Frank Michler Chapman (June 12, 1864 – November 15, 1945) was an American ornithologist and pioneering writer 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 ...

Biography

Chapman was born in West Englewood,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and attended Englewood Academy. He joined the staff of the American Museum of Natural History in 1888 as assistant to

Joel Asaph Allen Joel Asaph Allen (July 19, 1838 – August 29, 1921) was an American zoologist, mammalogist, and ornithologist. He became the first president of the American Ornithologists' Union, the first curator of birds and mammals at the American Museum of ...

. In 1901 he was made associate Curator of Mammals and Birds and in 1908 Curator of Birds. Chapman came up with the original idea for the Audubon

Christmas Bird Count The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a census of birds in the Western Hemisphere, performed annually in the early Northern-hemisphere winter by volunteer birdwatchers and administered by the National Audubon Society. The purpose is to provide pop ...

. He also wrote many ornithological books such as, ''Bird Life'', ''Birds of Eastern North America'', and ''Life in an Air Castle''. Chapman promoted the integration of photography into ornithology, especially in his book ''Bird Studies With a Camera'', in which he discussed the practicability of the photographic blind and in 1901 invented his own more portable version of a blind using an umbrella with a large 'skirt' to conceal the photographer that could be bundled into a small pack for transport along with the other, at the time very bulky, paraphernalia of the camera gear. For his work, ''Distribution of Bird-life in Colombia'', he was awarded the

Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal The Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for meritorious work in zoology or paleontology study published in a three- to five-year period." Named after Daniel Giraud Elliot, it was first awarded in 1917. ...

from the National Academy of Sciences in 1917. Chapman fathered one child, Frank Chapman, Jr., who first married playwright Elizabeth Cobb and had a daughter, actress and TV personality

Buff Cobb Buff Cobb (born Patrizia Cobb Chapman, October 19, 1927 – July 12, 2010)Hevesi, Dennis ''The New York Times'', July 21, 2010. was an Italian-born American actress and, with then-husband Mike Wallace, host of one of television's first talk-sho ...

,Hevesi, Dennis
"Buff Cobb, Actress and TV Host, Dies at 82"
''

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'', July 21, 2010 and after divorcing married mezzo-soprano

opera singer Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

Gladys Swarthout Gladys Swarthout (December 25, 1900 in Deepwater, Missouri – July 7, 1969 in Florence, Italy) was an American mezzo-soprano opera singer and actress. Career While studying at the Bush Conservatory of Music in Chicago, a group of friends arran ...

. Chapman was interred at Brookside Cemetery.

Publications

As well as numerous papers in scientific journals and magazines such as the ''

National Geographic Magazine ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

'', books and major reports authored by Chapman include: * (1894)
''Visitors' Guide to the Local Collection of Birds in the American Museum of Natural History''
* (1895)
''Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America''
* (1897)
''Bird-Life: A Guide to the Study of Our Common Birds''
* (1898)
''Four-Footed Americans and Their Kin''
(by Mabel Osgood Wright, with Frank Chapman as editor and Ernest Seton Thompson as illustrator) * (1899). ''Descriptions of five apparently new birds from Venezuela''. Bull. of the American Museum of Natural History 12 ( 9): 153-156 * (1900)
''Bird Studies with a Camera''
* (1901). ''The Revision of the Genus Capromys''. * (1903). ''Color Key to North American Birds''

* (1903)
''The Economic Value of Birds to the State''
* (1907)
''Warblers of North America''
* (1908)
''Camps and Cruises of an Ornithologist''
* (1910). ''The Birds of the Vicinity of New York City: A guide to the Local Collection''. * (1915)

* (1917). ''The Distribution of Bird-life in Colombia''. * (1919)
''Our Winter Birds''
* (1920). ''What Bird is That?''. * (1921). ''The Habit Groups of North American Birds''. * (1921). ''The Distribution of Bird Life in the Urubamba Valley of Peru. A report of the birds collected by the Yale University - National Geographic Society's expedition''. * (1926). ''The Distribution of Bird-life in Ecuador''. * (1929). ''My Tropical Air Castle''. * (1931). ''The Upper Zonal Bird-Life of Mts Roraima and Duida''. * (1933). ''The Autobiography of a Bird-Lover''. * (1938). ''Life in an Air Castle: Nature Studies in the Tropics''.

References

External links

Obituary
* *

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabethtow ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Frank Michler 1864 births 1945 deaths American ornithologists Nature photographers John Burroughs Medal recipients People from Teaneck, New Jersey People associated with the American Museum of Natural History Burials at Brookside Cemetery (Englewood, New Jersey) Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Biography

Publications

References

Further reading

External links