Arrived in my mailbox today!
Dragonflies of North America, Written and Illustrated by Ed Lam, published by Princeton University Press, 2024 and hot off the press. (I have attached the ThriftBooks link which, I think, may have the least expensive purchase price at this time. I don't recall Amazon's price).
Not since I first laid eyes on David Allen Sibley's illustrated field guide, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds, in 2003, have I been as excited to see a new illustrated field guide as I have been with Lam's field guide of North American dragonflies just out from Princeton Field Guides. Thus far, I've only cracked the cover and have thumbed through the pages, but it's a gem.
All summer long I have struggled with the identification of many of the new dragonflies I saw and photographed, having only photographic guides for this. As good as some of the photographs are, many are just as poor. I muttered to myself that I [we] need better tools for ID. For odonate experts and enthusiasts who can net dragonflies this is not a concern with the same urgency. But I don't net dragonflies and, for a variety of reasons, am unlikely to gain much skill at it. I have relied upon my eyesight (sometimes poor), binocular viewing and my photographs. Overall I do think a did a pretty good job with the limitations I had, but this book should throw open the door.
For now, this is all I have time to write, but more to come when I have had a chance to sit with the book for awhile. I include a couple of sample page photos. The rest of my review, when I write it, will appear below.
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