The 9 Best small mammal Identification Guides (2023 reviews)

Stan Tekiela line of guide come in a pretty wide variety of styles, so you can definitely find one that suits your individual preferences and needs. It is great for a backyard amateur birder. It provides helpful, trusted information—from observation tips to bird anatomy. It also has really great clear pictures of all the birds. The pages are color coded to make looking up any particular bird rather easy. It does a nice job identifying birds.

The book is very easy to look up any bird by the color etc.

Why We Like This:

Describes male, female, and juvenile with beautiful pictures included
Very informative and the photographs are beautiful
Lots of good descriptions of birds and their habit’s
Easy to find birds in the book

Best For beginner: Jonathan Alderfer small mammal Identification Guide

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The jonathan alderfer small mammal identification guide gives the top-tier guide a run for their money by offering flagship specs at a much more affordable price. The cover-flaps' quick indexes to families and species are a great idea, doubling as reliable book-marks when you've got to take another look at the bird. It's easy to use, has great pictures and details, and is organized according to bird families. The tabs make flipping through quick and easy, and as well, the illustrations, maps and descriptions make it easy to identify species.

These are clear and informative, and they are accompanied by text and pointers that indicate identification keys. The guide also has an easy to find and use tab on the side to help you get to the species you are looking for. It is easy to navigate and distinguish between species and even juveniles to adults.

Why We Like This:

Field-identifiable subspecies and subspecies groups are clearly labeled and treated in often impressive detail
Good brand reputation

Best For avid desert hiker: Catherine H Howell small mammal Identification Guide

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We know from years of feedback from readers, customers and amazon sellers, what most people want in a convenient and appropriate guide. The catherine h howell small mammal identification guide is exactly that - it's a simple guide that hits all the right notes. If you are just starting to get interested in reptiles and amphibians, this is a good starter guide for in the field. It includes non native species that have invaded certain areas sometimes threatening indigenous wildlife. It would be a perfect size for in the field if it included more relevant information of animals found in Canada.

This is a very nice pocket identification guide. It has great pictures, and a little information about a few species. The pocket size makes it easy to stow in a backpack providing quick reference for hikers. It is easy to carry the book around in the field. It is a well designed, organized and produced volume.

Why We Like This:

Small enough for a field jacket pocket
Excellent photographs, coated paper, full color, nice facts about each animal
Clear, concise pictures and illustrations with easy to read facts and information
Super book for those who love lizards and turtles

Best For average tourist: James Kavanagh Field Guide

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Next on the list, we've got yet another guide that manages to win our hearts. It's the james kavanagh field guide and it's widely considered as one of the best convenient guide you can buy. This map-sized, laminated guide is compact and easy to use. Size and organization allow quick identification of the bird, fish or reptile you are seeing. It is useful for a large amount of quick animal identification. It is light-weight and coated so it doesn't get damaged by ocean spray. It is great for those who will be snorkeling or diving.

This folded card showing many of the animals you'll see in the Galapagos is very handy to use. It is good for those who will be snorkeling or diving.

Why We Like This:

Packs flat, takes up minimal room
Great for a guide while exploring
Good investment for long term

Best little Guide: Catherine HERBERT Howell small mammal Identification Guide

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The catherine herbert howell small mammal identification guide has killer features for the price point. There’s a lot of good info in this handy little guide, including paw tracks and paw tracks.

Why We Like This:

One of the new comers and featured product
Delivers what they promise

Best For pond: Scott Shupe small mammal Identification Guide

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Scott Shupe offers a variety of guide for personal choice and yet maintaining quality in all the variants. It is essentially an area of rolling landscape well dissected by numerous rivers and streams that create areas of moderate relief. These are characterized by being relatively cool and damp forests. It can be quite rugged in some areas of southeastern ohio. It is easy to understand and apply to the rest of the book.

Why We Like This:

Very nice book with clear pictures
Good investment for long term

Best For young children: Stan Tekiela small mammal Identification Guide

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Stan Tekiela is known for creating pragmatic and minimalist guide for people on the go, and its line of stan tekiela small mammal identification guide definitely falls in line with that reputation. If you work with scouts or other youth groups and nature, stan's books are the ones to have to build your knowledge base and make nature walks much more interesting and informative. It features, eg, northen short tailed shrew larger than masked shrew (which has a longer tail) and more common than least shrew. It even has an illustration of each animal's tracks.

Each mammal also has a range map so you can tell if it's found in your own part of MI. It has great photo illustrations additionally it is great to read during a long car ride. The small size makes it perfect for young children to carry and read.

Why We Like This:

Provides habitat/nesting/food information which helps in id & lifespan
Very informative and educational and easy to read and understand especially for children
Intersting bedtime reading as well as useful

Best For day trips: James Kavanagh small mammal Identification Guide

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We know from years of feedback from readers, customers and amazon sellers, what most people want in a convenient and appropriate guide. The james kavanagh small mammal identification guide is exactly that - it's a simple guide that hits all the right notes. This is a nice small and extremely portable laminated folding naturalist guide. It is great for the main animals/birds in southern africa. It's not meant to replace a field guide, but it's a great, inexpensive and durable guide for quick identification out on a game drive. It is easy to bring along and keep handy. It is great for day trips as a quick reference. It is great to have if you are going on a safari.

Why We Like This:

Great to have when you don't feel like lugging the book with you
Small and compact and covered the major animals
Very portable, and shows pictures of many types of animals

Best Guide: Peter Menkhorst small mammal Identification Guide

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Peter Menkhorst line of guide come in a pretty wide variety of styles, so you can definitely find one that suits your individual preferences and needs. It is a great book to help clarify what and who is your neighbour. It is a thorough, light weight, identification guide with extensive textual accounts of each species and high-quality illustrations. It has great illlustrations, lots of useful identifying tips and good habitats/lifestyle/feeding description for each animal. Other guides show a silhouette of a human next to a silhouette of the animal, which is much more user friendly to a reader unfamiliar with these animals.

The illustrations are gorgeous, and the pages are large enough to easily browse through while still being small enough to make the book reasonably portable. The cover gives an idea of the quality of illustrations.

Why We Like This:

Good explanations of important field marks, behavior, habitat and range maps
One of the new comers and featured product