Another Plug for “Peterson Field Guide to Finding Mammals”
Vladimir Dinets had a post a few weeks ago about his new book, “Field Guide to Finding Mammals in North America,” but it’s such a great work I want to push it one more time. I just got my copy and am really impressed. There are two main parts: an overview of field sites for North America, from Wolves in Yellowstone Nat Park to Tundra Vole in the Aleutians to Humpback Whales off of Bermuda. Then there is a species guide, for everything from snorkeling with Narwhals to Merriam’s Shrew, which “sometimes follows swarms of Mormon crickets in the same way Gray Wolves follow Caribou.” If you encounter a cricket swarm, “look for shrews scurrying along its tail edge.” There are flashes of dry wit throughout; how he got some of these barbs past an editor, I am not sure, but be sure to look up his utterly delicious entry for “Man,” after armadillo and before manatee in the “Other Animals” section of the book.
I have a hard time imagining anybody who won’t get some tips on finding lifers from the book. It also is a fun prompt just to go out and LOOK — you won’t see anything new or interesting unless you first make the effort to go out and try.
Charles Hood, Palmdale, CA
9 Comments
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vdinets
Don’t bother with typos, but if there are serious errors, I’d really appreciate that. So far the only one reported is that one sentence somehow jumped from fox squirrel species account to Eastern grey.
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vdinets
If it’s in Nevada, I found it already; if not, please let me know. Those maps took me almost as much time as the rest of the book… and there are still errors! 🙁
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vdinets
Thank you! You should’ve seen the jokes the editor removed…
Just kidding. I was also surprised by their tolerance.