Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest

'The restlessness of shorebirds, their kinship with the distanceand swift season, the wistful signal of their voices down the longcoastlines of the world make them, for me, the most affecting of wildcreatures.' -- Peter Matthiessen The Pacific Northwest is a shorebird haven. Its temperate protectedestuaries provide sustenance for great flocks of shorebirds through thewinter, and the wave-washed rocks and sandy coastal beaches are reststops for hundreds, thousands, even millions of shorebirds moving upand down the Northwest coast, year after year. 'At the height of migration they arrive in flocks that at timesseem to fill the sky. They spread out as they land, bills probingalmost before their feet touch the ground. They stitch the mud againand again at each low tide, turning the seemingly inexhaustableinvertebrate inventory into shorebird tissue. They refuel for some daysand then, swaddled in sustaining fat, are on their way again to northor south.' Thus Dennis Paulson draws us into the life of theshorebird. Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest embraces an area fromsouthern British Columbia -- from the latitude of the north tip ofVancouver Island -- through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and westernMontana. Paulson has carefully compiled the latest information aboutcharacteristics of sixty-one documented and eighteen potentialshorebird species based on exhaustive research of the literature,museum collections, and photographs, as well as his own and JimErckman's extensive field experience. He describes behavior,habitat use and molting patterns, and gives full particulars onseasonal occurrence and distribution for every species, addingconsiderably to the reader's ability to identify the birds rapidlyand accurately. Erckmann's finely detailed drawings show shape, size, andpattern differences in related species (at a distance or close up) toemphasize differences in bill shape, tail pattern, or other diagnosticfeatures. Ninety-eight color photographs illustrate individualvariation in color and subtle differences between similar species. Allregularly occurring Northwest species are illustrated. This unique reference offers a wealth of information to satisfy theexpert as much as to stimulate the intermediate and beginning birder.By helping readers understand the lives of these birds, the authorsencourage better management of shorebird habitats. And their book istimely because the estuaries and other wetlands that these beautifuland far-flying birds use are among the most endangered environments ofthe Northwest.