Boyhood immersion in nature and the outdoors led me to a major in Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, from which I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 1964. Tradition holds that one should pursue graduate studies elsewhere than at one’s undergraduate alma mater. I was prepared to do that until I met Jane Haskett, who already was enrolled at Berkeley as a graduate student in Botany. We married that year, and I received my Doctorate in Zoology in the summer of 1968. Jane and I joined the faculty of the University of Colorado at Boulder in the fall, and we remained there until retirement. Although it is now a common occurrence, at first we were the only couple to share academic appointments in the same department in the entire university. Fifty-three years later we remain best friends and colleagues, right through our current adventure into the world of writing and publishing mystery novels.
While at Boulder I taught subjects ranging from introductory biology and ecology, to advanced courses in ornithology and conservation biology. On two separate occasions I served as Chair of our department, a spectacularly thankless and difficult task traditionally passed around among the faculty like a hot potato. During those same years, my research and that of my students centered principally on the ecology of birds and mammals. We were the first ever to computerize and analyze one of the largest databases in the world about the distribution and abundance of birds – results of the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count, an annual event involving thousands of volunteers that has been ongoing since the early 1900s. Using these data, we were able to document patterns of bird abundance and distribution on spatial and temporal scales not previously achieved.
A seminal and serendipitous event for Jane and me was the discovery in 1974 of an 8,000-acre property in the grasslands of southeastern Arizona from which all livestock had been permanently excluded, and that had been dedicated by the owners to conservation and research. We immediately recognized this as a highly unusual opportunity to study southwestern grasslands and their wildlife in a relatively undisturbed condition, and to use the site as an ecological control against which to compare adjacent areas where livestock grazing, fire suppression, and exurban development were impacting the flora and fauna. Working with the owners of the property, we helped to secure funding and dedication of the site in 1980 as a sanctuary of the National Audubon Society – and the Research Ranch became the only Audubon holding whose primary purpose is scientific study. What followed were more than thirty summers of fieldwork involving numerous students and colleagues.
Since 1967 I have been author or co-author on 147 scientific articles, books, and book chapters. In 2007, Jane and I were honored to receive the Annual Conservation Award from the American Ornithological Society, for our contributions to the conservation of birds and their habitats.