martytdx's Full Review: Jeffrey Glassberg - Butterflies Through Binoculars...
While on our trip to Texas, we were primarily concerned with birds, but almost as soon as we got there, we started seeing butterflies and dragonflies everywhere that caught our interest. We started taking pictures and trying to figure out what some of these beautiful creatures were. We had brought Butterflies Through Binoculars: The East (BTB:TE) with us just in case, but found that we couldn't identify a number of the species that we were seeing. Using a local guide at the Inn where we were staying, we realized that we were going to be frustrated trying to use the Eastern tome. I joked about getting a Butterflies of Texas guide as a souvenir, and the next day my wife bought me Jeffrey Glassberg's Butterflies Through Binoculars: The West.
[ • about the AUTHOR • ] Jeffrey Glassberg is author of both the Eastern and Western versions of Butterflies through Binoculars. Glassberg, President of the North American Butterfly Association and a renowned expert on butterflies, has created what might just be the best general guides on butterflies on the market. He obviously knows his stuff, and I had numerous people recommend BTB:TE for me, and I was quite happy with it. He has a great style of writing - naturalist and expert without seeming geeky or too overbearing. I liked it in the eastern book, and that style continues here.
[ • butterflying BASICS • ]
The book starts out with a great primer on the basics of butterflies and their anatomy, habits and identification. The diagram(s) points out parts that often used to ID similar butterflies, and is a great tool that I've returned to on several occasions.
Then come the main sections of the book: the textual and photographic species accounts. The book is broken into sections using a Family > Sub-Family > Genus > Species model. Unlike BTB:TE, where the text preceded the series of plates, in this volume, the text and plates are together, so as you go through each family, genus, etc., you get text on the left side and plates on the right.
All in all, the book covers almost 500 species across 6 families of butterflies. The details are great, but the photos are what people user to find their butterflies, and the images here are 99% great (more on that later). Maybe not-so-oddly, Texas is represented in both guides. But strangely, the species shown in each guide for the state differ significantly. I can understand it, I guess - with Texas being home to more than 200 species of butterflies, it could add significant bulk and breadth to either book, and create the need for entries found nowhere else in that guide. Still, having to check 2 guides was a little off-putting at times - but a minor inconvenience which is probably restricted to Texas.
Textual Reference »
Each family and sub-family gets a brief blurb to introduce them, and give a background on the family/sub-family as a whole. Some genuses also include brief entries, but usually not. Once you get to the species level, you're onto reading specifics about each individual butterfly or skipper. On the left side of the page lies the text section which gives high-level information about each of the species listed in the plates opposite. This is both a plus and a negative. While it's nice to have that information right there next to the plates, by necessity there is less information about each species. In BTB:TE, some entries would be several paragraphs long and cover a number of issues such as habitat, field marks, etc. Here, there is the basic information is still there: Common Name, species name, field marks, Habitat, Abundance, Food and then some comments. Missing are the Similar species and Lifecycle sections that were very helpful in the other guide.
Identification gives a brief synopsis of the key field marks to look for - and this is where Glassberg excels: he puts the key markers in plain language (as much as things such as "HW below, note the white veining and areas of dark brown" are plain language). Habitat and Food both give great ideas of where to look for the species you are trying to track down - and also help you narrow your search based on where you saw a species.
Abundance is a misnomer - it really speaks to when they will be around and breeding, and how many broods they will have. Comments are usually more information about the species, such as when it was deemed its own species or general observations about this particular species - and this information is usually pretty interesting if not very helpful. And he's not immune to a bit of humor, such as this entry regarding the Mormon Metalmark:
"A candidate for Ritalin if I've ever seen one -- these guys just won't sit still."
Oddly, whereas before there were relative sizes for the butterflies (> Monarch, << Gray Hairstreak, etc.), size comparisons are completely absent - no actual measurements OR comparative sizes. There ARE sizes relative to the pictures given on the plates, but whereas I was unhappy with the relative sizing in BTB:TE, I'm even more so with the lack of any sizes here. Personally, I'd prefer to see an actual size in inches or centimeters given.
Photo Plates »
On the right side of each page is the familiar series of plates containing the pictures of the butterflies. The images are usually within an order of magnitude of the life-size of the butterfly (1/2 to 2x life-size, as denoted at the top of the page). So, with larger butterflies, the images are larger and more detailed. With smaller species, the images are more compact and can be harder to see key marks. In general, the book attempts to show both dorsal (back) and ventral (underneath) views of all species, except in cases when those views won't show any discerning marks to help with identification. Instead, a reference will say something along the lines of "similar dorsal coloration as X").
Occasionally, on species like skippers, they will show more pictures, as space will allow. They will also show alternate looks (called morphs) for the species, and reference how these alternate morphs can mimic other closely-related species. This can be great because no butterfly is going to look just like it does in a reference photograph, and those differences can make them look maddeningly like another species.
In the skipper section, there are often numerous looks at the same species, showing both males and females dorsally and ventrally and also showing many of the species side-by-side, which can be quite helpful. However, as I said, the many pictures can make it difficult to get a good look at smaller feathers (and skippers tend to be small). On occasion, for a particularly strong field mark (i.e. one that will set the species apart from everything else), a line will point into the picture to that mark, and then be referenced in the text. I've found these to be very helpful - but there aren't many of them.
As with BTB:TE, the pictures are almost universally good, though there are a few species that have less-than-stellar shots: I can only assume that those species are nearly impossible to find and/or photograph since the rest of the photos are so good.
[ • what ELSE IS THERE? • ]
After the main set of images of western butterflies, the guides delves into a few specialty sections that give further clarification and information:
Hawaii » - A small section speaks to the island state far off of the west coast. It's a small section, mostly because Hawaii only has a few species of butterflies and most of them are introduced species that are already covered elsewhere in the guide. Glassberg does list all of the species found there, but only delves into those that aren't spoken about earlier - for those, he merely references the previous entry. There is no similar sub-section for Alaska.
Dubious Reports » - This small section reports butterflies on record that are most likely to be mistakes, 'errors' (his euphemism for creative license in ID) or released specimens. He speaks to each record, talking to where it was seen and when, then why it is unlikely to have been a true record. It is this section that shows the book's age most. Published in 2001, it was most likely written in late 2000, and there are 'dubious' records that have been confirmed since then. One example is the Mimosa Skipper, which I myself saw in Texas in March¹, and which has several documented records from Texas, despite his entry stating:
"One report from California. This species is unknown from any adjacent Mexican areas."
Rare & Casual Species » This section speaks to species that are documented enough to be confirmed but would be highly unlikely to see.
Supplementary Text » This section speaks to certain species which present a uniquely difficult identification quandary, such as fritillaries in Colorado which are notoriously hard to ID successfully. It also speaks to debates over sub-speciation of some butterflies, such as the many types of blues that confound even scientists over their true taxonomy.
To complete the book, an the index acts as an index AND a checklist (with check boxes next to the common names). Not nearly as convenient as a real checklist but still a nice touch. Lastly, the book covers contain silhouettes of several common species - again, not a huge bonus but a nice extra.
[ • odds and ENDS • ]
There are a few things that I would like to see in the next edition of this book, whenever that happens.
Include REAL, not relative, Sizes - while relational and "times life-size" have their place, show me a measurement in inches or cm (or mm)
Direct Comparison Pages which focus on key field marks - that is, if there are four species that can be easily told apart by a key field mark, show a four-panel display that shows that field mark focused in on (via zoom or crop).
Quick Index - it seems to be a trend in field guides, and this would be a case where a simple list (Fritillaries, Monarch, Hairstreak, etc.) would help.
Caterpillars would be nice - although I realize they could be a field guide by themselves.
[ • is this BOOK FOR YOU? • ]
If you are an avid hobbyist of butterflies and living in the western half of the U.S. and southern Canada, then you will probably find this book helpful. If you are more casual, you might find it a bit more than you need to ID the majority of backyard butterflies. Published in 2001, it has stood up to the test of time, for the most part, although it shows it worse than BTB:TE - mostly because of the Mexican species appearing in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. Author Jeffrey Glassberg knows his stuff and offers up real suggestions that don't sound professor-like as you read them. The pictures are great and offer real opportunities to get an ID from, and are better organized than any other guide I've used. My wife and I have really enjoyed it, although living in NJ we don't use it as much as the eastern tome. For someone out west, it would probably be just as good. Remember, though that people in Texas will want to get both to cover the full gamut.
[ • final THOUGHTS • ]
This book was a happy edition to our collection of field guides, and aided us greatly in identifying a number of species. It wasn't perfect but most of the problems were found in the fact that Texas has both 'eastern' and 'western' species - including numerous migrants that would be too large for one book. That being noted, I still have those few things that I feel would make it a better book. But in the meantime, this is far and away the best guide I've found in general, and I have confidence that it was one of the best for the western U.S. I know that it was far better than any of the others I saw in Texas, and my experience with the eastern edition makes me confident that wasn't a local fluke.
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