John Weaver Fitzpatrick (born September 17, 1951 in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...

) is an American ornithologist primarily known for his research work on the

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

n avifauna and for the conservation of the

Florida scrub jay The Florida scrub jay (''Aphelocoma coerulescens'') is one of the species of Aphelocoma, scrub jay native to North America. It is the only species of bird Endemism in birds, endemic to the U.S. state of Florida and one of only 15 species endemic ...

. He is currently the

Louis Agassiz Fuertes Louis Agassiz Fuertes (February 7, 1874 Ithaca, New York – August 22, 1927 Unadilla, New York) was an American ornithologist, illustrator and artist who set the rigorous and current-day standards for ornithological art and naturalist depiction ...

Director of the

Cornell Lab 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 ...

Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...

, New York.

Early life

In 1974, Fitzpatrick graduated ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

'' from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in biology. His early inspiration to work on

Bird conservation Bird conservation is a field in the science of conservation biology related to threatened birds. Humans have had a profound effect on many bird species. Over one hundred species have gone extinct in historical times, although the most dramatic hu ...

came from a talk by

John Terborgh John Whittle Terborgh (born April 16, 1936) is a James B. Duke Professor of Environmental Science at Duke University and Co-Director of the Center for Tropical Conservation. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and for the past thir ...

and his travels in the summer of 1974

Manú National Park Manú National Park ( es, Parque Nacional del Manú) is a national park and biosphere reserve located in the regions of Madre de Dios and Cusco in Peru. It protects a diverse number of ecosystems including lowland rainforests, cloud forests and ...

in south-eastern

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. His summer in Peru made him change his plans from pursuing graduate study in

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. In 1978, he earned a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in biology from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

for his study of the

foraging Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's Fitness (biology), fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Optimal foraging theory, Foraging theory is a branch of behaviora ...

behaviour of

tyrant flycatcher The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) are a family of passerine birds which occur throughout North and South America. They are considered the largest family of birds known to exist in the world, with more than 400 species. They are the most dive ...

s in Manu.

Early ornithological career

After his PhD, he moved to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago as its

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

. In 1988, he left for Florida to take over as the executive director and senior research biologist at the

Archbold Biological Station The Archbold Biological Station (ABS) is a research institute with a surrounding estate near Lake Placid, Florida, USA. It includes an extensive area of Florida scrub, a scientifically interesting and highly threatened ecosystem. It was establ ...

, a private

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

research foundation in central Florida. Much of his early research focused upon neotropical avifauna. He travelled many times to remote areas of South America, in particular to the western Amazonian basin and to the Andean foothills. In 1996, he published Neotropical Birds: Ecology and Conservation, a comprehensive synthesis of ecological information of the region covering 4037 species of birds from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

south to

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla G ...

. Along with other biologists, Fitzpatrick has described several species and sub-species new to science such as bar-winged wood wren, cinnamon screech owl,

royal sunangel The royal sunangel (''Heliangelus regalis'') is an endangered species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the ...

, Manu antbird, the

cinnamon-breasted tody-tyrant The cinnamon-breasted tody-tyrant (''Hemitriccus cinnamomeipectus'') is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat ...

, and the

cinnamon-faced tyrannulet The cinnamon-faced tyrannulet (''Phylloscartes parkeri'') is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae. It is found in the Yungas of Peru and Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = ...

Conservation of the Florida Scrub Jay

Fitzpatrick's current research focuses on the ecology,

conservation biology Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an int ...

, and

population genetics Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and between populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as adaptation, speciation, and pop ...

of the endangered

, based on a nearly 50-year field study of a color-banded population since his work at Archbold biological station. He began studying the species in 1972 with

Glen Everett Woolfenden Glen Everett Woolfenden (1930–2007) was an American ornithologist, known for his long-term study of the Florida scrub jay (''Aphelocoma coerulescens'') population at Archbold Biological Station near Lake Placid, Florida. He established what becam ...

. In 1985, Fitzpatrick and Woolfenden earned a

Brewster Medal The William Brewster Memorial Award, usually referred to as the Brewster Medal, is awarded by the American Ornithologists' Union and is named for ornithologist William Brewster. It is given to an author, or coauthors who are not previous recipien ...

for their long-term study, the highest research award given by the American Ornithologists' Union. His work on this species has helped slow its decline.

Other work on bird conservation

From 1995 to 2005, Fitzpatrick was on the board of trustees of

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...

. He has served on many professional ornithological committees, two species recovery teams (for the

Hawaiian crow The Hawaiian crow or alalā (''Corvus hawaiiensis'') is a species of bird in the crow family, Corvidae, that is currently extinct in the wild, though reintroduction programs are underway. It is about the size of the carrion crow at in length, b ...

and the

ivory-billed woodpecker The ivory-billed woodpecker (''Campephilus principalis'') is a possibly extinct woodpecker that is native to the bottomland hardwood forests and temperate coniferous forests of the Southern United States and Cuba. Habitat destruction and hunting ...

), and advisory boards right up to the present. He has served on the National Audubon Society Board of Directors and has been the President of

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 ...

(AOU) from 2000 to 2002. Under his leadership, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has become a global leader public engagement with birds and bird conservation through widely accessed online resources such as

Avian Knowledge Network 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 ...

and

Citizen science Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes re ...

platforms such as

eBird eBird is an online database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Originally restricted to sightings from the Western Hemisphere, the project e ...

. Public data from the eBird platform is used worldwide to guide and plan conservation programmes, study climate change and study bird occurrence and migration patterns.

Directorship at Cornell Lab of Ornithology

In 1995, Fitzpatrick became the Louis Agassiz Fuertes Director of the

in Ithaca, New York. He is also a professor in ecology and evolutionary biology at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. He continues to teach and mentor graduate and undergraduate students.

Awards and achievements

In 2005, Fitzpatrick won the

Eisenmann Medal The Eisenmann Medal is awarded by the Linnaean Society of New York (LSNY) in recognition of the recipient's ornithological excellence and encouragement of amateur efforts in ornithology and birding. The medal commemorates the ornithologist and pro ...

from the

Linnaean Society of New York The Linnaean Society of New York (LSNY) was established in 1878, in the city of New York, United States of America, by a group of amateurs interested in natural science, especially ornithology. The founding members included H.P. Bailey, Eugene Pinta ...

. In 2011, he was honored with the AOU's Marion A. Jenkinson Service Award, given in memory of Marion Anne Jenkinson (1937–1994), former AOU treasurer. For his achievements in the study of Peruvian birds and his guidance to a new generation of ornithologists, the newly described

Sira barbet The Sira barbet (''Capito fitzpatricki'') is a bird in the family Capitonidae, the New World barbets. It is endemic to the Cerros del Sira of east-central Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The Sira barbet was discovered in 2008 and formally ...

of Peru was named in his honor in 2012. In 2016, in a rare instance, the American Ornithologists' Union awarded him a second time (after the Brewster Medal) with the Ralph W. Schreiber Conservation Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzpatrick, John Living people 1951 births Princeton University alumni American ornithologists People from Saint Paul, Minnesota Cornell University faculty Harvard College alumni