Christopher P. White

White’s guide is good, but the field guide material for different ecosystems is repetitive and the book can’t really compete with the more thorough and better illustrated one by Jane and Robert Lippson. But for those who don’t want the biological and ecological detail in the Lippsons’ book, this is the one to get. And regardless, the first 25 pages are an excellent synopsis, giving an overview of the estuary’s ecology and biological productivity, and how its form and location show more produce great biological richness as well as ecological fragility; its geological history (fascinating); and a description of its salinity, tides and circulation. It also has good diagrams of migratory patterns and life cycles, and of plant zonation relative to tides. I’m tempted to say, If you never read anything else about the Bay, read those 25 pages. They’re easily worth the purchase on their own, but the field guide sections are also worth the purchase. You’ll just find yourself rereading essentially the same descriptions of blue herons in several locations. (But who could ever get tired of reading about blue herons?) show less