Scroll down for reviews and information about field guides, flashlights, camera gear, optics and thermal scopes.
Books, Apps, Software
Global
All the Mammals of the World, July 2023
Bats: Handbook of the Mammals of the World October, 2019
Bats of the World Database, March, 2020
Canids of the World, November, 2018
Carnivores of the World, 2nd edition, January 2019
Mammal checklists for different national parks etc. July 2023
Felids and Hyenas of the World, September 2020
Handbook of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, December 2019
Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World, October 2020
Lagomorphs: Pikas, Rabbits and Hares of the World, August 2018
Mammals: A Very Short Introduction, December 2018
Mammal listing software: Scythebill, March 2020
Mammal listing software: iGoTerra, June 2020
Mongooses of the World, February 2020
Moonlight and Mammal activity (academic paper), March 2024
Scythebill listing software, March 2020
Squirrels of the World, September 2012
Useful travel apps and websites, October 2023
Walker’s Mammals of the World, July 2018
Africa
African Primates Journal – special edition on all African primates, September 2023
Bats of Central and Southern Africa, January 2022
Central African Forests, March 2022
Daan Drukker’s Field Guide to the Squirrels and Anomalures of West Africa, 2023
Habitats of Africa, May 2025
Mammals of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia, November, 2020
Mammals of Madagascar, March 2022
Primates of East Africa, a free pocket ID guide, May 2023.
Primates of Northeast Africa, a free pocket ID guide, May 2023.
Stuarts’ Field Guide to the Marine Mammals (of southern Africa and the Southern Ocean), January 2022
Stuarts’ Field Guide to the Mammals of Southern African (book & app), November, 2018
Stuarts’ Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Africa (book & app), November, 2018
Stuarts’ Field Guide to the Tracks & Signs of Southern, Central & East African Wildlife, December, 2018
Stuarts’ Tracks & Scats of Southern Africa (app), March 2023
Asia
Asia’s Greatest Wildlife Sanctuaries by Fanny Lai & Bjorn Olesen, September 2023
Asia’s Wildlife – A Journey to the Forests of Hope September, 2020
Borneo: A Field Guide to Tawau Hills Park Authors: Shavez Cheema, Rimi Repin, Chun Xing Wong and John Payne (2021), November 2023
Borneo: A Pocket Guide to Mammals of Borneo Author: Shavez Cheema (2020), November 2023
Daan Drukker’s Field Guide to the Squirrels of Mongolia, 2023
EcologyAsia.Com has photos and calls of many obscure S.E. Asian species, November, 2020
The Hairy Rhinoceros History, ecology and some lessons for management of the last Asian megafauna, John Payne, December 2023
Illustrated Checklist to Mammals of the South Asia, September, 2020
Indian Mammals: A Field Guide. 2014 Edition, October, 2019
Pictorial Pocket Guide to the Mammals of Sri Lanka, September, 2020
Sumatran Mammals – free online, September, 2020
Europe
The Mammals of Iberia, Carlos Bocos & James Lowen, March 2025
A Wildlife Guide to Georgia, February 2025
Stuarts’ Guide to the Mammals of Europe (app), February 2020
North America
Guide to the Terrestrial Mammals of Southern California and the Eastern and Southern Sierra Nevada, November 2024
A Californian’s Guide to the Mammals Among Us, March, 2019
A guide to the kangaroo rats and mice of California, October 2023
Nocturnalia: Nature in the Western Night, October 2023
Stuart’s Guide to the Mammals of North America (app), January, 2019
South America
Illustrated Checklist to Neotropical Primates, December 2024
A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of South America, June 2024
Illustrated Checklist to Mammals of the Southern Cone, March 2020
A Field Guide to Bats of the Amazon, April 2018
A Field Guide to the Mammals of Ecuador, April 2018
An excellent website on the mammals of Argentina (Spanish only), January 2024
Gear
Mammalwatching Gear, May 2018
Echo Meter Touch II Bat Detector: RFI, July 2021
Flashlights
Flashlight recommendations, October 2023
Thrunite Catapult, July, 2019
Choosing a Flashlight for Mammalwatching (a very thorough article from January 2019) as well as this post from 2020 also has useful advice.
Mounting a Flashlight on a telescope or camera, January 2019. See also this article and this one from September 2023.
Flashlight RFI, May 2018
Flashlight brightness for spotlighting on foot, May 2016
Photography
Camera trapping the hard way, September 2024
What telephoto flash setup are you using? August 2023
A new way to mount a pocket torch on a camera, October 2021
$100 Trail Cam Recommendations, September 2021
Canon R5 & R6 Mirrorless SLRs: autofocus at night, September 2021
Tips on photography while solo spotlighting, May 2017
The ultimate mammal watching lens: Nikon 500 mm F5.6 PF ED VR, December 2019
Optics and Heat Scopes
Review of the Pulsar Axion 2 XG35, May 2025
RFI Thermal Scope Country Restrictions, May 2025
Review of the Topdon TS004 thermal monocular, March 2025
Review of the Thermal Master T2 Max camera with laser pointer, March 2025
Comparison between thermal imagers based on NETD-value, January 2025
First impressions of the Zeiss DTI6/40, October 2024
Thermal optics – a researcher’s perspective, March 2023
Best budget thermal optics?, March 2023
Thermal scope best practice?, October 2023
A Scientific Study on wildlife detection using thermal cameras, August, 2023
Xinfrared T2 Pro Thermal Camera for smartphones, July, 2023
Pulsar Helion-2 XP50 thermal scope, July, 2022
Sub £1000 ($1500) heat scope? January 2021
How do you use your thermal imager to find wildlife? May, 2020 + Tips for Thermal Scope Use, (June, 2021) & Using Thermal Scopes for Ecological Surveys, July, 2021
What does using a heat scope look like? February, 2020
Top Binoculars: Leica vs Swarovski vs Zeiss, December, 2019
Swarovski Optik EL 8.5 x 42 binoculars, November, 2019
Traveling internationally with a Thermal Scope: what are the rules? August, 2019
Pulsar XQ 50 Thermal Scope Review, September, 2017
(also see this post from April 2019 on scope magnification)
LCD monitors for thermal scopes, March, 2018
Vehicle mounted thermal scopes, September, 2020
3 Comments
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Michael Johnson
Sorry I will repost that URL
http://www.mammalwatching.com/wp-content/uploads/Panama-2021-trip.pdf
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Michael Johnson
Hi Kelly,
I have one and found it quite useful but only for animals that are quite close, eg in a tree or 10 to 20 metres away. There is also a recent report in the Panama section where one was used to great success: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.mammalwatching.com/wp-content/uploads/Panama-2021-trip.pdf
So overall not for the wide open plains, but in forests very useful.
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Kelly Siderio
I wanted to get advice on getting a thermal imager for upcoming trips. I cannot afford most thermal imagers. I wanted to ask if anyone has experience with the Seek Thermal Imager Pro for the iPhone. If I cannot afford a regular thermal imager, is it worth getting that?
Also, has anyone ever rented out an old thermal imager that they don’t use anymore?
Just trying to think of feasible ways to get one ahead of my upcoming trips.
Thanks!
Kelly