National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies

The book is so incredibly helpful. We had a butterfly festival at our community garden, and within a few minutes I was able to name all the butterflies we'd seen. I highly recommend this guidebook to anyone who's interested in butterfly watching.

Though it took a bit longer than expected to arrive, i am very pleased. The color photos are great. Some times I wish it had the little map of the US to show the range of the butterflies, but this is not a big deal. Over all a great field guide.

The Audubon Guides are almost always first rate and the way they are bound and covered make them perfect for the outdoors. This particular guide in typical fashion for the series is strong on color photographs but weak on taxonomy. That being said as the enthusiast continues in the hobby and their library on butterflies grows it is not the type of book one will discard, "re-gift" or consign to the back of the shelf. Used together with just one other book strong in taxonomy will be a winning combination for the lepidopterist. Highly recommended.

The Audubon Guide to Butterflies equals the completely perfect Kaufman Guide to Butterflies in every way. First, there are countless numbers of species listed, which is essential to identify a particular specimen. It is also very detailed in the description of the species in the back of the book. It is perfect for beginner naturalists and experts! So, why is it so underrated? For one reason, many are too lazy to quickly flip to the back of the book and read the description. Anyone stating that this is for the very beginning amateur must have the wrong field guide altogether! Saying that the Golden Guides are for beginners is understandable, but saying that about an Audubon Guide is not. This a "stonewall" entry in the long list of Audubon Guides, and may very well be one of the best!

I use both Audubon Society and Petersons small wildlife identification guides and find that are quite good with their own plus and minuses. Petersons is better for taking into the field for things that move (animals and insects) due to the layout which allows for quicker identification. Audubon is better for things that can't get away (plants) and with animals and insects, for obtaining data about the creature's habitat. This guide is as good as any other in their series, which is to say that it is very good.