Twenty-four million people live within one hundred miles of Long Island Sound, the 110-mile-long body of water that separates Long Island from Connecticut and New York's mainland. Yet the land, sky, and intertidal areas that Mary Parker Buckles explores in Margins, as well as the water itself, have remained virtually uncelebrated until now. While the Sound has been endangered by pollution and development, it is far from dead, as some picture it.

Buckles's inspired explorations show that, in fact, it teems with life and is well worth our attention.

With a deft touch and a naturalist's keen eye, Buckles introduces herself - and us - to this stimulating environment. Blending hard science with her own often whimsical observations, she discovers the magic of shorebirds on a stopover during their semi-annual migrations and comes to appreciate the temperament of owls, the intricacy of barnacles, the crusty horseshoe crab, and the fragile osprey chick.

Buckles explains what the ongoing battle over wetlands is all about and elucidates the complexities of the place she describes as "inherently sacred by virtue of being alive."