Field Guide Fever

(Page 3 of 3)

June/July 2003
By Terry Krautwurst 
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Start small. If you're a beginner, don't buy The Audubon Society Master Guide to Birding, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 when Birds: A Golden Guide would probably do. You can always add to your collection later.

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When in doubt, stick with the "brand names" in field guide publishing, such as Peterson Field Guides, Golden Nature Guides and Audubon Society Field Guides.

IN A NAME

Of course, even field guides have their limitations. Shakespeare had it right: A rose (genus Rosa, according to my guides) by any other name would smell as sweet. Never mind that an aspen's leaves are "2 to 6 inches long, with flattened leafstalks." Have you seen how each leaf dances in the breeze?

Funny, how these things come full circle. I used to love field guides for their sheer naming power. By knowing their names, I could say I "knew" my trees, my insects, my mushrooms, my rocks.

Now I understand that the real joy to be found in each of nature's creations is not knowing what it is, but simply that it is, with its own beauty, its own unique presence.

"Look, Dad," says my son, Josh. "An Eastern tiger swallowtail."

"Uh huh," I reply. "Neat butterfly."

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