Book Review: Adirondack Birding - 60 Great Places to Find Birds

If you live in or near the Adirondack Park in upstate New York, or are one of the thousands of people who vacation or recreate in the park, Adirondack Birding is a useful guide that gives you 60+ locations to find some of the many birds that pass through or call the Adirondacks home.

Authors Mike Peterson and Gary Lee know these places first hand, and it shows in their write-ups of each site.  I know Mike Peterson from the bird banding work he does each May at the Crown Point IBA on Lake Champlain.  Mike has had a hand in a number of books on area birds, as well as writing 12 of the species accounts in the recently-released Second Atlas of Breeding Birds of New York State.  Gary Lee also contributed to the new atlas, has co-authored a book with Mike, and has 35 years of forest ranger experience under his belt.

The book starts with an interesting essay "A History of Adirondack Birding" written by Mike.  Mike's apparent affinity for history also comes through in his site descriptions.

Adirondack Birding is an all-season guide to more than 60 sites to find the boreal birds of the Adirondacks.  It is not to be mistaken as a field guide - it is clearly a guide to help locate certain species of birds within the 5.8 million acre Adirondack Park.

Mike and Gary split the writing based on where they've done most of their birding: Mike in the Champlain valley and eastern Adirondacks, Gary in the central and western Adirondacks.  The initials of the author appear at the end of each chapter.

From there, they've further split the park into five regions:

• Eastern Region (Lake Champlain valley)
• High Peaks Region
• Northern Region
• West-Central Region
• Southern Region

The authors are self-described "habitat birders", ascribing to the mantra that "the best way to find a species is to search its habitat in many places rather than look for it at one or two locations."  This book gives you those "many places" to look.

What you'll find for each location is what species you might see there, directions to get there, descriptions of the trails, suggestions on where at the site to look for certain species, and in some cases, a history of when less common species have been seen at the site. 

If you're in search of a particular bird like the Bicknell's Thrush or Black-backed Woodpecker, the section entitled "Finding Boreal Birds" suggests some starting points.

The directions to each site and accompanying hand-drawn maps appear to be very detailed.  Once you get there, the write-ups provide many details on locating markers and other landmarks where you're most likely to find certain species.  These are especially detailed in the chapters written by Gary.

Beautiful color images by local nature photographer Jeff Nadler are throughout the book, further enticing you to seek out that Boreal Chickadee or Gray Jay.

Whether you're in search of a certain species like the Spruce Grouse, or just heading off on an Adirondack trail and wondering what birds you might see there, this book will provide the information you need.  It is nicely written, detailed, and reflects years of in-the-field experience by the authors.  If two of your loves are the Adirondacks and birds, you'll want this book in your library.

Adirondack Birding - 60 Great Places to Find Birds
by John M.C. Peterson and Gary N. Lee
with color photographs by Jeff Nadler
Published by Lost Pond Press, Saranac Lake NY, 2008
ISBN 978-0-9789254-3-7
$20.95
Available at WBU-Saratoga Springs