, descriptions and in some cases pictures of 200 waterfalls and cascades in New England. It will likely keep me busy in April. Beachcomber's Guide from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras by Henry Keatts. This book goes to the cape with me every year, and helps figure out what some of the odd seashore stuff is made of, or by. Wildflowers of the Berkshire & Taconic Hills by Joseph G. Strauch. This book was origianlly bought because it was less than 5 dollars on clearance. It's not a bad book, as all the flower id's are photographs, but they are seperate from the descriptions. it is nice that the images are sorted by bloom color first though. National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (Second Edition) by Jon L. Dunn. This book is up to a 5th edition, but the artwork looks largely the same. I like the book, because I find it better than the little pocket field guides, but I really would prefer pictures rather than drawings. Hiking Massachusetts by Benjamin B. Ames, AMC's Best Day Hikes Near Boston: Four-Season Guide to 50 of the Best Trails in Eastern Massachusetts by Michael Tougias, and Hiking Southern New England by Rhonda Ostertag. I haven't used them for actual trail ideas, more locational ideas.