Kaufman MidwestWell, do to the impenetrable mysteries of the U.S. Postal Service, a long-delayed copy of Kaufman Field Guide to Nature of the Midwest has finally reached my desk. Building on the paradigm of a regional general natural history field guide that Kaufman originally originally established in the Kaufman Field Guide to Nature of New England, this second volume in the series takes up the flora and fauna of – as well as the geology, climate, and night sky as seen from – Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

Residing as I do in the Pacific Northwest, I had hoped to have a copy of this new field guide in hand when I attended the Biggest Week in American Birding at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Ohio back in May so that I could put it through a few proverbial paces in the region it addresses. Alas, such was not to be. But fear not, I paid careful attention while there and I have pages of field notes against which I can compare it for a full review.