Geography has shaped who I am. I was raised in Gulf Breeze, FL, on the shores of Pensacola Bay on land that the Duncans homesteaded in the 1880s when they came down from Kentucky. The land that remained in the family – where my parents now live – happens to be one of the best spots for birding in the US. My parents became enchanted with birds just before I was born. They frequently took me and my brother on bird-finding expeditions in the Florida Panhandle, coastal Alabama, and “Out West” in the family station wagon. Thus, it’s no surprise my brother and I became biologists. I became a dedicated birder at the age of eight, though truthfully I’d been birding since I was in utero. At home I spent much of my time on or in the water, snorkeling, fishing, canoeing, sailing, and beach combing.

I attended Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL. After my first year, I represented the Boy Scouts of America in the 1988-1989 US scientific expedition to Antarctica. When this program was running, the BSA and National Science Foundation would sponsor an eagle scout every third year to work as an assistant to scientists at McMurdo Station and nearby field camps. Living on “the ice” for three months was like visiting another planet – survival training and gear, flying in helicopters, endless ice, and a sun that never set. It was quite overwhelming for a Florida-boy who had never seen snow before! Most importantly, I met scientists for the first time, and was inspired by their dedication, enthusiasm, and the fun they had doing research. When I returned to college, I declared biology as my major.

At Eckerd I fell in with other biology students (including my future wife, Ginger) who loved field biology. I was privileged to work as an assistant for Drs. Peter and Annie Meylan on their sea turtle tagging project in Panama for two summers. My senior thesis work with Dr. Bill Szelistowski in the Costa Rican mangrove swamps was where I completed a full research project for the first time. I graduated in 1993 with a BS in Biology.

After graduating, Ginger and I worked on our Masters of Science degrees at the University of Florida under the guidance of Dr. Colin Chapman in the Zoology Department. Colin and his wife, Dr. Lauren Chapman, had a thriving research program in the Kibale Forest of Uganda. Ginger and I spent a year at Kibale gathering data for our degrees and managing their project. My interests were in restoration ecology, a relatively new discipline at the time. Colin and I studied how fruit-eating birds and bats disperse seeds from the forest into nearby abandoned croplands to reseed a new forest.

After earning our master’s degrees in 1997, Ginger started medical school at UF an I began work on my PhD in Zoology with Colin Chapman. Again, my focus was on tropical forest restoration, but this time examining how the creation of exotic pine plantations could be a bridge ecosystem for restoring natural forests on weed-infested abandoned agricultural lands.

In 2000, Ginger brought into the world our first daughter, Lilith, and life became both more complex and richly rewarding. I graduated from UF with my PhD in 2001.

A year later, Ginger and I moved to Birmingham, AL where I took a position as an assistant professor in the Biology Department at Birmingham-Southern College (BSC). Ginger started medical residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). BSC was primarily a teaching-college, but working with my students I studied rare and endangered ecosystems and species in the region. After several years, Ginger took time off from residency to homeschool Lilith and then Autumn, who was born in 2006.

As the years passed, I dedicated more of my time on science outreach through talks, workshops, and writings. In 2013 this led to the publication of my first book through the University of Alabama Press, Southern Wonder: Alabama’s Surprising Biodiversity (read the story behind Southern Wonder). Southern Wonder explores why Alabama has more species than any state in the East, and explains why this biodiversity is critically important to the state’s future.

Meanwhile, Ginger returned to finish her medical residency at UAB and then took a one-year fellowship at Seattle Children's Hospital. At the same time I was awarded my second sabbatical from BSC. So, in 2017 we packed up our bags and kids and moved to Seattle for a year. Ginger worked long hours, while I homeschooled the kids, managed the household, and worked on my next book. When we returned to Birmingham, Ginger accepted an offer to join the faculty in the Department of Pathology at UAB and I continued teaching at BSC.

In 2022 I accepted the offer to become the next executive director at Alabama Audubon, an organization promoting conservation and a greater knowledge of birds, their habitats, and the natural world. It was hard to leave behind the BSC community, but after 20 years of teaching I was ready to explore new ways to promote conservation. The College’s financial troubles were also spiraling, ultimately leading to BSC’s closing in May 2024.

In March 2024, my second book was published through the UA Press: Southern Rivers: Restoring America’s Freshwater Biodiversity. Southern Rivers (UA Press) celebrates the astounding biodiversity of southeastern rivers. By telling the stories of the region’s most unique species, I explore how we can prevent more extinctions in a future when demand for water is increasing and supply is declining.

I am enjoying my work at Alabama Audubon. The organization grew out of Birmingham Audubon in 2019, and we are growing into our new statewide role. We are intensely focused on preventing further declines of bird populations and promoting the joys and health-benefits of birding and nature exploration.