Deveaux: Deveaux Bank Seabird Sanctuary, South Carolina

The photographs are fantastic in this coffee table book! But don't stop there... The Deveaux Bank rookery in the Lowcountry of South Carolina holds amazing promise for the future of shore birds. Thousands fly from this small sandy island into the marshes to feed each day, returning to Deveaux for safe roosting and breeding. While you are bound to enjoy the photographs, don't miss the well-written text. Dana Beach, legendary conservationist in this part of South Carolina, gives clear explanations of the natural history of the land and the birds, helping us all to appreciate why these small, transitory roosting islands are so important to protect.

It's a beautiful book created by someone who knows and loves the island and coastal Carolina. It's sitting on top on the Audubon book on the coffee table at this time. While it's more than a picture book, it is a FINE picture book.

Great

It is very rare that I describe a book as stunning, but Deveaux: Deveaux Bank Seabird Sanctuary, South Carolina by Dana Beach is just that, and more. My husband and I have been vacationing on Seabrook Island, SC for well over 20 years, and we have always wondered about this little spit of land right off Seabrook's beach. It was over a decade before we knew that it even had a name: the Deveaux Bank. And it took longer than that to discover that it's a protected environment for birds. We recently saw Dana Beach at an author talk, and he is informative and funny, but he also carries many disturbing tales.The Deveaux Bank is actually a 215 acre spit of land that is covered with vegetation. It is at the mercy of Mother Nature and is constantly changing due to winds, tides, and storms. Yet it is one of most important “islands” for seabirds on the east coast—especially migrating and nesting birds. Beach, founder of the Coastal Conservation League) is an avid bird-watcher and photographer. So it's only natural that Deveaux would be filled with beautiful photographs of many of the birds who make Deveaux their home (either temporary or permanent). But this coffee table-sized book is much more than a picture book. Beach talks about the factors that have threatened birds in the past (man, dredging, pesticides, overbuilding, storms, etc.) and what makes their survival still so important today. So this book is as educational as it is pleasing to the eye.Although Deveaux has a bit of a hefty price tag, it was published by the University of South Carolina Press and the Coastal Conservation League. Hopefully, the profits from Deveaux will help the Coastal Conservation League to continue to be an advocate for the fragile coastal environment and the wildlife that inhabits the coast.