Birds of Essex County
Books document 450+ species of birds in Essex County
Greenbelt’s Jim Berry has updated the definitive guide to our songbirds, marsh birds, seabirds, raptors, and other species that visit our yards, woodlands, marshes, and coastlines.
The two-volume set documents the natural history of all the species of birds that have ever been positively documented in Essex County, Massachusetts through 2022.
Jim has given the history for all species and the breeding biology of the species that breed in the county, and from there has gone on to write whatever seems particularly notable or interesting about the bird in question: taxonomy, songs and calls, behavioral characteristics, etc.
Jim will generously donate all proceeds from the books to Greenbelt.
A complete update of Charles Wendell Townsend's 1905 and 1920 The Birds of Essex County, Massachusetts, it contains a comprehensive introduction, a checklist of the county’s birds, and an extensive bibliography.
Essex County has a rich ornithological history. Jim's goal is to preserve and enlarge that history. The writing is technical, but not so technical that a lay person cannot read it.
The books are available in paperback or Kindle editions.
Charles Wendell Townsend, a physician, was attracted by the natural beauty of Ipswich. He built a summer house on a ridge overlooking a wide expanse of salt marsh with an open sea to the east.
From here he wrote a number of books, including Beach Grass, Sand Dunes and Salt Marshes, and the Birds of Essex County. Townsend was a charter member of the Essex County Ornithological Club, a member of the Boston Society of Natural History, and at the time of his death, a director of the Massachusetts Audubon Society.