"Nature BC" Guide by James Kavanagh

Living at our float cabin inspires us to learn more about nature. As we observe birds, plants and the occasional animal, we like to identify them. Because we don't have an expert background in biology, we use several nature guides to give us a hand. We purchased one of our first guides at Canadian Tire. It's called Nature BC: An Illustrated Guide to Common Plants and Animals by James Kavanagh with illustrations by Raymond Leung, Linda Dunn, Horst H. Krause and Marianne Nakaska.

This is a great little guide with illustrations (rather than photographs) and brief descriptions for the novice or casual observer. The descriptions include a distribution map and information including the common and scientific name, size, habitat, key field marks for easy identification, behavioral characteristics and points of interest. What I really like about this book is that it includes mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, shorelife, trees, shrubs and wildflowers all in one 175 page book. It has durable pages and binding, and is small and light for carrying in a backpack or the car. It is my first choice before going to my more technical guides. The only categories missing are insects and spiders, but I guess you can't have everything in 175 pages.

If you don't have a Canadian Tire Store handy, you can find Nature BC at Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. I'm always looking for good nature guides. Do you have any favourites? -- Margy