5 Best Nature Field Guides for Outdoor Explorers
Updated: Oct. 26, 2021Use a helpful mushroom field guide, tree field guide, wildflower guide and more on your next adventure or hike in the great outdoors.
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Mushroom Field Guide
Discover the fascinating world of fungi firsthand with a mushroom field guide. In the Peterson Field Guide to Mushrooms of North America, you’ll learn which mushrooms are edible and which ones are poisonous in a flash. Make sure you bring it along when you go foraging for food.
Psst—try growing your own mushrooms at home — it’s easier than you think!
Wildflower Field Guide
Check out descriptions of leaves, stalks and blooms in the National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Wildflowers of North America. This wildflower field guide offers range maps and seasonal info for hundreds of flowers.
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Tree Field Guide
With more than 540 species highlighted in National Audubon Society Trees of North America, you’ll easily figure out which trees you’re seeing on your next hike. This tree field guide offers essential information and plenty of photos to help you identify a tree by its leaves, bark, and more.
Don’t miss nature books for kids that make perfect gifts.
Birding Field Guide
The pictorial table of contents in the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America makes pinpointing birds on your life list a cinch. You won’t want to go bird-watching without this book and a pair of binoculars in your backpack.
Check out more of the best field guides for birders.
Bird Nest Field Guide
Get up close with fascinating bird nests in the Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests. Learn about different species’ preferred nesting habitats and breeding behaviors.Â
Learn how to identify bird eggs by color and size.
