Rick WrightBlogger: RICK WRIGHT
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia & Tucson, Arizona

Website: birdaz.com/Blog/
Rick Wright studied French, German, philosophy, and biology at the University of Nebraska. Following a detour to Harvard Law School, he took the Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1990. He held appointments as Assistant Professor of German at the University of Illinois, Reader in Art and Archaeology at Princeton, and Associate Professor of Medieval Studies at Fordham. Now a Senior Leader with WINGS, Rick was a department editor at Birding from 2004 to 2008 and editor of Winging It from 2005 to 2007. Rick lives in northern New Jersey with his wife, Alison Beringer, and their chocolate lab, Gellert.

POSTS TO THE ABA BLOG

06/12/2012 - White: A Birdwatching Guide to Brandenburg and Berlin :: Comments (3)
When the first volume of Michael Lohman’s Vogelparadiese appeared in 1989, many German observers were still unsure just what a bird-finding guide was—and some of the conservation community took up arms against the “betrayal” of their jealously guarded preserves. Fortunately, a lot has changed in the past quarter century. German... READ MORE »
03/12/2012 - Dutson: Birds of Melanesia :: Comments (0)
Few even are the birders who, on hearing a mention of Melanesia, can confidently put their fingers on the map. Fewer still are the birders who will actually get to visit this vast stretch of tropical islands, extending from New Guinea to Fiji off the northern and eastern coast of... READ MORE »
03/08/2012 - Lovitch: How to Be a Better Birder :: Comments (3)
And that's really what it's all about, isn't it? The goal of birding, of any hobby, is expertise gratia sua, and the only reason we do it is to do it better. This slender new volume by Derek Lovitch will help almost any birder do just that. Relatively new birders... READ MORE »
03/03/2012 - De Boer, Newton, and Restall: Birds of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire :: Comments (0)
They keep telling me this has been the mildest winter in memory here in north Jersey. For this hothouse flower, it's been a long one and cold, and March has brought no relief so far. I've been seeking refuge in slippers and hot chocolate--and in field guides to warmer portions... READ MORE »
02/07/2012 - Wolverton: Neversink :: Comments (4)
Barry Wolverton's charming debut novel for children echoes with elements drawn from the Norse saga tradition. There are rocky thingvellir, pagan creation myths, bloody acts of vengeance, and even a catabatic quest to an exiled goddess. But instead of viking raiders, the inhabitants of this mythic Arctic archipelago are talking... READ MORE »
01/29/2012 - Howell: Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of North America :: Comments (6)
Steve N.G. Howell's new photographic guide covers all the procellariids, diomedeids, hydrobatids, and oceanitids recorded in (or off) the North American continent. Yes, you read it right: oceanitids. The taxonomy Howell uses in Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels is progressive indeed, leaving the AOU's would-be canonical classification schemes in the dust.... READ MORE »
01/26/2012 - Dunlap: In the Field, Among the Feathered :: Comments (0)
“Birds,” writes Thomas R. Dunlap, are “good to think with.” And Dunlap’s In the Field, Among the Feathered provides thoughtful readers an equally thoughtful history of our sport, from its beginnings in the late nineteenth century more or less up to today, a history written and read in the books... READ MORE »
01/08/2012 - Duivendijk: A New, Revised, Bigger, More Legible Edition :: Comments (0)
Just the briefest of notes to remind everyone that Nils van Duivendijk's Advanced Bird ID Handbook was issued in a second edition late in 2011. It's a chunk of a book, with print large enough even for my eyes; those looking for a field-worthy version will want to stick with... READ MORE »
11/29/2011 - Dunn and Alderfer: Field Guide to the Birds of North America :: Comments (3)
Few are the bird books that go through six editions in their authors' lifetimes, and fewer still those every edition of which takes another considerable step up in accuracy, completeness, and usefulness. Precious few indeed. But here's one. I remember well my first sight of the then-new National Geographic Field... READ MORE »
10/29/2011 - Stokes and Stokes: Field Guide to the Birds of North America :: Comments (6)
I'm a great admirer of ambition, whatever its object. And this attractive book is nothing if not ambitious: the Stokeses have set out explicitly "to produce the most useful [italics in original] guide to identifying the birds of North America ever published; to cover more species than almost all other... READ MORE »
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