National Audubon Society Regional Guide to California (Audubon Society Regional Field Guides)

A whole new way to look at your world: New England, Florida, California, and the Pacific Northwest are the first four subjects in a series of comprehensive field guides to the flora, fauna, landscape, and climate of specific geographic regions of North America.

Up-to-date, concise, accurate species accounts; sensible, user-friendly organization; and extraordinary color photographs and illustrations throughout — all are features of these compact, portable, encyclopedic guides. Each easy-to-carry volume contains:
-- on nearly every page, beautiful and precise color photographs (about 1,500 in all), as well as scores of maps, diagrams, and other illustrations throughout the book
-- an identification field guide to approximately 1,000 local animals and plants, including wildflowers, trees, mushrooms, mosses, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, birds, butterflies, and mammals
-- a clear and thorough explanation of the region's natural history, featuring guides to geology, rocks and minerals, clouds and weather patterns, and the night sky
-- detailed descriptions (seasonal access, travel directions, trail information, and telephone numbers) of 50 of the best natural sites in the area — parks, preserves, beaches, forests, islands, and wildlife sanctuaries — with notes on dozens of others
-- essays addressing issues of conservation, endangered species, and the effects of human habitation

For every resident and every visitor, this series is an indispensable tool for enjoyment and understanding of our natural surroundings. And coming in 1999: the Mid-Atlantic, the Southeast, the Southwest, and the Rocky Mountains.

A superb pocket handbook to the flora and fauna of California including a good, succinct review of the state's natural history and an annotated list of state parks and preserves. Unfortunately, non- native plants are not consistently identified as exotics. Color photos, maps. 4x8". Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Up-to-date, concise, accurate species accounts, sensible, user-friendly organization, extraordinary color photography and illustrations--these features and others combine to make the National Audubon Society Field Guides among the most encyclopedic guidebooks around. 1,500 color photos, plus 200 maps & illustrations in each guide.

Filled with concise descriptions and stunning photographs, the National Audubon Society Field Guide to California belongs in the home of every California resident and in the suitcase or backpack of every visitor. This compact volume contains:

An easy-to-use field guide for identifying 1,000 of the state's wildflowers, trees, mushrooms, mosses, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, butterflies, mammals, and much more;

A complete overview of California's natural history, covering geology, wildlife habitats, ecology, fossils, rocks and minerals, clouds and weather patterns and night sky;

An extensive sampling of the area's best parks, preserves, beaches, forests, islands, and wildlife sanctuaries, with detailed descriptions and visitor information for 50 sites and notes on dozens of others.

The guide is packed with visual information — the 1,500 full-color images include more than 1,300 photographs, 14 maps, and 16 night-sky charts, as well as 150 drawings explaining everything from geological processes to the basic features of different plants and animals.

For everyone who lives or spends time in California, there can be no finer guide to the area's natural surroundings than the National Audubon Society Field Guide to California.

Peter Alden, principal author of this series, is a birder, naturalist, author, and lecturer. He has led nature tours to more than 100 countries and is the author of books on North American, Latin American, and African wildlife. Peter organized an event called Biodiversity Day, the first of which took place in his hometown of Concord, Massachusetts.

Fred Heath, author of several sections of this guide, as well as regional consultant, is a naturalist, field trip leader, and lecturer, who is active in the Los Angeles chapter of the National Audubon Society and the North American Butterfly Association.