Reddit reviews Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America (Kaufman Field Guides)

I haven't heard of any good insect field guide apps, but this is my favorite field guide:

National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Insects and Spiders & Related Species of North America https://www.amazon.com/dp/1402741537/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_kbj-tb1X4SW2Z

This is a close second:

Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America (Kaufman Field Guides) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618153101/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_zfj-tb1ZVGNYF

Edit: it's probably worth getting both for those prices.

A specific regional guide will usually be more meaningful to own than a general guide that covers all of North America.

That been said, I personally own and recommend the National Wildlife Federation's Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America. It's packed with pictures and organizes everything by order, and then by family (to really understand the groupings, you should familiarize yourself with taxonomic rank). For each order, it includes some basic anatomical diagrams to help you distinguish one order from another.

It's also printed on some pretty durable gloss paper and has a water resistant cover, as icing on the cake.



I have not compared it to the Kaufman guide, since my book store does not carry it.

Comparing it to the Audubon version, I find that the NWF's guide is better for beginners due to having a picture for everything it lists. I also noticed the toner was coming off on my hand on the audubon guide while I was flipping through it in the book store.

I scarcely use it now because I've gotten good enough at identifying orders and a good number of families to use bugguide to narrow things down, but it was nice to take along on a camping trip.

Note that if you want to learn how to differentiate families of beetles or butterflies or spiders based on their anatomical traits, you'll probably need a specific field guide pertaining only to that bug. I can't recommend any, since I don't own any. Or use online references - again, bugguide is pretty good for a lot of things, but I have learned a ton from just googling for the information on a specific taxon.

You will need boxes for keeping your pinned insects in, and vials for your alcohol-preserved ones (wingless). 70% isopropyl alcohol is what I have used for preserving wingless insects, so you'll need a good bit of that too. Don't forget the pins, and maybe a couple mothballs for keeping the dermestid beetles out of your lovely collection.

For field collecting, you should have a charged kill jar (http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/ythfacts/4h/unit1/mkjar.htm) and a butterfly net at the very least. I also carry a large jar of alcohol for wingless specimens which I later separate into vials at home.

Be careful with anything you use as the active agent in the kill jar- it IS poison. Always wash your hands after handling specimens.

Oh, almost forgot books. There are a lot of good bug books but you probably want a cheaper one to serve as a field guide. Kaufman's will have a lot of the more common insects that you find (assuming you are in North America). http://www.amazon.com/Kaufman-Field-Insects-America-Guides/dp/0618153101 It's my favorite. Others swear by National Wildlife Federation's or Audubon, which are slightly more advanced. It's a personal preference.

I use the Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America.

[You can preview it here] (https://books.google.com/books?id=aWVi0IF_jcQC&pg=PA302&lpg=PA302&dq=Ocyptamus+fascipennis&source=web&ots=N-2Sq3PNbM&sig=B7-AH3uIPt40SJtTr_v1SIKNdFA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result#v=onepage&q&f=false) to see if it's got everything you're looking for.

The best field guide in the US is the Kaufman insect guide, hands down

I'd also suggest ditching the Audubon guide. Quite frankly, it's rubbish. Poorly organized, and a number of the photos are incorrectly ID'd. I highly recommend the Kauffman Guide to Insects by Eric Eaton for a broad overview of North American insect fauna.

Otherwise, if you're focusing on butterflies, the Peterson guides are quite useful. The eastern and western volumes by Opler are both useful, but lack quality keys.

The recently revised Peterson guide to Northeastern moths by Beadle & Leckie is impressive in its coverage (but by no means comprehensive) but similarly lacks any sort of useful key for identification.

If you're looking for other field guide recommendations, I'd be happy to share!

According to the books I have on hand, the antennae of longhorns are often sexually dimorphic: long in females, very long in males! :)

I use the Kaufman field guide to insects of north america to identify insects at least down to the family level. It doesnt have every species, but it has the most common ones from each family and very good pictures imo. It can be ordered on amazon here https://www.amazon.com/Kaufman-Field-Insects-America-Guides/dp/0618153101

For a general bird guide, I like the Sibley guide (you can use the Sibley East field guide, or the larger Sibley guide for all of North America). There are also those who swear by the National Geographic guide and insist that it is superior.

That should be good to get you started – eventually if you get more into birdwatching, then there are more detailed guides for specific groups.

For insects, I love this massive photographic guide. For a smaller book you can take into the field, the best one I know of is Kaufman. There is also a Kaufman guide for butterflies, specifically.

I'm afraid I don't have any recommendations for mammals, reptiles, or amphibians for your area.

I'm not certain about what kind of detail you are looking for, but this book is really the only I use. I have a minor in entomology, and I have several textbooks that have much more detail, but this is the one I pick up most often, especially for helping folks in /r/whatsthisbug. :)