Wild Bird Encounters consists of 442 groupings of quotes, from my earlier books, about my personal encounters with birds. They are listed in ​ alphabetical order from Abert’s Towhees to Zone-tailed Hawks. Each includes material I consider unusual, unexpected, or exceptional.

The author retired from the National Park Service after a 32-year career as a park ranger and biologist. He worked in seven national parks—Crater Lake, Death Valley, Pinnacles, Zion, Big Bend, Great Smoky Mountains, and Virgin Islands—and as Regional Chief Scientist in the Southwest Region Office in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and as Chief of Natural Resource Management for the National Park Service in Washington D.C. Since retirement, he has written 27 books on the National Parks and the wildlife, particularly the birds and butterflies encountered along the way. He also has authored two novels: “Natural Inclinations” about a young man’s adventures throughout the South Pacific, and “Ruins to Ruins” about his personal experiences among the Mayan and Aztec ruins, and the adjacent wildlife, in southern Mexico and adjacent Guatemala.