James Franklin "Jim" Clements (October 31, 1927 – June 9, 2005) was an American

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

, author and businessman. He was born in New York, United States. He married Mary Norton and they had two sons. His second marriage, which lasted 14 years, was to Christina. He married a third time, to Karen. He received his PhD from

California Western University Alliant International University, often called Alliant, is a private for-profit university with its main campus in San Diego and other campuses in California. It offers programs in six California campuses – in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Ang ...

in 1975. His thesis became the first edition of his ''Birds of the World, A Check List'' (now in its sixth edition). Clements was mostly finished with the sixth edition at the time of his death, and responsibility for the series was taken up by the

Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

(Cornell Lab) by arrangement with Clements's widow, Karen. The Cornell Lab finished the sixth edition, maintains corrections and updates for it, and plans to publish future editions. A bird, the

Iquitos gnatcatcher The Iquitos gnatcatcher (''Polioptila clementsi'') is a bird in the family Polioptilidae. It was first described in 2005. It is known only from the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve, west of Iquitos, Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The ...

, ''Polioptila clementsi'', is named after him. He died at Tri-City Hospital,

Oceanside, California Oceanside is a city on the South Coast (California), South Coast of California, located in San Diego County, California, San Diego County. The city had a population of 167,086 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The city is a popular ...

of complications associated with acute myeloid

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

Bibliography

* '' Birds of the World, A Check List''

References

External links

Obituary
1927 births 2005 deaths Deaths from acute myeloid leukemia American ornithologists Deaths from cancer in California Birdwatchers Alliant International University alumni 20th-century American zoologists {{US-ornithologist-stub