Harold Douglas Pratt Jr. (born July 23, 1944, in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

), often credited in the short form H. Douglas Pratt or as Doug Pratt, is an American ornithologist, bio acoustican, wildlife photographer, bird illustrator, and musician. His main research field are the endemic avifaunas of Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific where he was one of the pioneers of the voice recordings of birds. Pratt is a Fellow of the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

. In 1966, Pratt graduated to

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

at the

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

in Davidson, North Carolina. With his dissertation ''A systematic analysis of the endemic Avifauna of the Hawaiian Islands'' he promoted to PhD at the

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

in 1979. Before he became curator of birds at the

North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS) is the largest museum of its kind in the Southeastern United States. It is the oldest established museum in North Carolina, located in Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh. In 2013, it had about 1. ...

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

he worked as

research associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Master's degree. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Public Health, the ...

at the Louisiana State University in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

from 1980 to 2005. In 1975, Pratt was one of the last scientists who were able to photograph the possible extinct ʻōʻū and one of several scientists to record the song of the extinct Kauaʻi oʻo. Pratt wrote important revisions within the genus ''

Zosterops ''Zosterops'' (meaning "eye-girdle") is a genus of passerine birds containing the typical white-eyes in the white-eye family Zosteropidae. The genus has the largest number of species in the white-eye family. They occur in the Afrotropical, Indo ...

'' and the subfamily Drepanidinae. In 1987, he split the

bridled white-eye The bridled white-eye (''Zosterops conspicillatus'') (Chamorro name: ''nosa'') was a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It was endemic to the island of Guam in the Mariana Islands. The species' natural habitat was subtropical or tropica ...

into the three distinct species '' Zosterops conspicillatus'', '' Zosterops semperi'', and '' Zosterops hypolais''. In 1979, he renamed ''Hemignathus wilsoni'' into ''

Hemignathus munroi ''Hemignathus'' is a Hawaiian honeycreeper genus in the subfamily Carduelinae of the finch family, Fringillidae. These birds are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Extinctions Many of its species became extinct during the 19th and 20th centurie ...

''. In 1989, he moved the Kauai amakihi from the genus '' Himatione'' to the genus ''

Hemignathus ''Hemignathus'' is a Hawaiian honeycreeper genus in the subfamily Carduelinae of the finch family, Fringillidae. These birds are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Extinctions Many of its species became extinct during the 19th and 20th centurie ...

''. In 2009, he suggested the new created genus ''Manucerthia'' for the

Hawaiʻi creeper The Hawaii creeper, Hawaii creeper or ʻalawī (''Loxops mana'') is a species of Hawaiian honeycreeper endemic to the Big Island of Hawaii. Its natural habitats are dry forests and montane moist forests at elevations of . There are a total of ...

. Besides his scientific work Pratt is also a musician. He plays

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of ...

and won the

Walnut Valley Festival The Walnut Valley Festival is an acoustic music festival held annually in Winfield, Kansas, United States. The main genre of music is bluegrass, but a wide variety of other acoustic styles are represented. The festival is held on the Wednesday ...

International Autoharp Championship in 2006.Walnut Festival Contests
/ref> In 2012, he published his first record ''You Can't Play That on the Autoharp!''

Selected works

* 1987: ''A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific'' * 1996: ''Hawaii's Beautiful Birds'' * 1996: ''Pocket Guide to Hawaii's Birds'' * 1999: ''Pocket Guide to Hawaii's Trees and Shrubs'' * 2002: ''Enjoying Birds and Other Wildlife in Hawaii'' * 2005: ''The Hawaiian Honeycreepers'' * 2006: ''Flowering Trees: Images of Hawaii's Natural Beauty'' * 2007: ''Birds: Images of Hawaii's Feathered Heritage'' * 2008: ''Birds & Bats of Palau'' Pratt has illustrated at least 20 books, including several plates in the

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

and he created several bird and mammal paintings in the

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

, despite having no formal art training.

References

External links

Official website by H. Douglas Pratt

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Harold Douglas American ornithologists Nature photographers American autoharp players Louisiana State University alumni Davidson College alumni Living people 1944 births American bird artists