Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0679446826, Paperback)

Intent on preserving threatened bird species, George Bird Grinnell (that being his given name, and no reflection of his interests) first formed the Audubon Society in 1886. It disbanded in 1888, re-emerged in Massachusetts in 1896, and by 1905 the various fledgling state societies coalesced into the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals. As it has more than 100 years of experience cataloguing and protecting United States wildlife, it's no shock that its field guides are so superb.

The Field Guide to the Mid-Atlantic States, covering the flora and fauna of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland, as well as Delaware, West Virginia, and Virginia, contains concise and informative descriptions alongside beautiful photographs identifying over 1,000 of the region's wildflowers and trees, mushrooms and algae, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, insects, and mammals. There's also a natural-history overview, explaining relevant geology and ecology, wildlife habitats and rock varieties, weather patterns and the night sky to be seen in each season. From Saltmarsh Cordgrass and Purple Sea Urchins to White-Winged Scoters and Meadow Voles, the field guide beautifully catalogues the various existent species, as well as introducing more than 50 of the region's parks, reserves, beaches, forests, and wildlife sanctuaries in which to explore, Audubon field guide at the ready. --Stephanie Gold