The New Beachcomber's Guide to the Pacific Northwest

by J. Duane Sept

The Pacific Northwest coast is home to one of the most diverse displays of intertidal marine life in the world. Featuring sponges, clams, snails, crabs, sea stars, sea anemones, jellies, fishes, seaweeds and more, The Beachcomber’s Guide to Seashore Life in the Pacific Northwest is a portable and easy-to-use reference for searching out and identifying any of the hundreds of species of seashore life found on the beaches of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.


Covering the Pacific Northwest’s most common shoreline-dwelling flora and fauna, each entry contains a detailed description of appearance and habitat accompanied by colour photos for easy identification of any creature you might encounter as you explore your local beach. This guide also provides simple but essential information on tides and the various habitats within the intertidal zones, to assist beachcombers in exploring safely with minimal ecological impact. The Beachcomber’s Guide even contains up-to-date descriptions of the best beachcombing sites and when to visit them—you may even find your new favourite exploration grounds!


Thoroughly updated and packed with handy and accessible information, this guide belongs in the beach bag or backpack of any avid naturalist, amateur beachcomber or adventurous family.

Genres: Science, Reference, Nature, Nonfiction, Field Guides, Natural History

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Jeanette Beaulieu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been a great resource while out doing low tide walks! It's super dense, so it's not exactly the kind of guide where you can simply flip to the correct page. However, as I become more familiar with families of creatures this book will become even more useful. Highly recommend. Great purchase that will always be in my beach bag.

[Virginia Redden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lived in Tofino/Along the west side of Vancouver Island for a while, and I SWEAR by this book. it got me hooked on intertidal species. if you are interested in all things ocean, definitely a must-have handbook for beachcombing!!

[Sae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really helpful and handy to have when checking out local areas. :) It helps a lot with identify things I'm not sure I'm looking at.

[Hannah Billings · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can tell just how much the authors love tidepool critters and the enthusiasm is so contagious! The notes on most species are also full of fun facts. Highly recommend!

[Oceanscape Network · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although an older book (our version is copyrighted 1999), let's face it, not much has changed over the years in terms of the basic animals and plants you'll find on a typical Oregon coast. This full color guidebook offers some great photos and brief descriptions of hundreds of invertebrates and plants. It does not touch on birds, mammals or fish, however. The last sixth of the book provides useful maps to finding intertidal areas from British Columbia to Oregon. A handy book to have in your collection and probably good for teen readers as it doesn't get bogged down in highly-scientific language or detail.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this in a free library. I opened it tonight to look up an explanation of tides, which I thought the author explained simply and well. I also enjoyed the fun factoids sprinkled throughout, which I read out loud to my family. However, the field identification sections are printed on speckled colored paper with tiny thin font, which makes it very difficult to read. I also did not find the identifying descriptions clear. This is the first shore guide I’ve read, but compared to my bird guides which offer specific features to look for, similar species, and how to tell them apart I thought it only did an okay job.

[Meredith Henning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for our recent low tide days! This one has excellent photographs, nice close-ups and good quick descriptions for the beach! i like this one quite a bit, although it is a bit large as "pocket" guide.

[L. Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

To notch book! Perfect companion when tidepooling.