Resources

Booklets:

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has published a booklet on building birdhouses, nesting boxes, nesting platforms, and other projects for birds and other wildlife. Click here for a PDF version of this document.

Coloring Pages:

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a coloring book designed to teach children to identify 50 common birds. Click here to download a copy of the book.
National Geographic has a collection of wildlife coloring pages available online. Click here for the coloring book.

Books:

There are so many excellent books available to help with species identification and general information. Here are a few that I highly recommend as they are often my go-to resources when I want to know more about a particular species. I have also provided links for each book on Amazon.com where you can learn more or purchase them if you choose.

Plants

Michael D. Williams has published an excellent guide called Identifying Trees: An All-Season Guide to Eastern North America. If you're interested in learning to identify trees, not just by their leaves, but throughout the seasons, then this is an ideal guide.
The Tennessee Native Plant Society has published a wonderful book on identifying plants titled Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians. This book was recently published in its second edition, and it is a book that I highly recommend for wildflower enthusiasts.

Birds

National Geographic's Field Guide to the Birds of North America is a personal favorite of mine.
My friend and graduate school mentor, Dr. Fred J. Alsop, III has written multiple books on bird identification for various regions across the country. His latest books, and some of my favorites, are the Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of North America - Eastern Region and Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of North America - Western Region. Or, if you prefer, you can buy a hard cover copy that combines the two handbooks: Birds of North America: Life Histories of More than 930 Species.

Insects

Jeffrey Glassberg has written field guides for identifying butterflies in the eastern and western United States. His guides are titled, Butterflies Through Binoculars: The East A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Eastern North America and Butterflies through Binoculars: The West A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Western North America.

Reptiles/Amphibians

The Reptiles of Tennessee is packed full of extensive information on the various reptile species found within the state of Tennessee.
The Amphibians of Tennessee is a wonderful companion to Reptiles of Tennessee, and also provides extensive information on the frogs, toads, and salamanders found within the state of Tennessee.

Miscellaneous/Multiple Topics

Peterson's field guides are available on a variety of topics including birds, plants, and animals of all types. They have produced so many guides, that it is impractical to mention them all here. The Peterson guides are an excellent resource for anyone wanting to learn how to identify various organisms. Click here for a link to the Peterson web site where you can explore the various guides and apps that they publish.
The National Audubon Society also has a fairly complete selection of field guides on plants and animals. Click here for a list of the guides they publish.

Web Resources:

Here is a selection of some good web resources to help you learn more about the species that inhabit our planet. I'll add more sites as I come across them.

University of Kentucky Butterfly Resource
A site for ornithology resources located in the UK: All About Birds
National Audubon Society: Online Guide to North American Birds
Cornell Lab of Ornithology: All About Birds
National Geographic Society: National Geographic Backyard Birds Identifier
eNature.com
Butterfly and Moth Identification: Butterfliesandmoths.org
A Site for identifying organisms found in the United Kingdom: FirstNature
Mushroom Identification: Rogers Mushrooms
More Mushroom Identification: MushroomExpert.com
Discover Life: Discoverlife.org
Smithsonian Institution North American Mammals
The Audubon Society has a good article on 20 native species that are important to learn and propagate for the health of our bird species.

Checklists:

Here is a link to the official bird checklist for the state of Tennessee.
This is a link to a checklist of amphibians and reptiles in Tennessee.