A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America: Second Edition

Very nice guide thats jam packed with information. Seriously, the amount of information in such a compact guide is impressive. I docked it one star because it's definitely a little cramped, and (aside from the exquisite photos) a bit visually dizzying. The placement of the species labels underneath each photo isn't exactly intuitive. Much of the information contained in the book is coded in some way (abbreviated or color coded), which takes a bit of adjusting to. The photos of each species usually have some type of arrow that points out key characteristics, which is quite helpful. Another really beneficial feature is the visual index included in this guide, which lets you quickly narrow down your options. The only other complaint I have for this guide is the weak binding of the guide. I'm a bit timid when I open the book for fear that I may open it too wide and crack the glue that holds the pages together. In any case, while it does take a little persistence to become familiar with, it is a great guide nonetheless!

What a GREAT book. I've only spent a few hours in it, but it has everything I want. I attempted to find errors on the range maps (of butterflies I have seen and identified in different states) but found none. There is a range map for each specie and sub-specie, which are color coded for the number of broods. Every specimen I attempted to look up in this book, I found in this book. The photos are excellent. The field marks are invaluable for ID. The left margin of each page lists quite a bit of info in a small space, some food plants, commonality, locations where often found, and a small narrative pertaining to the field marks. There is more info in this book than I can list at this time, and it is doubtful that I will return later to do that. I can't recommend this book enough for anyone interested in identifying North American Butterflies. I am in no way affiliated with the author, the publisher, or any photographer associated with this book.

I really like having a full colour photo rather than “cutouts”. In addition, the notes with arrows pointing to key ID features (a line or spot to look for in particular) is very helpful for ID. I wish all guides were done this way!

Used to identify butterflies but just a bit too hefty for me. Need a simpler guide to identify local butterflies. This book was suggested to me by a much more advanced and knowledgeable person and I am sure it is wonderful for those people but I am a beginner and want to be able to quickly find the butterfly in the book. Also, it is a bigger book than I would want to take along on a hike.

This is probably my all-time favorite guide book. The organization of the book is user-friendly and I use it several times a week during the warm months to assist me in identifying butterflies I photograph and also assist people on-line.

Very hard to identify butterflies using this book.Small pictures,NO CROSSING INDEXING.No listing by areas,No listing by color.In todays computer age. Cross indexing would be so easy.Save your money

This guide does what it is intended to do very efficiently. It is a field guide to be used for quick identification of North American butterflies. It has many photos with important field marks identified. Other information such as range maps, abundance, habitat, broods, is provided very efficiently using codes and color schemes so that a great deal of information is available on every page. The book is well thought out, carefully organized and clearly presented. I think this is a significant advance in field guide presentation and if the casual observer wanted to have one field guide to cover the important information, this would be the best choice.

Love the quick general reference in the back of the book that goes by color and gives you a set of pages to turn to for specific identification. My son cant wait to identify the next one he catches.

Great book, covers every major family with good indicators of species and variety. Worth every cent, invaluable for the keen nature lover.

Not used it yet, but it looks like it will be a great reference book

I bought this thinking it was a field guide to North America, but its a field guide to USA. They completely omit ranges throughout most of the Canadian provinces... makes me wonder if there are any butterflies endemic to Canada that was omitted from the guide.Very disappointed as it wouldn't have been difficult to include Canada in the range maps...

This is a detailed photo ID reference with some additional info. It is a beautiful field guide that should be used a visual reference. If you need pictures to help ID a subject, then this is the book for you.

「フィールドガイド　日本の蝶」を購入後、外国産の蝶も気になりいろいろ探して購入。北アメリカの蝶が掲載されている様だがイラスト式のものもある中、すべて生体写真で掲載されている。更に生息域も図示され、発生時期や食性も記載されています。当然英語なのでナンノコッチャですが形式が「フィールドガイド　日本の蝶」に似た感じなので見てるだけで楽しい。もしアメリカに行く機会があればぜひ持っていきたい１冊です。