Butterflies of North America

by Jim P. Brock, Kenn Kaufman

Kaufman Focus Guides series

• More than 2,300 full-color images of butterflies in natural, lifelike poses
• Pictorial table of contents
• Convenient one-page index
• Full index that doubles as a life list
• Similar species arranged side by side for easy comparison
• Range maps on text pages showing where each species is common or rare and indicating seasons of occurrence

Genres: Nature, Field Guides, Reference, Nonfiction, Science, Guides, Natural History

384 pages, Flexi-cover binding

First published October 17, 2002

Reviews

[Ken-ichi]

This is one of my favorite guides, efficiently compiling a very large, diverse group of animals in a single, baggable volume. The ordering is taxonomic (despite color-coding), which might be confusing if you're just starting out, but once you learn something about your families and superfamilies, it's very useful. Peterson-style arrows point out distinguishing features, and each butterfly is depicted with a modified photo on a white background, which combines the detail of photos with the focus of illustrations. Great stuff. I also find the scale shadows on each page very useful. Did I mention the comprehensive range maps? Score.

[Ryan]

This guidebook covers all notable species of butterflies (including skippers) that inhabit North America. Kaufman & Brock organized the sections by species, and within those sections are the geographic range, descriptions of their physical appearance, flight patterns, and larval foodplant. For any butterfly enthusiast (I am one), this book is a real treat. The book shows high quality photographs of each butterfly, some are illustrated due to rarity of species, and shown different size and wing variation. To my surprise was of how many species really do resemble others, the way to differentiate them is through some of the smallest of wing detail. Although there are multiple species, the chapters are generally the same in description, as this book is meant to help in spotting and identification. But due to that style, it can become tedious to learn about every single individual butterfly.

Despite that, anytime one goes on a butterfly expedition, I am sure Kaufman's guide will be really helpful as it also provides some tips on how to do proper identification of unknown species. Additionally, the appendix also includes a full list of foodplants, so gardeners who are willing to attract butterflies to their homes can find the right source. Even with the over abundance of information in this book, it is still enjoyable to learn about butterflies and its purpose to help others get into learning about them.

[M]

Fantastic resource. I use it all the time. The pictures are clear and the mini maps are incredibly helpful when trying to identify. It has so much information packed into a conveniently sized book that fits comfortably inside my small backpack.

[Dobby [on hiatus]]

Its smaller size makes it more portable than my larger butterfly reference books, but the book is so filled with information and color photos that it suits my needs quite well.

[Ramona]

I will check this out again and again...as it as a good field guide for beginner butterfly watchers!

[Paul]

Great field guide. Great pictures and descriptions.

[木漏れ日]

Elegantly arranged and brimming with vivid photographs, Brock and Kaufman present a breviloquent and compendious enchiridion any aspiring or amateur lepidopterist would be proud to own.

[Chris]

Excellent butterfly guide. I will get a lot of use out of this, identifying the butterflies in my garden.

[Maris]

This might be an easy enough guide for people who know anything about butterflies. But for someone like me, who doesn't know a damn thing about 'em (and I don't mean butterflies like monarchs, I mean those hundreds of freakin' little tiny brownish grayish butterflies that all look alike...), this book ain't enough. The photographs used for some of the trickier species (i.e. skippers) have low color quality. It's hard to tell sometimes if you're looking at a black or a dark brown.

Perhaps this is a problem with all butterfly guides, but it's enough to make me want to befriend a butterfly expert to drag around instead of a book.

[Colleen]

I find this to be an excellent guide for identifying butterflies. Relatively compact (considering how much information had to be included); clear illustrations and range maps; helpful "actual size" silhouettes; colour coding. It's great for amateurs who don't want to wade through technical reference works. Although I use this guide constantly for serious (amateur) identification, I have to confess my favourite thing about it is the fact that the author actually included a little hidden joke under the Question Mark butterfly entry. Caught me totally off guard! Anyone who can slip a little unexpected humour into a field guide has got my vote!

[Staci]

Fantastic reference book to keep as part of your species identification reference material. Does not have a lot of photographs of larvae or pupae, but it does have some. The "Actual Size" silhouettes are extremely helpful.

[David Ward]

Butterflies of North America by Jim P. Brock and Kenn Kaufman (Houghton Miflin Co. 2003) (595.789) features photos and descriptions of common North American butterfly species. My rating: 6.5, finished 8/19/13.

[Ipso]

I actually have the hardcover version. It's great!

[Hootie]

easy to use field guide.

[Clif Smith]

This is the best usable field guide for butterflies.

[John]

Excellent guide to North American butterflies. This is the main one I use for butterfly identification.

[Sara]

Lovely pictures as well as instructions on how to identify the various types of butterfly and how to attract them to your yard.

[Kata Campesina]

again... a good general guide, but several of the butterflies i wanted to id were not listed and several that were provided scarce little written information.

[Autumn]

As someone who loves butterflies it had super pretty illustrations and facts. I didn’t actually try to identity butterflies with it so I have no clue how useful it would be for that.

[Nancy Waggoner]

Best guide on the market for North American butterflies

[Nanci]

Good field guide. Like that map is on same page and the families are color coded by thumb index