Stokes Beginner's Guide to Dragonflies

This book lives up to its title: it is an excellent first guide for someone just beginning to observe the marvelous "Odes." (Odes, short for Odonata, the scientific name for the Order of Dragonflies and Damselflies, is a word you're likely to become familiar with.) Besides a good pictorial introduction to the main families, the book provides a solid introduction to the life cycle, one that will probably inspire you to read more. The color tabs on the edge of the book are very helpful for quickly locating the right pages for identification. All in all, a great book.

Clear and beautiful photos with helpful information make it easy to ID dragonflies. If you want to use it as field guide or as picture book this is the one to have.

Maybe I first noticed Dragonflies one of those summers I attended Girl Scout camp and I saw a pretty blue-winged insect shimmering over the lake where we went for our daily swim. Or maybe I saw my first fly when I sat on a creek bank waiting for the catfish to bite. I saw them so often when I was a child growing up in the rural South and Midwest, that I took them for granted. Not until the great Henry Mitchell, a local gardener and columnist with the Washington Post (and author of many books on gardening) wrote about his horse troughs and Dragonfiles did I sit up and say, "You mean there's more than one kind??"Mr. Mitchell taught me that Dragonfiles can drown in deep water if they try to take a drink, and that Dragonflies, Damselflies and Butterflies all need shallow water. That's why you see them hovering over mud puddles and why every bird bath needs a shallow spot. In Mr. Mitchell's garden, the Dragonflies drank from the leaves on his water lillies. If you plant water lillies, you will see a Dragonfly or two or three. The BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO DRAGONFLIES is destined to help me help my granddaughters develop an appreciation of Dragonfiles and Damselflies. According to authors Nikula, Sones, and Stokes, the major differences between the two are wing shapes, wing positions, eye positions, overall appearance and flight style. Some of the photos even depict Dragonflies that might be confused with Butterflies. We are going to learn about: 'Cruisers', 'Spiketails', 'Clubtails', 'Petaltails'and a whole lot more. Seems that pretty neon blue insect I've seen hovering over the pond may be a 'Pond Damsel.' Each of the illustrated "Identification" pages in DRAGONFLIES contains a photograph and text description of the fly and a map of Northern America depicting the range of the insect in question. Each map shows the entire country plus Canada. The pages of the book are color coded by family type so you can link the Dragonfly or Damselfly to it's family. Get this book and enjoy the summer fun.

This is the book I've been waiting for! I've been trying to learn about dragonflies for the past year and I found a very helpful guide with this book. First, the inside cover has a quick identification table that helps you determine the family of dragonfly or damselfly right away. Then using the color coding in the book, you can flip right to the section for that family. If that's not enough, there is another page inside that steps you through how to make the identification. In other words, what you should look for first, then next, and so on.There is also information on anatomy, behavior, life cycle, development, feeding habits and migration. And if you don't learn enough here, they've included a list of resources to learn more. The illustrations are larger than some guides and very clear. This easy to use guide includes "over 100 of the approximately 435 North American species"--some of the "most common, widespread and conspicuous," and does include representatives from each family. It even suggests how best to spend your time in the field. So get your guide and get out and identify dragonflies.