Frank Chapman (ornithologist)

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Template:Short description Template:Infobox scientist Frank Michler Chapman (June 12, 1864 – November 15, 1945) was an American ornithologist and pioneering writer of field guides.<ref>Vuilleumier, François (2005). "Dean of American Ornithologists: The Multiple Legacies of Frank M. Chapman of the American Museum of Natural History," The Auk, Vol. 122, No. 2, pp. 389-402.</ref>

Biography

Chapman was born in the West Englewood section of present-day Teaneck, New Jersey, and attended Englewood Academy.<ref>Zimmer, David M. "A Bird’s-Eye View: Frank Chapman was a pioneer in bird conservation", The Record, April 25, 2024. Accessed April 25, 2024. "Born in June 1864 in West Englewood (now Teaneck), Chapman grew up next to an orchard on then-rural Teaneck Road. After he graduated from Englewood High School at 16, he followed his father to Wall Street and entered the banking industry."</ref><ref>Chapman, Frank Michler (United States 1864-1945), Western Kentucky University. Accessed March 12, 2008. "born in West Englewood, New Jersey, on 12 June 1864."</ref> He joined the staff of the American Museum of Natural History in 1888 as assistant to Joel Asaph Allen. In 1901 he was made associate Curator of Mammals and Birds and in 1908 Curator of Birds.

Chapman came up with the original idea for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count. He also wrote many ornithological books such as, Bird Life, Birds of Eastern North America, and Life in an Air Castle. Chapman promoted the integration of photography into ornithology, especially in his book Bird Studies With a Camera,<ref>Template:Citation</ref> in which he discussed the practicability of the photographic blind and in 1901 invented his own more portable version of a blind using an umbrella with a large 'skirt' to conceal the photographer that could be bundled into a small pack for transport along with the other, at the time very bulky, paraphernalia of the camera gear.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> For his work, Distribution of Bird-life in Colombia, he was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1917.<ref name=Elliot>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society in 1921.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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In the winter seasons, starting from his mother's home in Gainesville, Florida, he made numerous field trips to collect small mammals and birds; thus he went to various localities in Florida, Texas, Cuba, Trinidad, B. W. I., Yucatan and Vera Cruz, Mexico, and later to many countries in South America. The story of his local expeditions in the United States and of his one visit to England is told in his Camps and Cruises of an Ornithologist (1908) and much later his many expeditions to Mexico, Central and South America are dealt with in his all too brief, authentic Autobiography of a Bird Lover (1933).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>{{#if:|

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Chapman fathered one child, Frank Chapman, Jr., who first married playwright Elizabeth Cobb and had a daughter, actress and TV personality Buff Cobb,<ref name=nyt>Hevesi, Dennis. "Buff Cobb, Actress and TV Host, Dies at 82", The New York Times, July 21, 2010</ref> and after divorcing married mezzo-soprano opera singer Gladys Swarthout.

Chapman was interred at Brookside Cemetery.

The Legacy of Distribution of Bird-life in Colombia

Published in 1917, Distribution of Bird-life in Colombia collated data and records from Chapman and the American Museum of Natural History’s eight ornithological expeditions into Colombia.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> These expeditions, like others in the 1910s, emphasized the collection of avian specimens as the predominant form of data collection.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Chapman and his team from the American Museum of Natural History collected 15, 775 avian specimens from their expeditions, along with 1,600 mammal specimens.<ref name=":1" />

Later ornithological expeditions in the 1950s would expand their methods of data collection to include observational data, in addition to specimen collection.<ref name=":0" /> A resurgence of interest in Colombian aviary biodiversity, fueled by concerns of deforestation and changes in climates, led to more surveys in the 1990s and 2010s.<ref name=":0" /> These resurveys of the San Antonio mountain ranges further changed their methodology to favor observational data, citizen observational data, and mist netting.<ref name=":0" />

The Colombia Resurvey Project is a collective of researchers who began reproducing Frank Chapman’s original expeditions in 2020.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The goals of this project according to its website is “to document the current status and past changes of bird assemblages and their habitats throughout the country, and to establish a quantitative, publicly-available database for future assessments and monitoring”.<ref name=":2" />  The surveys carried out in this project have expanded upon the methodology of studies from the 2010s, incorporating citizen training and citizen-led data collection.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref> Additional modifications to the project’s resurveys included decolonial practices such as emphasizing and crediting local contributors and sharing information gained from the studies to support long term conservation efforts in the study’s vicinity.<ref name=":3" /> Another all-women expedition led by members of the Resurvey project occurred in 2020.<ref name=":4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This project was reportedly inspired by the team member's rediscovery of Elizabeth Kerr's contributions to Chapman's and the American Museum of Natural History’s collections.<ref name=":4" /> Letters between Kerr and Chapman owned by the American Museum of Natural History suggest that Elizabeth Kerr was the first women to partake in ornithological expeditions in Colombia, and made significant specimen contributions to the museum's collections.<ref name=":4" /> These specimen were often identified by Chapman himself, and in some instances included newly identified species.<ref name=":4" /> One such species, the Choco tinamou (Crypturellus kerriae), was named in her honor by Chapman.<ref name=":4" />

Publications

As well as numerous papers in scientific journals and magazines such as the National Geographic Magazine, books and major reports authored by Chapman include:

References

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Further reading

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  • "Frank M. Chapman," in Tom Taylor and Michael Taylor, Aves: A Survey of the Literature of Neotropical Ornithology, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Libraries, 2011.
  • THE MAN WHO LOVED BIRDS: Pioneer Ornithologist Dr. Frank M. Chapman, 1864-1945, by James T. Huffstodt. Tallahassee: Self-published. (2022)

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