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Stokes Beginner's Guide to Bats
A pocket-size, brilliantly colorful, simple-to-use guide to bats, containing dozens of full-color photographs that enable readers of all ages to identify the most common species; range maps; tips on the best times to view bats, information on habitat needs, life cycle, food preferences; and much more.
Whether you're intrigued by the amazing ability of bats to eat over 1,000 insects per hour or want to identify bats roosting or in flight, you'll find everything you need in this easy-to-use guide. The Stokes Beginner's Guide to Bats is factually, visually, and organizationally superior to any other beginner's guide. Special features
Whether you're intrigued by the amazing ability of bats to eat over 1,000 insects per hour or want to identify bats roosting or in flight, you'll find everything you need in this easy-to-use guide. The Stokes Beginner's Guide to Bats is factually, visually, and organizationally superior to any other beginner's guide. Special features
70 pages, Paperback
First published April 29, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 29, 2019
This is a great introductory field guide to the bats of North America. It's important, though, to recognize what it is and what it is not before you purchase it. It is primarily a field guide intended to aid the beginner in identifying a wide variety of bat species (specifically those found in the United States). It is not an informational text that provides great detail on bat behavior, ecology, conservation, etc.
More general information is not absent from the book, however. An introductory section of about forty pages provides a nice introduction to the very basics of bats, their ecology, their benefits to human communities, and so forth. This section makes for excellent reading if you're curious about bats but don't actually know very much about them yet, though the reader interested in this book's primary function as a field guide probably already knows most of the information provided.
The bulk of the book is not the sort of thing you're likely to read cover to cover. Instead, it's an extremely well-indexed and quite well-illustrated (with decent maps and amazing photographs) field guide that you'll want to reference from time to time as you watch the bats in your region. An index at the back of the book is quite helpful for identifying which bats are most commonly found in which states and the identifying information for each species ranges from basic physical descriptions to broad behavioral descriptions (helpfully illustrated symbolically), to even information regarding each species' echolocation frequency for those readers who might want to invest in a bat detector.
I would heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in watching bats and even to those merely interested in reading some facts and looking at some attractive photographs of our only flying mammalian cousins.
More general information is not absent from the book, however. An introductory section of about forty pages provides a nice introduction to the very basics of bats, their ecology, their benefits to human communities, and so forth. This section makes for excellent reading if you're curious about bats but don't actually know very much about them yet, though the reader interested in this book's primary function as a field guide probably already knows most of the information provided.
The bulk of the book is not the sort of thing you're likely to read cover to cover. Instead, it's an extremely well-indexed and quite well-illustrated (with decent maps and amazing photographs) field guide that you'll want to reference from time to time as you watch the bats in your region. An index at the back of the book is quite helpful for identifying which bats are most commonly found in which states and the identifying information for each species ranges from basic physical descriptions to broad behavioral descriptions (helpfully illustrated symbolically), to even information regarding each species' echolocation frequency for those readers who might want to invest in a bat detector.
I would heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in watching bats and even to those merely interested in reading some facts and looking at some attractive photographs of our only flying mammalian cousins.
November 1, 2020
Pretty good beginners introduction to bats of North America
December 13, 2022
Bats! I love bats, and this guide from the famous Stoker's tells me all I need to know about every bat apices in the states and Canada.
March 22, 2016
A handy guide for those who are interested in learning about the bats in the Canadians' or Americans' backyard. I find it particularly helpful that the entry for each species includes an "In Flight" description, providing details on the bats' usual flight patterns. Since most of the bats I've seen have been in motion, that's a worthwhile feature! The book is attractively designed as well, with quality photos and icons for where the bats fly and roost.
September 13, 2008
This book is great for anyone traveling and wants to see bats. It is great for researching which species of bat lives in which region of the United States. The pages are easily read and it is easy and quick to find information about their roosting habits and sites, diets, migrations etc. Great book!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews