A simplified field guide to the common insects of North America.

Offers concise descriptions and detailed illustrations of the diverse mammal species and inlcudes specific guidelines on techniques of field identification.

A comprehensive field guide that uses an innovative Sound Index to allow readers to quickly identify unfamiliar songs and calls of birds in western North America. Bird songs and calls are at least as important as visual field marks in identifying birds. Yet short of memorizing each bird’s repertoire, it’s difficult to sort through them all. Now, with the western edition of this groundbreaking book, it’s possible to visually distinguish bird sounds and identify birds using a field-guide format. At the core of this guide is the spectrogram, a visual graph of sound. With a brief introduction to five key aspects—speed, repetition, pauses, pitch pattern, and tone quality—readers can translate what they hear into visual recognition, without any musical training or auditory memorization. The Sound Index groups similar songs together, narrowing the identification choices quickly to a brief list of birds that are likely to be confused because of the similarity of their songs. Readers can then turn to the species account for more information and/or listen to the accompanying audio tracks available online. Identifying birds by sound is arguably the most challenging and important skill in birding. This book makes it vastly easier to master than ever before.

Ecology.

Describes and illustrates shells found in North America, including gastropods, chitons, and bivalves.

A simplified guide to the common wildflowers of northeastern and northcentral North America.

This beginner's guide to insects is a must-have for bug-obsessed young learners as well as for those who are simply curious about these creatures. In this addition to the acclaimed About... series, author and educator Cathryn Sill uses simple, easy-to-understand language to teach children what insects are, how they look, how they move, what they eat, and where they live. With beautifully detailed, realistic paintings, noted wildlife illustrator John Sill introduces readers to a wide variety of insects, from ants and beetles to grasshoppers and the monarch butterfly. An afterword provides further details, inspiring young readers to learn more.

This abridgment focuses on the North American birds most likely to be seen and features an informative introduction, and illustrated descriptions.

Discusses 120 of the most common caterpillars and the adult butterflies and moths they become and gives advice on how to raise caterpillars to adults.

Provides step-by-step instructions for more than forty garden-related projects, experiments, exploration, and handicraft, including soil searches, herbariums, scarecrows, and dissecting flowers.