Seashore of British Columbia

David Allinson is the president of the Rocky Point Bird Observatory in Victoria, B.C.

Many of us recall with nostalgia childhood walks along an ocean beach:
smells, sounds, and sights were to be found among the slimy kelp,
humorous hermit crabs, and countless colorful shells, sea stars, and
anemones. The sense of wonder arising from those walks is captured in
Sheldon’s compact field guide to life in the tidepool and beach. Not
meant to be all-encompassing, it serves as an introduction to common
species from many families.

Sheldon’s illustrations are excellent and have been reproduced well
on paper with rich colors and fine lines. Each description includes
details about the organism’s life history. The Common Pacific
Littleneck, we discover, is a bivalve that is prone to attack from the
predatory Lewis’s Moonsnail; the snail drills a telltale hole with its
radula near the hinge to access the flesh of this clam, and the shell
washes up on shore for the beachcomber to discover.

So many field guides are simply about identification. In describing
what makes a species unique, Seashore of British Columbia takes the
field guide to a new level. Highly recommended.