Moths & Caterpillars of the North Woods (Naturalist Series) Paperback – July 22, 2009

I spend hundreds of hours in the field each year photographing nature, and about twice that much time trying to identify the organisms that I've photographed. It's a real challenge, and I'm never satisfied until absolutely confident that I've made the right ID. Moths & Caterpillars of the North Woods, like all the other North Woods guides, is absolutely amazing. I'd say that it has enough depth for an expert or very knowledgeable hobbyist, while it's accessible to any amateur.This book covers three hundred of the most prominent species, with perfectly photographed examples of adults and caterpillars. The descriptions are easy to follow, side notes are interesting and helpful, and each ID includes life cycle, range, season, and caterpillar host plant information. The beginning of the book provides a brief but well-written overview of moth biology and moth appreciation.As for the "North Woods," I'm in the bottommost stretch of this Great Lakes / Upper Midwest zone, so many of the species in the book are not applicable; they occur farther north. Even so, moths often appear throughout very large ranges, and therefore this is a suitable guide for any enthusiast in the northern half of eastern United States, in my opinion. I've found that if you can at least match the Genus or Family of a certain moth to similar species in the book, that's a great help when doing further research to track down the actual ID of the creature.This book has also helped me in correcting past identifications I've made that were inaccurate -- about a dozen so far. If you do purchase this book, and have an interest in other arthropods or general nature of this region, consider the entire North Woods series. Of hundreds of nature books that I own, they're among the best.

I live in Chicago, which is a bit south of the North Woods, but I am close enough that many of the moths in the area are in this book. Or, if not the same species, some close family members. There are so many moths that a book that covered them all would probably be too large to carry without a cart. I am not fanatical about knowing the exact species but do want to have an idea of what moths I see are, and this book works for that. The book also has pictures of the caterpillars, which I don't use. At least not so far.In summary, not a super complete guide, but well worth the money.

A quick and handy reference for moths and caterpillars found in the area where I live and collect (tip of Lake Superior). A lot of information packed in a small reference. This is not a comprehensive classification key such as Borror and DeLong, or Arnett. If that is what you are looking for, you might want to peek at a copy in a bookstore, to see if it is a fit for your needs. I recommend it as a very useful and informative quick reference, taking commonly encountered moths to the species identification.

This entire series (North Woods Naturalist) is one of the best available. Moths are among the most numerous of the Lepidoptera and every identification guide is valuable. The photos and descriptions are excellent and the book is the right size to carry in a pocket. Although it is written with more northern areas in mind, there is plenty of overlap with my area (southern Ohio). Highly recommended!

Another book for those of us in the upper Midwest. It brought to me an awareness about moths and caterpillars that rounded out my understandings and the illustrations are great. Again, these books in the North Woods Naturalist series are wonderful for those of us living in the north central US.

I use this book if and when I spot an interesting caterpillar in my yard. Since I provide larval plant for some butterflies, I can find a few here and there. This book is very easy to use.

Even looking through this book makes me amazed at how interesting moths are. Butterflies get all the glory, but moth caterpillars are fascinating in there appearance. Sad that this type of book is rare!

I want it so bad the earth work book is $14 lmao

My only complaint about the North Woods series of guides is that I live just outside the area shown on their range maps, so I'm not always sure if that plant/insect is actually found where I live. This guide is yet another very well done field guide in this series.On almost every page, excellent photos of moth and caterpillar include a scale bar indicating actual size, a phenogram showing which months the moth will be seen flying, a succinct written description of identifying characteristics of the both the moth and the caterpillar, the caterpillar's primary food sources, a description of the life cycle, and the insect's native range. Each page also contains a "Nature Notes" of interesting facts.A top notch field guide!