Butterfly Field Guides

[CJ McRae]

Does anyone have any suggestions on what would be a good field guide to purchase for butterflies of Ontario?

[JW Mills]

My first choice would be Butterflies of North America by Kaufman.

[CJ McRae]

Thanks zed!

[Reuven_M]

The new Butterflies of Ontario by the ROM is phenomenal, and in my opinion eliminates the need to own any other guide within Ontario,

[Tak]

I have the Kaufman and would like to get the ROM guide this year. The ROM one is very useful for discussing food plants (realistically too! first guide that lists the weeds/alien invasives that get eaten so more realistic for urban butterflies) and for discussing larva. Kaufman uses drawings not photos which can help simplify what to look for in some cases. If you can, maybe take both out from the library first and look up species you already know to see if it feels helpful.

[CJ McRae]

I saw that the ROM had released one recently and wanted to check it out.

Thank-you all for your input!

[Walter Fisher]

I've got many butterfly guide books and hands down my favourite is the ROM Guide.  Another excellent book is Butterflies Through Binoculars ('The East' version) by Jeffrey Glassberg.  The Kaufman Field Guide is also a great book but contains 'all' butterflies from across North America which might get a little confusing when you're trying to focus just on the Ontario species.

Walter