Scroll down for reviews and information about field guides, flashlights, camera gear, optics and thermal scopes.

Books, Apps, Software

Global

All the Mammals of the World, July 2023

Bats: Handbook of the Mammals of the World October, 2019

Bats of the World Database, March, 2020

Canids of the World, November, 2018

Carnivores of the World, 2nd edition, January 2019

Mammal checklists for different national parks etc. July 2023

Felids and Hyenas of the World, September 2020

Handbook of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, December 2019

Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World, October 2020

Lagomorphs: Pikas, Rabbits and Hares of the World, August 2018

Mammals: A Very Short Introduction, December 2018

Mammal listing software: Scythebill, March 2020

Mammal listing software: iGoTerra, June 2020

Mongooses of the World, February 2020

Moonlight and Mammal activity (academic paper), March 2024 

Scythebill listing software, March 2020

Squirrels of the World, September 2012

Useful travel apps and websites, October 2023

Walker’s Mammals of the World, July 2018

Africa

African Primates Journal – special edition on all African primates, September 2023

Bats of Central and Southern Africa, January 2022

Central African Forests, March 2022

Daan Drukker’s Field Guide to the Squirrels and Anomalures of West Africa, 2023

Mammals of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia, November, 2020

Mammals of Madagascar, March 2022

Primates of East Africa, a free pocket ID guide, May 2023.

Primates of Northeast Africa, a free pocket ID guide, May 2023.

Stuarts’ Field Guide to the Marine Mammals (of southern Africa and the Southern Ocean), January 2022

Stuarts’ Field Guide to the Mammals of Southern African (book & app), November, 2018

Stuarts’ Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Africa (book & app), November, 2018

Stuarts’ Field Guide to the Tracks & Signs of Southern, Central & East African Wildlife, December, 2018

Stuarts’ Field Guide to National Parks & Game Reserves of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, June 2022

Stuarts’ Tracks & Scats of Southern Africa (app), March 2023

Asia

Asia’s Greatest Wildlife Sanctuaries by Fanny Lai & Bjorn Olesen, September 2023

Asia’s Wildlife – A Journey to the Forests of Hope September, 2020

Borneo: A Field Guide to Tawau Hills Park Authors: Shavez Cheema, Rimi Repin, Chun Xing Wong and John Payne (2021), November 2023

Borneo: A Pocket Guide to Mammals of Borneo Author: Shavez Cheema (2020), November 2023

Borneo: An Illustrated Guide to Bornean Orangutan Food Plants, John Payne & Zainal Zahari Zainuddin, December 2023

Borneo: Phillipps’ Field Guide To The Mammals of Borneo And Their Ecology Author: Quentin Phillipps (Second edition 2018, reprinted 2023), November 2023

Daan Drukker’s Field Guide to the Squirrels of Mongolia, 2023

EcologyAsia.Com has photos and calls of many obscure S.E. Asian species, November, 2020

The Hairy Rhinoceros History, ecology and some lessons for management of the last Asian megafauna, John Payne, December 2023

Illustrated Checklist to Mammals of the South Asia, September, 2020

Indian Mammals: A Field Guide. 2014 Edition, October, 2019

Pictorial Pocket Guide to the Mammals of Sri Lanka, September, 2020

Sumatran Mammals – free online, September, 2020

Europe

Stuarts’ Guide to the Mammals of Europe (app), February 2020

North America

A Californian’s Guide to the Mammals Among Us, March, 2019

A guide to the kangaroo rats and mice of California, October 2023

Nocturnalia: Nature in the Western Night, October 2023

Stuart’s Guide to the Mammals of North America (app), January, 2019

South America

A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of South America, June 2024

Illustrated Checklist to Mammals of the Southern Cone, March 2020

A Field Guide to Bats of the Amazon,  April 2018

A Field Guide to the Mammals of Ecuador, April 2018

An excellent website on the mammals of Argentina (Spanish only),  January 2024

Gear

Mammalwatching Gear, May 2018

Echo Meter Touch II Bat Detector: RFI, July 2021

Flashlights

Flashlight recommendations, October 2023

Thrunite Catapult, July, 2019

Choosing a Flashlight for Mammalwatching (a very thorough article from January 2019) as well as this post from 2020 also has useful advice.

Mounting a Flashlight on a telescope or camera, January 2019. See also this article and this one from September 2023.

Flashlight RFI, May 2018

Flashlight brightness for spotlighting on foot, May 2016

Photography

Camera trapping the hard way, September 2024

What telephoto flash setup are you using? August 2023

A new way to mount a pocket torch on a camera, October 2021

$100 Trail Cam Recommendations, September 2021

Canon R5 & R6 Mirrorless SLRs: autofocus at night, September 2021

Tips on photography while solo spotlighting, May 2017

The ultimate mammal watching lens: Nikon 500 mm F5.6 PF ED VR, December 2019

Optics and Heat Scopes

First impressions of the Zeiss DTI6/40, October 2024

Thermal optics – a researcher’s perspective, March 2023

Best budget thermal optics?, March 2023

Thermal scope best practice?, October 2023

A Scientific Study on wildlife detection using thermal cameras, August, 2023

Xinfrared T2 Pro Thermal Camera for smartphones, July, 2023

Pulsar Helion-2 XP50 thermal scope, July, 2022

Sub £1000 ($1500) heat scope? January 2021

How do you use your thermal imager to find wildlife? May, 2020 + Tips for Thermal Scope Use, (June, 2021) & Using Thermal Scopes for Ecological Surveys, July, 2021

What does using a heat scope look like? February, 2020

Top Binoculars: Leica vs Swarovski vs Zeiss, December, 2019

Swarovski Optik EL 8.5 x 42 binoculars, November, 2019

Traveling internationally with a Thermal Scope: what are the rules? August, 2019

Pulsar XQ 50 Thermal Scope Review, September, 2017
(also see this post from April 2019 on scope magnification)

LCD monitors for thermal scopes, March, 2018

Vehicle mounted thermal scopes, September, 2020