A Guide to Bird Finding in New Jersey: First Edition [Paperback]

William Boyle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1991

Description: A revised and updated edition of the first complete guide to one of America's best birding regions.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

New Jersey is one of the smallest and most densely populated states, yet the remarkable diversity of its birdlife surpasses that of many larger states. Well over 400 species of birds have been recorded in New Jersey and an active birder can hope to see more than 300 species in a year. William J. Boyle has updated his classic guide to birding in New Jersey, featuring all new maps and ten new illustrations. The book is an invaluable companion for every birder - novice or experienced, New Jerseyan or visitor.

A Guide to Bird Finding in New Jersey features:

More than 130 top birding spots described in detail
Clear maps, travel directions, species lists, and notes on birding
An annotated list of the frequency and abundance of the state's birds, including waterbirds, pelagic birds, raptors, migrating birds, and northern and southern birds at the edge of their usual ranges
A comprehensive bibliography and index

The guide also includes helpful information on:

Birding in New Jersey by season
Telephone and internet rare bird alerts
Pelagic birding
Hawk watching
Bird and nature clubs in the state --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

William J. Boyle, Jr., a chemist by profession, was regional editor for American Birds (now North American Birds) for nineteen years and was coeditor of Birdfinding in Forty National Forests and Grasslands. He has spent almost thirty years exploring every corner of New Jersey for the study and enjoyment of its birdlife. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 536 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press; F edition (February 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813511453
• ISBN-13: 978-0813511450
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,450,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great for finding out what's likely to be where, November 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Guide to Bird Finding in New Jersey: First Edition (Paperback)

This book covers the vast majority (something like 80) of the popular bird watching sites in New jersey. It tells you what birds you are likely to see there and where the best places (and best times) are. It has lots of detail on rare birds. There is also a great section in the back that goes species by species and tells you where you are most likely to see them and how common they are in New Jersey. You still need a good field guide, but this is a great book for actually finding the birds in the area.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be sure to get the newest edition, June 17, 2003

By 

Phil Jeffrey (New York City USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Guide to Bird Finding in New Jersey: First Edition (Paperback)

There are now two editions of Boyle, the older version with an orange cover and the Barred Owl, and a newer version with a photo of a Hooded Warbler on the front. You'll want to make sure you get the latter, since many things have changed over the years.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The New Boyle, September 13, 2002

By 

Carpalis (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Guide to Bird Finding in New Jersey, revised and updated (Paperback)

It is one of the milder species of blasphemy, I suppose, to call any book one's "bible"; but since its appearance 17 years ago (!), Bill Boyle's NJBFG has served thousands of the birding faithful as ritual object and authoritative companion alike. My own copy of the first printing, with its ugly laminated binding in shreds and the bookblock bulging from tipped-in notes, photocopies, and clippings, is probably the single most used volume in my birding library: field guides come and go, but for nearly two decades now, Boyle has come and gone wherever I have.
Just how intensive my use of the book has been came clear to me with the arrival--"long-awaited," in the reviewer's cliche--of the second edition. As I read through the new treatments of areas long familiar to me, I discovered that (like many NJ birders) I'd actually memorized verbatim great chunks of the first edition, and that I noticed every new word and every new turn of phrase in the revised accounts. If it is true that every obsession is at its base religious, then this book truly is the birder's bible.
The birder's bible: divine in inspiration, certainly, but here and there the mortal nature of its human author peeks through. As anyone who has ever written anything knows, it is even more difficult to revise than to write, and this revised edition has some flaws that were not apparent in the first. There are far more copy-editing errors this time around, and the index--more important than ever, given the new book's rather breathless layout--is not an infallible help (just try to find the main entry for Merrill Creek!). Compared to the enjoyably expansive style of the first edition, the new entries strike me as occasionally a bit too concise, a problem that might have been eased by simply eliminating even more of the old sections treating sites that, like the Institute Woods, now offer (in Boyle's words) "the mere shadow" of their former glory; valuable space is also sacrificed to a number of new full-page illustrations.
These things having been said, the book is still an outstanding example of the bird-finding guide. The maps seem to be largely up to date and accurate (Sussex County birders: are Rockport and Blackdirt marshes really the same place?), the annotated species list is even more useful than in the first edition, and the binding isn't likely to crackle and peel. It will take only weeks, I am sure, for New Jersey birders to start quoting this new Boyle, chapter and verse.