Marc Parnell is an ornithologist, author, and wildlife photographer. He is best known for ''The Birding Pro's Field Guides'', a series of photographic identification guides to the birds of North America, and is the second-most published ornithologist in the world, based on books in active print.

Background

Parnell was born in

Greenville, North Carolina Greenville is the county seat of and the most populous city in Pitt County, North Carolina, Pitt County, North Carolina, United States; the principal city of the Greenville, North Carolina metropolitan area, Greenville metropolitan area; and th ...

, where the immediate proximity of his childhood home to the banks of the

Tar River The Tar River is a river that is approximately long, in northeast North Carolina flowing generally southeast to an estuary of Pamlico Sound. The Tar River becomes the tidal Pamlico River once it underpasses the U.S. Highway 17 Bridge in Washin ...

fostered an early love of nature. These seeds of childhood curiosity began to take greater root after a move to the city of

Jamestown, New York Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamestown is the largest pop ...

, the birthplace of American naturalist

Roger Tory Peterson Roger Tory Peterson (August 28, 1908 – July 28, 1996) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, illustrator and educator, and one of the founding inspirations for the 20th-century environmental movement. Background Peterson was born in Jam ...

. Parnell cites Peterson among his early influences, having received a green, fabric-bound

Peterson Field Guide The Peterson Field Guides (PFG) are a popular and influential series of American field guides intended to assist the layman in identification of birds, plants, insects and other natural phenomena. The series was created and edited by renowned ornith ...

to Reptiles and Amphibians on the occasion of his fourth birthday. After several additional moves, Parnell spent his teenage years in small-town

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

before attending

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, where he would eventually reside. During his time away from home, Parnell had arranged a set of bird feeders in his mother's backyard to serve as a regular topic of conversation, and eventually composed a short, 20-page guide to the local birds that she would be most likely to observe. After having failed to identify a suitable, comprehensive replacement for his mother's booklet, he began to compose the framework of what would eventually become his collected series of

field guide A field guide is a book designed to help the reader identify wildlife (flora or fauna) or other objects of natural occurrence (e.g. rocks and minerals). It is generally designed to be brought into the "field" or local area where such objects exi ...

Career

In early 2021 and 2022, Parnell released a series of 41 photographic bird-identification guides, ''The Birding Pro's Field Guides'', several of which reached bestseller status in multiple countries. These field guides, which each focus on an individual state, city, or province, provide information specific to the local area; for instance, his first-of-their-kind monthly birding forecasts for each species give month-by-month values for local frequency and ease-of-finding. Parnell is known for also having pioneered the birding-by-comparison approach, which allows birders to identify new birds by comparing them to those which they already know, primarily by using size-based and behavioral categorizations. Parnell follows a multi-step approach to the

writing process A writing process describes a sequence of physical and mental actions that people take as they produce any kind of text. These actions nearly universally involve tools for physical or digital inscription: e.g., chisels, pencils, brushes, chalk, di ...

. Firstly, he locates and observes birds all throughout the calendar year, in a variety of different habitats and geographic locations, so as to best understand each species' evolving behaviors through the passing months. Secondly, he reflects and logs entries in a personal diary, placing emphasis on a contextualized "day-in-the-life" approach to each species. Finally, he uses data analysis to make wider conclusions and to inform the data presented in his final drafts. In addition to the naturalist-specific works of Roger Tory Peterson, Parnell cites

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

, and

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

as literary influences. Alongside his writing pursuits, Parnell is an educator and advocate for safe birding practices and the mitigation of bird-window collisions. His favorite North American bird is the

Rose-breasted Grosbeak The rose-breasted grosbeak (''Pheucticus ludovicianus''), colloquially called "cut-throat" due to its coloration, is a large, seed-eating grosbeak in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). It is primarily a foliage gleaner. Males have black heads, w ...

. Parnell currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

Publications

* ''The Birding Pro's Field Guides: City Series'' * ''The Birding Pro's Field Guides: State Series'' * ''The Birding Pro's Field Guides: Province Series''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parnell, Marc People from Jamestown, New York People from Greenville, North Carolina People from Cleveland American naturalists American ornithological writers American male non-fiction writers Case Western Reserve University alumni Living people Date of birth missing (living people)