"I haven't been so moved by a natural history book since I read 
Rachel Carson's Under the Sea Wind forty years ago," says
Rice University's Paul Harcombe about Life on Matagorda Island.

    From most people's point of view, a barrier beach is a paradox: 
appealing to visit but appalling to live on. An enjoyable day's 
excursion requires shade, dark glasses, sunblock, drinking water, 
food, and, of course, a shower afterward. Take all those amenities 
away and consider existing alone on the island full-time, even 
during hurricanes.

    When Wayne and Martha McAlister moved to Matagorda Island, 
a wildlife refuge off the central Texas coast, they anticipated 
staying perhaps five years. But sent to take up duties with the U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, Wayne McAlister fell under the island's 
spell the moment he stepped out of his aging house trailer and met 
his first Matagorda rattlesnake. Seven years later, the McAlisters 
were still observing the flora and fauna of Matagorda. Except for 
the road and some occasional fence posts, the island appears 
untouched by humans. In Life on Matagorda Island, Wayne
McAlister shows what life was like amid such isolation.

    McAlister revels in the ghostly twinkles of nights on the beach, 
as luminescent comb jellies, sea walnuts, and glow worms light up 
every crest of wave. He watches hungry whooping cranes snatch 
striped mullet trapped in tidal pools; hunts for Hurter's spadefoots,
reclusive amphibians that surface during warm deluges; and sinks 
to his knees in the sand, flashlight in hand, to catch a glimpse of 
a whip eel's sharp snout.

    Not all observations are limited to the psammobionts—the 
creatures of the sand. McAlister recounts petting a fat-bellied 
coyote pup and handing out kitchen scraps to wild turkeys.
Badgers make their home on Matagorda Island, as do alligators, 
raccoons, and hundreds of varieties of insects, including the 
aggravating salt marsh mosquito.

    But McAlister doesn't merely observe: he tells why and 
how. Why oysters spit, why pistol shrimp snap, or how debris 
from offshore boats affects the beach environment. He also 
relates the more sinister aspects of living on a barrier island, 
such as finding himself ankle-deep in quicksand. But it's all in a 
day's work—or play—to the McAlisters, as they balance their 
lifestyle with the will of the island and its nonhuman inhabitants.

    "We try to stay in the background, enthralled observers," 
McAlister writes. "We do not belong, can never truly belong, but 
we can coexist and commingle. Close enough."

_________________________________________________________

WAYNE H. McALISTER is a retired professor of biology at Victoria 
College who worked as an environmental education specialist for the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for ten years. He and his wife, 
Martha, live in Victoria, Texas.


Number Five: Gulf Coast Studies, sponsored by Texas A&M University 
Corpus Christi


What people are saying about this book

"It's a charming book that, at the least, inspired me to forego the 
can of Raid."—The Texas Observer

"A man of apparent boundless intellect and curiosity, Dr. McAlister 
serves up the biological treasures of Matagorda Island like no 
other. Quite frankly, I can't count the number of times I read a 
passage and simply uttered, 'wow.'"—Carter Smith, The Nature
Conservancy of Texas

"McAlister's life philosophy and sense of place, a journey that we 
experience in reading this account, is a state of awareness [to 
which] all who call themselves naturalists ought to aspire."—David
Riskind, Texas Parks and Wildlife