If there's anyone who knows Arizona's birds, it's our guest Richard "Rick" C. Taylor, who literally wrote the book Birds of Arizona! On this episode we fly into the amazing world of the elegant trogon, ruffs, Scott's oriole, sparrows, hummingbirds and so much more.
Whether you're a beginning birder or a seasoned ornithologist, you'll be delighted by Rick's knowledge and passion for birding and his perspective on how we nature lovers can relate to our feathered friends.
Resources we discussed on this episode that can help you as you get into birding include Rick's book Birds of Arizona and The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird app.
About our guest
A lifelong resident of Southeastern Arizona, Taylor has been involved in birding since he was a teen making observations and recording them. It was his hobby, and all his biology is self-taught. He conducted an eight-year-long study of the Elegant Trogon that led to the publication of Trogons of the Arizona Borderlands in 1994 and continues to compile census results. During his research, Taylor reported the first Eared Quetzal seen in the U.S. In 1980 he founded Borderland Tours, a birding travel company dedicated to responsible ecotourism. In 1995 the American Birding Association published his A Birder's Guide to Southeastern Arizona, revised in 2005. In 2010, R.W. Morse Company published Birds of Southeastern Arizona, now in its 7th printing and in 2023 Birds of Arizona, which has become the most comprehensive field guide of the state’s birds, profiling over 500 species and over 900 color photographs showing key field marks of each species. Arizona has more hummingbirds than any other state and Taylor creates for the first time a hummingbird chart showing the elevation ranges for all seventeen species. Taylor also authors the location bird checklists for both the Huachuca and the Chiricahua Mountains.
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