Customer Reviews

A Guide to Bird Finding in New Jersey, revised and updated

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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.

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.

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.

This book is just as useful for seasoned birders as it is for the beginner, or the person new to New Jersey. Beginners will appreciate its review of New Jersey's best birding destinations; seasoned pros will enjoy the depth of the information and the amount of detail on nesting species and accounts of rarities.

For us locals, "Bird Finding" is great for those days when you want to hop in the car and travel to somewhere a little different, or if you want to explore a familiar destination a little more closely. The book offers detailed directions (although some of the exit numbers and streets have changed since its publication date), including which trail to follow, which tree to investigate, etc. Its accuracy is remarkable. It's clear Bill Boyle knows each location intimately and visits them often.

This is a must-have for any birder living in the state (and there are lots), and any vacationer planning to spend more than a weekend in New Jersey.

Despite its small size and large population, New Jersey is one of the prime locations in North America for spotting birds. First, it holds a strategic position along the Atlantic flyway, which insures that a wide variety of migrating species pass through in both the spring and fall. Second, it has a wide variety of habitats within rather short distances of each other: seacoast, salt marshes, coastal plain, pine barrens, lakes, mountains, forests, etc.

By nearly any measure of interest to birders, such as typical number of species seen in an average year (over 330) and maximum found in a given day (over 250), New Jersey is surpassed only by California and Texas. A birder with average skill and energy can find over 100 species in a day during peak migration in May; the best teams of elite birders can find 200-230 on a day in May, and Bill Boyle has been a member of some of them.

The book is organized geographically, with each chapter devoted to a prime birding spot, and the chapters arranged by region. Most chapters have an excellent map, plus detailed text on how the birding differs by season, and on the relative scarcity or abundance of the various species found there. Driving directions are precise and easy to follow.

The only problem, and a growing one, is this: indispensable as this book is, it is now 15 years old, and showing its age. Roads have changed. Some birding areas have been lost to development. Others are simply no longer accessible. And birds change their habits: some old hot spots aren't so hot anymore, and new ones have arisen. This book cried out for a revised edition at least 5 years ago, but one does not seem to be in the works. No other book as comprehensive and as well-presented is available, so this is still the bible for NJ birders. Just be ready (a) to do some more homework before visiting any given site mentioned in this book or (b) risk some disappointment. All in all, I'd say that this book is still about 75% accurate.

This product appears as a book about birds. I was very disappointed to find it was places to bird watch. There are no color photos, nor any pictures of NJ birds. I returned it.