Nature Books Australia

Recommended books for naturalists

Book Review: A Naturalist’s Guide To The Insects Of Australia

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I love trying to identify the insects in my backyard, but it can be tricky. There are a lot of great entomology books available, but very few targeted at the complete newbie.

A Naturalist’s Guide To The Insects Of Australia is one of just two books available targeted at beginners. It’s an identification guide that features 292 species of insect that are reasonably common in Australia. The simplicity makes it easier to try and figure out what species you have seen.

How Is It Structured?

Like other guides in the series, most of the book is dedicated to the species profiles. The species are grouped according to the insect type, which is listed at the top of the page. In some cases, these are broad (such as stick insects.) In other cases, the description is narrowed down further (narrow-winged damselflies.)

I found this approach to be a lot more beginner-friendly than other guides. Miniature Lives required users to pay more attention to morphological features and habitat. Insects of South-Eastern Australia asks readers to observe how the insect interacts with the environment. These are essential skills, but can initially be overwhelming.

There is a broad diversity of species covered. This includes eight mantids, four waterbugs, 11 ants, nine wasps, three types of leaf beetle and 15 cockroaches. I was impressed with the section on beetles as it featured a lot of species I’d found locally.

The introductory content is brief at just seven pages. Five pages are dedicated to providing an overview of insect families. The brevity and small text made it hard to visualize. I much preferred the version in Miniature Lives.

Species profiles

I tend to judge a field guide by how useful the species profiles are. I’m a beginner, so the profiles must be easy to understand.

The profiles are of good quality, considering the space limitations. There are no spaces between different sections of the profile; however, this is common in guides that contain a lot of species. The lack of white space does make it harder to flick through.

The profiles contain a physical description of the species and information about their distribution, habitat and habits. The physical description is often pretty vague. The profiles describe what a specimen looks like but doesn’t explain how to be sure of the identification. This makes sense for a beginners guide but also has the potential for misidentification. The habitats and habits section is pretty comprehensive. The habits discuss feeding, egg-laying and defensive behaviour. I was able to learn a lot from this section, and it is great if you are just flipping through the guide.

Most of the pictures in the guide are clear, and it is easy to see the key features. Occasionally, some parts of the image are out of focus or the image is too dark. In these cases, you’ll likely need to seek out additional images to confirm. Due to the small size of the book, it can also be difficult to get a good view of the key features.

In most cases, you get one photo per species but occasionally you get two. For some moth or butterfly species, you only get pictures of the caterpillar (such as the painted cup moth or uraba lugens). This is very much appreciated, as both are species I sought help with identifying when I first started.

Do I recommend it?

I would recommend it for beginners as long as you are aware of the limitations. Backyard Insects is of a higher standard and is easier to read, but it doesn’t have the same diversity of species as this guide.

I don’t believe the format is enough for insect identification; however, the beginner can still learn a lot. It depends on how much you are trying to learn and just how much work you are willing to do yourself. I would recommend it to the person who likes to browse to find an image before doing additional research.

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Book Review: Colac Otway Birds

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I’ve had close connections to the Colac/Otway region for most of my life. My aunt lives in Colac, and our family would often holiday in Apollo Bay. It is a tradition that I’ve continued as an adult. Now my visits are less about swimming and sandcastles, and more about discovering wildlife.

I was excited when I discovered this book. It focuses on a smaller geographic area than other guides about the region and goes into more detail. It isn’t as comprehensive as I would have liked; however, it’s a useful addition to your bookshelf if you frequently visit the area.

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Book Review: Forest Phoenix – How A Great Forest Recovers After Wildfire

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In 2015, my parents’ bush block was impacted by the Scotsburn fires. The shed, cars and caravans were either destroyed or burnt out. In some areas, it felt like there were no signs of life. I tried to photograph how the area was recovering but I was flying blind. At the time, I was overwhelmed by all of the information about about how fire impacts on ecosystems. I resigned myself to just photograph what I could and make sense of it later.

This book has helped me make sense of it. Forest Phoenix is a short book that focuses on thearea of montane ash forest that was impacted by the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. Through short essays and captioned photos, the authors share specific examples of how the 2009 fire impacted on the ecosystem. The unique approach allowed me to learn and understand more about the ecological recovery that takes place post fire.

How is it structured?

The book is divided into four chapters. The first chapter provides a background to the Black Saturday bushfires. The second and third chapters cover how both the plants and animals respond to the fires. The final chapter asks whether this particular forest will ever fully recover.

Each chapter has an introductory essay that takes up 4-5 pages; the exception being the last chapter at 7 pages. The remaining pages feature photos with caption that expand on the information in the original essay. In some cases, you get two images per page. With others, the image takes up the whole page.

You don’t get as much information as you would in similarly priced books, but this structure allowed me to learn so much more. This is because I was able to compare the visuals with what I had photographed at my parents bush block.

It is beginner friendly

One of the issues I faced with other books about Australian bushfires was that they seemed to target an academic audience. I’ve studied at uni, albeit in a different field, but I still struggle to read such books.

The language was very beginner-friendly and didn’t assume that the readers had existing knowledge. An example is a caption mentioning that a cuckoo is birds that lay their eggs in other birds’ nests. There were times where technical words were used, such as the different plant survival strategies. These were explained satisfactorily, however it was the images that allow me to really visualize them. The book felt like multiple puzzle pieces were coming together at the same time.

Do I recommend it?

Yes. It is very beginner friendly and helps readers understand the ecological response to bushfires. It allowed me to understand why the plants and animals at my parents bush block were responding in a certain way. It’s something I’ll be referring to multiple times.

It is no longer available in print format. I’d recommend either purchasing a digital copy or tracking down a second-hand one if you have a special interest in either mountain ash forests or bushfires. For most readers, I’d recommend borrowing the book from your local library.

You can buy a digital copy from CSIRO or Amazon.

Book Review: Mosses Of Dry Forests In South Eastern Australia

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Moss is fascinating. It is so easy to underestimate moss, especially when you consider it is seems to be everywhere. However, it can be difficult to learn more about moss once that interest has been piqued. Australian Mosses Online is a useful resource but it isn’t beginner friendly.

Mosses of dry forests in south eastern Australia aims to fill the gap in the niche. The guide focuses on the beginner-friendly mosses found in the dryer environments. It helps readers understand the basics of moss identification and gives them the knowledge-base that will allow them to seek out more advanced resources

It packs a lot of information into such a short guide.

Many guides struggle to condense relevant information into brief introductory chapters. This is especially so for the smaller guides. The introduction takes up just 17 pages of the 100 but is both information and accessible.

There are images of different leaf arrangements and shapes, and illustrations of different leaf shapes and moss capsules. There is also a brief discussion about the role of moss in the ecosystem and the plants life cycle. The appendix has further information, such as background on scientific names and the species that you’d typically find in a certain habitats.

I was able to learn a lot – enough to know that I definitely wanted to learn more about mosses.

Species profiles

This guide contains descriptions for just 28 species of moss. This doesn’t feel like it’s enough, but you definitely appreciate the brevity after trying to identify multiple moss species,

Each individual moss species covers 2 pages.  The description takes up half a page and the remaining space is dedicated to the images.

Where possible, the images show what the moss looks like in its environment, close ups of the capsules and how the moss would appear through a hand lens. You also get illustrations of the leaves.

I was able to identify species based on the guide, however still had a lot of uncertainty. This was mostly due to my unfamiliarity with the key features. I was still able to learn from the process, even if I had to consult something else. I still learned a lot from the identification process even if I had to seek confirmation elsewhere.

Do I recommend it?

Definitely! It is great for beginners and the compact size makes it easy to carry in the field. You won’t be able to identify all the moss in a region; it’s more of a guide to the beginner friendly moss of that area.

It has set a very high standard for moss identification. My only wish is that there were additional guides of this caliber detailing other moss species.

Buy From Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests or Nokomis.

Book Review: Where To See Birds In Victoria

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I was so overwhelmed when I first started birdwatching in 2015. There was so much information online on various blogs, social media sites and e-bird. Where To See Birds In Victoria was one of the first birdwatching books that I bought, and it has been a much-used resource during my journey. It is a brilliant primer for birdwatching and gives you a broad overview of many sites in Victoria.

It’s the first book I use when researching a new area and one of the few I always take with me.

How Is The Book Structured?

The book is organized into eight key regions of Victoria: The Victorian Mallee, greater Wimmera, north-central Victoria, western Victoria, Geelong, Melbourne, Gippsland and Far Eastern Gippsland. Each section has dedicated chapters dedicated to specific birding sites or areas. Some of these sites are quite large, such as the Great Otway National Park and Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula.

Each chapter has a brief background on the region, information on how to get there, accommodation and facilities, and the key birding sites in that area.
There is also a Bird Finding Guide at the end of the book. It listed each species in Victoria and give a short explanation of how common it is and where to find it. The guide was so useful. I was able to go through the book and discover some of the species I was after and create a bit of a bucket list. I’d notice similarities and then look up specific locations and plan an adventure.

Some chapters were too brief

Some chapters focus on just 3-4 locations, whereas others, like the Greater Geelong chapter, have 13. As a newbie, I found that the chapters that covered more sites weren’t comprehensive enough. Balyang Sanctuary got one short paragraph and, due to seasonal changes, was a bit outdated. This is to be expected; external forces such as bushfires and climate change have changed the birds behaviour. The brevity meant that there were times in the field when I was in over my head. This isn’t a fault of the book, as no statewide guide can cover everything. I’d recommend using this guide as your first reference point, and then using additional resources like ebird and Facebook for the best chance of finding birds.

Do I recommend it?

Definitely.

This book is intended to be a starting point, and it very much serves that purpose. However, the guide shouldn’t be the sole source of information when going on trips. It would be best if you used the book to get an overview of the birding opportunities in an area and use that as a starting point for further research. Use it to create a shortlist of locations.

If you are birding in only one or two regions of Victoria, a more specific guidebook may be more relevant. Alternately, you can check out the local Birdlife office for resources.

I’m critical of the book only so people can make the right decision when buying it. I would have learned a lot more in a shorter time if I’d used it the right way.

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