I have found the following guides useful for identification:
Every category:
Mobile App: Seek by iNaturalist. Version 2.15.7. iNaturalist, LLC, 2024.
Books: Kozloff, Eugene. Plants and Animals of the Pacific Northwest. University of WA, 1976.
Website: https://burkeherbarium.org/imagecollection/
Birds:
Mobile Apps: Merlin Bird ID. Version 3.0.5. The Cornell Lab, 2024
iBird Pro. Version 13.4. Mitch Waite Group, 2023.
Books: Sibley, David. Sibley Birds West. Alfred A. Knopf, 2016.
Lewis and Sharpe. Birding in the San Juan Islands. The Mountaineers, 1987.
Wildflowers:
Mobile Apps: Washington Wildflower Search. Version 12.04. University of Washington, 2023.
Books: Pojar and MacKinnon. The Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Lone Pine, 2004.
Turner and Gustafson. Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest. Timber Press Field Guide, 2010.
Marine Life:
Books: Kozloff, Eugene. Seashore Life of the Northern Pacific Coast. University of WA Press, 1996.
Lichens:
Books: Rhoades, Fred M.. Lichens of South Lopez Island. Douglasia. Occasional Papers, , 2009.
Brodo, Sharnoff & Sharnoff. Lichens of North America. Yale University Press, 2001.
McCune & Geiser. Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest. OSU Press, 2023.
Mushrooms:
Mobile App: PictureMushroom
Books: Winkler, Daniel. Fruits of the Forest. Skipstone, 2023.
Trudell, Steve. Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, Timber Press, 2022.
I need to thank Fujifilm for making such nice cameras and lenses. Or given the amount of their equipment that I have acquired, maybe they should be thanking me.
I would also like to thank several Lopez residents who have shared their enthusiasm for Lopez's natural world. Master birder Beth St George has helped me both with finding new birds and with identifying the ones I found on my own. Cyndi Smith has helped me identify plants and birds and encouraged me to assemble the photos to make them accessible in book form. I was pleased that she thought these collections were worth publishing but decided that sharing them on a website has the advantages of giving me control over the quality of the images as well as the opportunity to update and improve the collections. And, of course, thank you Debby, for your editing skills and for sharing my enthusiasm.