Capacity Material

A Few of Our Favorite Field Guides


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Field guides and keys are a useful, student-centered strategy for introducing content to students. Below is a list of field guides we’ve used, we’ve created, or that come highly recommended from partners.
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We also recommend making your own simple keys to organisms and stuff specific to your site.  Inspired by the simplicity of the BEETLES Lichen Key, Juita “Trillium” Martinez of San Mateo Outdoor Education made this key to amphibians at her site:
http://beetlesproject.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Jones-Gulch-Common-Amphibian-Guide.pdf

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Free Online
MACROINVERTEBRATES
UW’s Key to Macroinvertebrate Life in the River
UW’s Key to Macroinvertebrate Life in the Pond
UW’s Wonderful, Wacky Water Critters Guidebook
TREES
UW’s Forest Trees of Wisconsin (guidebook and dichotomous key)
INTERTIDAL
LiMPETS Field Guide (for the west coast of the United States)
FROM BEETLES!
Decomposing Log Key
Field Guide to Bark Beetle Gallery Features
Lichen Key
– Spider Web Identification Key
Longer (more text) Version
Shorter (less text) Version
Fungi Key 
Stream Detectives Key

For Purchase
NIGHT SKY
Constellation Finder: A guide to patterns in the night sky with star stories from around the world
INTERTIDAL AND SANDY SHORES
Pacific Intertidal Life
Handbook of Sandy Beach Organisms by Catherine Halversen
What Lives on a Sandy Beach? by Catherine Halversen
Seashore Northern & Central California, Lone Pine Field Guide by Ian Sheldon, Lone Pine Publishing
National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Seashore Creatures, Alfred A. Knopf, NY
Beachcomber’s Guide to Seashore Life of California by J. Duane Sept, Harbour Publishing
Life on Intertidal Rocks: A Guide to the Marine Life of the Rocky North Atlantic Coast
TREES & PLANTS
West Coast:Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada by John Muir Laws
The Laws Pocket Guide Set: San Francisco Bay Area _by John Muir Laws
The Laws Pocket Guide Set: San Francisco Bay Area by John Muir Laws
Pacific Coast Tree Finder: A Pocket Manual for Identifying Pacific Coast Trees
Redwood Region Flower Finder
East Coast & South:
Berry Finder: A guide to native plants with fleshy fruits
Fern Finder: A Guide to Native Ferns of Central and Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada
Tree Finder: A Manual for Identification of Trees by their Leaves (Eastern US)
Wildflowers Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains
Winter Tree Finder: A Manual for Identifying Deciduous Trees in Winter (Eastern US)
Winter Weed Finder: A Guide to Dry Plants in Winter
Flower Finder: A Guide to the Identification of Spring Wild Flowers and Flower Families East of the Rockies and North of the Smokies, Exclusive of Trees and Shrubs
Midwest and Rockies:
Flower Finder: A Guide to the Identification of Spring Wild Flowers and Flower Families East of the Rockies and North of the Smokies, Exclusive of Trees and Shrubs
Rocky Mountain Flower Finder: A Guide to the Wildflowers Found Below Tree Line in the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountain Tree Finder
Winter Weed Finder: A Guide to Dry Plants in Winter
MAMMALS
Mountain State Mammals: A Guide to Mammals of the Rocky Mountain Region
Pacific Coast Mammals: A Guide to Mammals of the Pacific Coast States, Their Tracks, Skulls and Other Signs
Track Finder: A Guide to Mammal Tracks of Eastern North America
– _Mammal Tracks & Signs: A Guide to North American Species
 by Mark Elbroch
BIRDS
Sibley Birds West: The Sibley Field Guide to Birds, by David Sibley
Sibley Birds East: The Sibley Field Guide to Birds, by David Sibley
Sierra Birds: A Hiker’s Guide by John Muir Laws
Bird Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species by Mark Elbroch
The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior, _by David Sibley
INSECTS
– _Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates: A Guide to North American Species
, by Charley Eiseman and Noah Charney