Description

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The most comprehensive field guide available to the flora and fauna of the American Southwest--a portable, essential companion for visitors and residents alike--from the go-to reference source for over 18 million nature lovers.

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 the southwestern region's natural history, covering geology, wildlife habitats, ecology, fossils, rocks and minerals, clouds and weather patterns, and the night sky;

An extensive sampling of the area's best parks, preserves, mountains, forests, 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, 9 maps, and 16 night-sky charts, as well as more than 100 drawings explaining everything from geological processes to the basic features of different plants and animals.  

For everyone who lives or spends time in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, or Utah, there can be no finer guide to the area's natural surroundings than the National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Southwestern States.

About the Author

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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.

Peter Friederici, author of the habitats, conservation and ecology, and parks and preserves sections of this guide, is a writer and field biologist who contributes articles and essays to many national and regional periodicals. He lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.