Fifty Birds in Fifty States - Softcover

James McVoy was born in Syracuse, NY and raised on a dairy farm in nearby Lafayette. He did undergraduate studies in music theory and composition at Syracuse University (class of '68) followed by graduate work (Ph.D 1977) at the Eastman School of Music. He taught at Elizabethtown College 1970-1979 before moving to West Chester University of Pennsylvania. He taught at West Chester until his retirement in 2005. He wrote a number of chamber music and orchestral works during those years. His biggest success as a composer came in 2002 when his Gulliver’s Travels for narrator and orchestra was performed by the Hamburg Philharmonic in Germany. His son, Ben wrote the narration and Jim composed the music. During his tenure at West Chester he spent several summers teaching in Austria, two years living in Japan as a university administrator, and he and Sue coordinated a summer program in Oxford, England for four years. His volunteer work since retiring has included monitoring Bobolink and Meadowlark populations at the Stroud Preserve near West Chester, PA as well as bird care at Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research. Jim's wife, Sue shares his passion for birds. Together they finished a quest to find at least fifty species of birds in all fifty states in 2009. The quest took them about thirteen years. His first book, Fifty Birds in Fifty States is about that quest. Jim and Sue currently reside in southeastern Pennsylvania with their three cats – Tinkerbelle, Samantha Jane and Lucy.