In 1988, the sixth edition of Birds of Essex County, Massachusetts: A Field List was published by the Essex County Ornithological Club, the Essex County Greenbelt Association, and the Peabody Museum of Salem.

 

The publication was a successor to earlier county checklists, including the definitive The Birds of Essex County, Massachusetts by Charles Wendell Townsend, which was originally published in 1905 with a supplement in 1920. 

The 1988 checklist served as an updated and important source for ornithological records in the region.