Gallery: Birds, Poop and Roadkill: A Field Guide to Field Guides
01jonathan-eisens-shelves
Evolutionary biologist Jonathan Eisen started collecting field guides as a child. His grandmother always carried plant field guides with her, he says. While he didn't care much for plants, birds did strike his fancy. Now, he has plenty of bird guides, including multiple editions of his favorite, *Field Guide to the Birds of North America*. He has guides to forests, trains, mushrooms, butterflies, insects and space. Some are rare first editions more than 100 years old. In fact, Eisen has hundreds of field guides stashed at home, in his mother's house in Maryland, and in his office, from where he often watches hawks. Field guides are great, he says, because they democratize learning. "It’s taking something that is in the ivory tower and giving it to everyone," he said. Eisen shared some of his favorite guides with Wired, including guides to roadkill, birders and mushrooms. We've also included some additional guides to radiation, bird poop and the end of the world. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2012/03/mg_89181.jpeg) *Images: 1) Eisen's collection of field guides. Jon Snyder/Wired. 2) Jonathan Eisen poses with his field guides and toy [E. coli](http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/ecoli.html). Jon Snyder/Wired.*
02fied-guide-to-the-birds-of-north-america
### *Field Guide to the Birds of North America* This bird tome, now in its sixth edition, is by far Eisen's favorite field guide, and he owns several editions. His most current version is pretty worn, with pages falling out and the cover detaching pretty easily. The back pages are covered with notes and tally marks counting up more than 250 birds he's checked off from the list of featured aves. A fellow birder once told him this was the best bird guide around and he's been using it ever since. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2012/03/mg_8852.jpeg) [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2012/03/Photo-on-2-25-12-at-8-2.jpeg) *Images: 1) Jon Snyder/Wired. 2) Markings on Eisen's copy of Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Jon Snyder/Wired. 3) Jonathan Eisen with his favorite guide. Jonathan Eisen.*
03una-guia-de-las-aves-de-venezuela
### *Una Guia de las Aves de Venezuela* Eisen's Spanish language copy of *A Field Guide to the Birds of Venezuela* contains almost 1,300 species and is the result of about 200 expeditions throughout Venezuela. The book holds a special place in Eisen's collection because it helped him woo his future wife. They were both enrolled in a class at Harvard in 1988 that offered a trip to Venezuela in January 1989. On the trip, American Airlines lost his luggage. Eisen only had his binoculars, camera, insulin (he's diabetic), the clothes on his back, and his bird guide. As he was trekking along, he spotted a bird he hadn't seen before (one of the red and green birds pictured below). He pulled out the book from his satchel, and it fell into a ravine. Eisen went after it. He got his clothes dirty and wet, but he retrieved it successfully. "I've got no clothing, but I got my bird book," he remembers thinking. He ended up asking his future wife for help shopping for clothes because she was fluent in Spanish. Over the next three weeks, they got to know each other and she helped him decipher *Una Guia de la Aves de Venezuela*. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2012/03/mg_8843.jpeg) *Images: 1) Jon Snyder/Wired. 2) The page that Eisen was trying to look at when the book fell in to the ravine. Jon Snyder/Wired.*
04land-birdy-bird-guide-and-the-red-book-of-birds-of-america
### *Land Birdy Bird Guide* and *The Red Book of Birds of America* These two small field guides are some of the oldest in Eisen's collection. *Image: Jon Snyder/Wired.*
05a-field-guide-to-north-american-birders
### *A Field Guide to North American Birders* Spying on bird watchers might be just as fun as looking for birds. This tongue-in-cheek book features 39 "species" of birders, their distinguishing characteristics, ranges and habitats. Among them are the Opinionated Jay, the Saturday Morning Kinglet, Audubon's Solitaire, Laser-tongued Shrikes and the Scope-Weaseling Warbler. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2012/03/Photo-on-2-25-12-at-8-1.jpeg) *Images: 1) Jon Snyder/Wired 2) *Eisen, who's been a birder since he was a kid, holds up *A Field Guide to North American Birders__,__ published in 2001 by Berkley Trade. Jonathan Eisen.***
06some-edible-mushrooms-and-how-to-cook-them
### *Some Edible Mushrooms and How to Cook Them* Eisen said he often uses Nina Lane Faubion's book to identify mushrooms he puts in salads, but he says he'd also like a guide to inedible mushrooms. While a Google search for "field guide to inedible mushrooms" pulled up zero hits, there is, however, a field guide called *[North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Mushrooms](http://www.amazon.com/North-American-Mushrooms-Inedible-Falconguide/dp/0762731095)*. *Image: Jon Snyder/Wired.*
07the-plants-of-yellowstone
### __*The Plants of Yellowstone*__ The Plants of Yellowstone describes the fauna of America's first national park. "This was my grandmother's. She was always into Identifying plants wherever she went," Eisen said. *Image: Jon Snyder/Wired.*
08skyguide-a-field-guide-to-the-heavens
### *Skyguide: A Field Guide to the Heavens* Mark Chartrand describes the atmosphere, galactic nebulae, galaxies, stars and our solar system. His book also spells out how to use astronomical instruments like telescopes and binoculars for skywatching and how to use star charts, sky maps and maps of the constellations. *Image: Jon Snyder/Wired.*
09a-fiedl-guide-to-animal-tracks
### *A Field Guide to Animal Tracks* Mammologist Olaus J. Murie's book on animal tracks describes the habits, tracks, signs and ranges of North American mammals. According to the publisher, it has "every type of clue a tracker needs." The guide includes more than 1,000 illustrations of tracks, track patterns, droppings and chewed up trees. Chasing mammals, as opposed to birds or insects, is fun because "they are furtive, usually silent and very often go about the night," Murie writes in the introduction. "Their very aloofness is a challenge, and your sleuthing instinct will be aroused." Rawr. *Image: Jon Snyder/Wired.*
10flattened-fauna-a-field-guide-to-common-animals-of-roads-streets-and-highways
### *Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets, and Highways* This was among the quirkiest guides Eisen showed us. Jed Clampett may have liked this one. Unlike his other animal books, this one is about dead critters. The images are black, flattened versions of what an unfortunate critter might look like after encountering a set of speeding tires. If you're thinking black, rodent-shaped fruit roll-up, you've got the right idea. Eisen has the first edition, but you might want to get the updated version, which features a road sign with a smoothed out creature. Russell Neches, Eisen's graduate student, has leafed through the book with his mother, who has a copy. "She has a bit of a macabre sense of humor," Neches said. "My sister and I were as horrified as my mother was delighted." [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2012/03/flattned-fauna.jpg)The guide is full of (dark) hilarity. It includes an introduction to the study of road fauna (who knew there was such a thing!); information on where you might find certain formerly wild wildlife, like snakes, birds and mammals, as well their flattened dimensions; and a recap of the history and future of road fauna. This dead discipline is germane because "at a time when the total world fauna is surely shrinking in both absolute numbers and species complexity, the road fauna is clearly increasing," author Roger M. Knutson writes. He's not the only one who thinks so. A [1996 study](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925857496000249) looked at the effects of roads on fauna casualties. Identifying areas where road accidents threatened animals like the koala, squirrel glider, and southern brown bandicoot was part of a wildlife [management plan in Australia](http://pittwater.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/6948/threatened_flora_fauna_mp.pdf). But this book has a less serious tone than these. Here's an excerpt from the introduction that sets the mood pretty darn well: "A guide to live animals would work well as a guide to the merely dead, since the descriptions in most guides to live animals are based on dead, stuffed animals in museums. However, a guide to the animals of the road has a specific reason for being: In becoming part of the road fauna celebrated in this book, an animal loses not only its life but also its third dimension," reads the introduction. "It is not there by accident, although it certainly did not plan its abrupt arrival.The road fauna is made up of creatures who are victims of their own habits -- feeding habits, reproduction habits, or aggressive or agnostic behavior habits." Scraper not included. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2012/03/mg_8872.jpeg) *Images: 1) Jon Snyder/Wired. 2) Ten Speed Press. 3) A flattened bird from the field guide. Jon Snyder/Wired.*
11edible-and-useful-plants-of-california
### *Edible and Useful Plants of California* Charlotte Bringle Clarke's book is part field guide, part cookbook. She describes the native and modern uses of more than 220 California plants. Clarke saw her book as being part of the back-to-nature movement. *Image: Jon Snyder/Wired.*
12antony-van-leeuwenhoek-and-his
### *Antony van Leeuwenhoek and his "Little Animals"* Antony van Leeuwenhoek, the father of microbiology, used microscopes he built himself to look at single-celled organisms he dubbed "animalcules." Van Leeuwenhoek "did the first drawings of microbes with his microscopes and they're completely awesome," Eisen said. "He used to scrape his cheeks and then look at the scrapings under the microscope." Van Leeuwenhoek's guide to animalcules is [available for free](http://ia700506.us.archive.org/5/items/antonyvanleeuwen00dobe/antonyvanleeuwen00dobe.pdf) (pdf). *Image: Jon Snyder/Wired.*
13a-field-guide-to-bacteria-and-a-field-guide-to-germs
### *A Field Guide to Bacteria* and *A Field Guide to Germs* Eisen refers to Betsey Dexter Dyer's *A Field Guide to Bacteria* and to Wayne Biddle's *A Field Guide to Germs* as great first attempts at field guides for microbes: They are must-reads for people interested in microbial life. Dyer's book isn't a tipsheet for germaphobes on how to avoid evil bacteria. It's a guide for how to see and smell bacteria, the most abundant organisms on Earth. After all, they're everywhere, in hot springs, mud flats and our own refrigerators. And often you don't even need a microscope. Biddle penned *A Field Guide to Germs* "to sort out what's worth worrying about from what is merely fodder for those who can profit from paranoia," he wrote. In the book, he describes [100 historically, interesting and troubling microbes](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/microbe-field-guide/#comment-453321650), like adenoviruses, anthrax, whooping cough, Lyme disease and Chinese restaurant syndrome. In his office, Eisen, who [proposed a more complete field guide to microbes](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/microbe-field-guide/), has a collection of [plush germs](http://www.giantmicrobes.com/). When he came home the day the toy microbes arrived at his house, he found his kids playing with anthrax, E. coli, malaria and athlete's foot. His then six-year-old daughter greeted him with, "Look Daddy! I have chlamydia," he said. "She now knows it makes it hurt when you pee." *Image: Jon Snyder/Wired.*
14what-bird-did-that-a-drivers-guide-to-some-common-birds-of-north-america
### *What Bird Did That? A Driver's Guide to Some Common Birds of North America* In case you were wondering what birds made your car look like a bad Jackson Pollock painting, Peter Hansard and Burton Silver's guide to bird poop will help you identify the culprits. It's got information on more than 40 varieties of feces from more than 40 species, including mallards, turkey vultures, mourning doves and peregrine falcons (Eisen's favorite birds). *Image: Ten Speed Press.*
