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Stuart Keith

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Stuart Keith
Born(1931-09-04)4 September 1931
Clothall, England
Died13 February 2003(2003-02-13) (aged 71)
Chuuk, Micronesia
NationalityEnglish
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materWorcester College
Known forThe Birds of Africa
Scientific career
FieldsOrnithology
InstitutionsAmerican Museum of Natural History

George Stuart Keith (4 September 1931 – 13 February 2003) was an English and American ornithologist. He was a champion birder, editor of a series of books about African birds, and co-founder of the American Birding Association (ABA).

Early life

Keith was born on 4 September 1931 in Clothall, Britain, near Baldock in Hertfordshire.[1] During World War II, he moved with his mother and four siblings to Toronto, Ontario.[1] In 1943, he returned to Britain to study classics at Marlborough College.[1] After service during the Korean War as a lieutenant in an infantry regiment, he completed his formal education, receiving an M.A. degree in classics from Worcester College of the University of Oxford.[1][2]

Career

He returned to North America in 1955.[1] From 1958, he was a research associate in the ornithology department of the American Museum of Natural History in New York.[1][2][3] He joined the American Ornithologists' Union in 1959; became an elective member in 1970; and was made a fellow in 1991.[1] From 1965 to 1973, he served as secretary, then president, of the U.S Section of the International Council for Bird Preservation, now BirdLife International.[1][2] In 1969, he helped found the ABA, and he served as its first president, from 1973 to 1976.[4][5]

In 1978, Keith joined the project that would compile the seven-volume series The Birds of Africa as a member of its Board of Advisors.[1] In 1980, he became a senior editor, sharing duties with Hilary Fry and Emil K. Urban.[1] He contributed the sections describing bulbuls and cisticolas, and had completed his work on the final volume (published in 2004) at the time of his death.[1]

With John Gooders, in 1980 he published the Collins Bird Guide to the birds of Britain and Europe.[1]

Keith made contributions in other media as well. In the 1960s, he produced a film about cranes in Japan; he produced a feature-length film on African birds.[1] He made recordings of bird songs from Madagascar and continental Africa; with William Gunn, he produced Birds of the African Rain Forests, the first recordings to specialize in the vocalizations of 90 species of African forest birds.[1]

It is for his accomplishments as a birder that Keith is most widely known. In 1956, he set a one-year record of 594 species seen in the United States and Canada.[1][6] He was the first to see 4,000 species worldwide, a total which he achieved in the 1970s.[1] At the time of his death, he had seen more than 6,500 species; however, he was surpassed by Phoebe Snetsinger, who is credited with almost 8,400 species.[1][2] Keith's feats were recorded in The Wall Street Journal, People, The New Yorker, and Bird Watcher's Digest.[1][6][7]

Recognition

In 1993 he was awarded the Linnaean Society of New York's Eisenmann Medal.[8] In 1999, he received the Ludlow Griscom Award from the ABA "in appreciation of his vision and leadership in shaping ABA and tireless passion and dedication to the birds of North America."[1][9]

Later life and death

Keith became a naturalized American citizen in 1994.[1] He died, of circulatory-related causes, on 13 February 2003 while on a birding trip to Chuuk in Micronesia, having seen a new life bird earlier in the day.[1][2]

Selected publications

  • Keith, Stuart and John Gooders. 1980. Collins Bird Guide: A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe. Collins, London, UK. 767 pp. ISBN 978-0002191197.
  • Urban, Emil K.; C. Hilary Fry; and Stuart Keith. 1986. The Birds of Africa, Volume II: Game Birds to Pigeons. Academic Press, London, UK. 552 pp. ISBN 9780121373023.
  • Fry, C. Hilary; Stuart Keith; and Emil K. Urban. 1988. The Birds of Africa, Volume III: Parrots to Woodpeckers. Academic Press, London, UK. 611 pp. ISBN 9780121373030.
  • Keith, Stuart; Emil K. Urban; and C. Hilary Fry. 1992. The Birds of Africa, Volume IV: Broadbills to Chats. Academic Press, London, UK. 632 pp. ISBN 9780121373047.
  • Urban, Emil K.; C. Hilary Fry; and Stuart Keith. 1997. The Birds of Africa, Volume V: Thrushes to Puffback Flycatchers. Academic Press, London, UK. 672 pp. ISBN 9780121373054.
  • Fry, C. Hilary; Stuart Keith; and Emil K. Urban. 2000. The Birds of Africa, Volume VI: Picathartes to Oxpeckers. Academic Press, London, UK. 600 pp. ISBN 9780121373061.
  • Fry, C. Hilary and Stuart Keith. 2004. The Birds of Africa, Volume VII: Sparrows to Buntings. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 728 pp. ISBN 9780691119526.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Urban, Emil K. (2004). "In Memoriam: G. Stuart Keith, 1931-2003". The Auk. 121 (1): 253–256. doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2004)121[0253:imgsk]2.0.co;2.
  2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Paul (8 March 2003). "G. Stuart Keith, a Leading Bird-Watcher, 71". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
  3. ^ Gill, Boyd (22 June 1975). "Club Promotes Hobby and Sport of Birding". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. p. 51. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  4. ^ Wilds, Claudia (February 1994). "The ABA from Hatching to Fledging". Birding. 26 (1). Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  5. ^ "Past Presidents & Board Chairs". Birding. 44 (4): 6. July 2012.
  6. ^ a b Merritt, James (25 June 1979). "Its Devotees Prefer 'Birding' to 'Bird-Watching'--whichever, Stuart Keith Is Their Superstar". People. 11 (25). Retrieved 26 October 2012.
  7. ^ Kinkead, Eugene (2 August 1969). "Our Local Correspondents: Central Park Bird Walk". The New Yorker: 58–66. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  8. ^ Linnaean Society of New York. "About Us". Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  9. ^ American Birding Association. "ABA Award Recipients". Retrieved 20 August 2012.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stuart_Keith&oldid=741220008"