[GStarkCR]

During a presentation at the Feb 07 Iowa Paddling Expo, John Pearson shared some of his recommendations for field guides to identify and appreciate Iowa wild plants and birds. I was hoping that we might entice John to share that list here on the forum, for the benefit of those who did not attend, or those who simply cannot find their notes. And maybe others would like to share their recommendations for additions to the Paddlers Christmas Nature Book List?

[John Pearson]

I keep my library in my office, but am home at this moment, so will post a list tomorrow when I get in. But here are two that I happen to have handy right now:

Birds of North America: a guide to field identification. Chandler Robbins, Bertel Bruun, and Herbert Zim. 1983. Golden Press. I have worn out, lost, or ruined (dropped in various lakes and wetlands) several copies of this book over the past 35 years. It was one of only a few books to choose from when I started, but it has been so useful that I never switched to another, even though I am sure there are several other good choices out there.

A Country So Full of Game: The Story of Wildlife in Iowa. James Dinsmore. 1994. University of Iowa Press. This is not a field guide, but a wonderful series of historical accounts of key wildlife species in Iowa, ranging from extirpated species (bison, elk, bear, cougar, wolf, and passenger pigeon) to abundant contemporary species like deer, Canada geese, and pheasants.

[John Pearson]

Newcomb's Wildflower Guide. Lawrence Newcomb. 1977. Little, Brown and Company. There are many nice wildflower guidebooks to be had, but this one is unique in that it does not rely upon flower color to organize species into sections. Instead, it arranges species into more finely sorted categories defined by flower type (shape and number of petals), overall plant aspect (shrub, vine, or herbaceous; further split by configuration of leaves on the stem [alternate, opposite, whorled, basal]), and finally leaf shape (divided, toothed, untoothed). I like it because it enables beginners to move beyond just page-flipping through large sections of similarly colored flowers and also by encouraging the reader to examine the whole plant, not just the flowers.

The next three form a series with similar physical formats, all from Iowa State University Press:
Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands. Sylvan Runkel and Alvin Bull. 1979. Book opens to have facing pages present a plant species with photo on left and text on right; text includes short descriptions of the plant's appearance, habitat, and historical medicinal uses. Species are arranged chronologically by progressive blooming times from early spring through late fall. This title is out-of-print, but I keep hearing that there may be a reprinting in the works.
Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie. Sylvan Runkel and Dean Roosa. 1989.
Wildflowers and Other Plants of Iowa Wetlands. Sylvan Runkel and Dean Roosa. 1999.

Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers. Doug Ladd and Frank Oberle. 1995. Falcon Field Guide. Species traditionally arranged by flower color, but photos by Frank Oberle are superb.

Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Steve Eggers and Donald Reed. 1997 (2nd edition). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District. Species arranged by wetland types (marsh, meadow, bog, swamp, floodplain forest).

The University of Iowa Press ( http://uipress.uiowa.edu/search/index.cfm ) has published the "... In Your Pocket" series of small, laminated pocket-sized guides to various groups of plants and animals, including:
Prairie in Your Pocket. Mark Mueller. 2000.
Woodland in Your Pocket. Mark Mueller. 2002.
Butterflies on Your Pocket. Steve Hendrix and Diane Debinski. 2003.
Mushrooms in Your Pocket. Donald Huffman and Lois Tiffany. 2004.
Orchids in Your Pocket. Bill Witt. 2006.

Hope this helps!

[GStarkCR]

Thanks, John. Hoping that you will do another presentation at the 2008 Iowa Paddling Expo in Indianola. Guessing that it will be the weekend of Feb 8-10.

[GStarkCR]

I'm compiling some holiday gift ideas for paddlers to include in our Dec newsletter, and wondered whether John or anyone else had any additions/corrections to this list from back in 07?

Thanks for all of the info you have shared over the years, John.

BR
Gregg

[Ben]

Not nature guides, but a couple paddling-related books I really enjoyed -

Dangerous River: Adventure on the Nahanni. By R. M. Patterson

Threading the Currents. By Alan Kesselheim

[John Pearson]

The University of Iowa Press recently launched an interesting blog:
http://buroakblog.blogspot.com/

The column to the left of the blog text (scroll down quite a ways) has clickable links to descriptions and on-line order forms for "Bur Oak Books" (with many nature-oriented titles). Keep scrolling downward and you will find the "Bur Oak Guides", a treasure trove of Iowa nature guides.