You can purchase the book, paperback or Kindle formats, from Amazon.
The Man Who Loved Birds, buy from Amazon
With the holiday shopping season approaching, we have a book recommendation for you, recently published by Apalachee Audubon member James Huffstodt of Tallahassee; it is the first comprehensive biography of Dr. Frank M. Chapman, the originator of the Christmas Bird Count and an iconic figure in the early days of the bird protection movement.
The Man Who Loved Birds: Pioneer Ornithologist Dr. Frank M. Chapman, 1864-1945 tells the story of this self-taught naturalist who never attended college yet made significant contributions as an ornithologist, popular bird writer, innovative museum curator, pioneer bird photographer, South American explorer, and bio-geographer. He also founded, published and edited Bird Lore magazine (1899-1934), the first popular American bird publication and the forerunner of today’s Audubon magazine.
During his 54-year-long career with the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the New Jersey born Chapman was called the Dean of American Ornithologists and the Godfather of the modern birdwatching (birding) movement, Huffstodt said.
“Chapman’s life story is literally the history of American ornithology during an epic era lasting a half-century and marked by enormous changes and memorable achievements,” Huffstodt said. “He won international renown during a life of adventure and discovery played out from the frigid waters of the St. Lawrence in Canada to the high Andes mountains of South America.”
Chapman spent almost every winter in Florida beginning in 1885 until his death in 1945, according to his biographer. Over the years he conducted field expeditions into the Everglades, along the Suwannee River, and throughout Payne’s Prairie near Gainesville. He also played a key role in persuading President Theodore Roosevelt to designate Pelican Island on the Indian River Lagoon as the nation’s first National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in 1903.
Before retiring in 2004, author James T. Huffstodt worked as an information-education officer for 25 years, initially with the Illinois Department of Conservation, and, most recently for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC). Huffstodt is the author of four non-fiction books including Everglades Lawmen: True Stories of Game Wardens in the Glades, published by Pineapple Press of Sarasota in 2000.
He and his wife, Judy, have lived in Tallahassee since 2004.
