Jon Dunn started looking at birds at age eight, the spark being an adult male Hooded Oriole that was in his yard in the Los Angeles area in 1962. By age 11 he was hooked on birding and by 21 he was writing about birds, their identification and distribution. Jon has written (with Kimball L. Garrett) Birds of Southern California, Status and Distribution (1981) and Warblers (1997) and was either Chief Consultant or lead author for all seven editions of the National Geographic’s Field Guide to the Birds of North America, the latter four editions with Jonathan Alderfer as a co-author. Jon has been a leader for Wings Birdwatching Tours for 45 years and leads extensively in North America, along with international trips to Thailand and Cuba. Jon has served as President of Western Field Ornithologists and since 2000 has served on the AOS Committee on Nomenclature and Taxonomy. He was a member of the California Bird Records Committee for 30 years and was a former chair of the ABA Checklist Committee. Beyond birds Jon has a keen interest in history and the music and poetry of Leonard Cohen.
Galveston Birding and Nature Photo Festival
Jon Dunn
Upcoming Events
Join Jon Dunn, one of North America’s most knowledgeable ornithologists, for a birding tour of Galveston Island. Jon has extensive knowledge of the identification and distribution of North American birds, co-authoring the sixth and seventh editions of National Geographic Society’s Field Guide to the Birds of North America, and the Peterson Field Guide to Warblers. Jon is joined by one of Galveston’s local birding experts Alice Anne O’Donell. You will explore the many habitats that birds live and migrate through on the…
Find out more »Learning the various species of shorebirds can be a daunting task. Knowing how to look at them is part of the challenge. More is not necessarily better, says Jon Dunn, co-author of the National Geographic Society’s Field Guide to the Birds of North America, and Peterson Field Guides to Warblers and Gulls of the Americas. We'll take the time to review just a few species of shorebirds, focusing on a few small species (the ‘peeps’) in the genus ‘Calidris’. We'll focus…
Find out more »Boy Scout Woods, Smith Oaks, The Rookery, and more…with birding expert Jon Dunn! The accident of geology makes the Upper Texas Coast a beacon to weary neotropical migrants finishing a 10+ hour, nonstop flight across the Gulf of Mexico. From under an ancient sea, a salt dome emerged. After a few thousand years the dome reached just 38-feet above a pancake-flat coastal plain where it became covered with 20-30-foot oak trees, creating a vast canopy. This created High Island, which…
Find out more »Join Jon Dunn, one of North Americas most knowledgeable ornithologists, for a birding tour of the Bolivar Peninsula. This peninsula stretches east of the confluence of the Galveston Bay system and the Gulf of Mexico. This barrier peninsula is the result of natural processes and human activity. Its natural features pull in fisherman, beach combers, shell collectors and birders. Thousands of Houstonians seek out Bolivar’s beaches every weekend but on any given day the birds far outnumber the humans. The…
Find out more »Join Jon Dunn, one of North Americas most knowledgeable ornithologists, in exploring areas of Galveston Island that bring together our most prolific species, shorebirds. As a leader for Wings Birdwatching Tours for 45 years, he has acquired extensive knowledge in how to parse out and identify the many varieties. While viewing these birds, Jon will help you learn the finer points of identifying them. Come out and enjoy a casual morning of birding to end your FeatherFest experience with Jon…
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