Habitats of North America

Strolling into the Maumee Bay State Park Lodge for one of the evening socials a The Biggest Week in American Birding, I spied Robert Kirk, the Executive Editor of Field Guides and Natural History, and the Group Publisher for Science and Reference at Princeton University Press’ display for the event. Having known Robert for many years and knowing him to be a most excellent fellow of both infinite jest as well as extensive knowledge about natural history books, I never miss the opportunity to chat with him for purposes of edification and enjoyment.

Whilst chatting with Robert, surrounded by stacks of Princeton’s most recent works across the many disciplines of natural history, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a book I couldn’t recall having yet known: Phil Chaon’s and Iain Campbell’s Habitats of North America: A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists, and Ecologists.

Following upon Princeton’s previously published Habitats of the World, coinciding with Habitats of Africa, and preceding Habitats of Europe and Habitats of Australia, New Guinea, and the Solomons, both announced to be published in 2026, Habitats of North America provides both amateur and professional naturalists of a wide variety of particular subject interests with important, relevant, and very useful information on eighty-one different habitats across North America – including wetlands and oceanic habitats.

Giving a copy of the book a quick look-through, it is clear that it is a work that well lives up to the stated and remarkably broad scope of its indicated readers. The authors clearly also intended this to be a work accessible even to those who might not have previously read extensively in such a subject by beginning it with an extensive explanation of the concepts – to help bring those new to the subject up-to-speed – and the textual apparatuses (or should that be apparata?) – a clear understanding of which is important to both novices and experts alike – they employed in their presentation of the scores of habit profiles contained in the book.

I’m very much looking forward to delving deeper into Habitats of North America over the coming weeks and reporting back here what I find between its covers.