Dr. Stephen J Dinsmore

For me, birding and my interest in birds began in the late 1970s when I was about age 8. My first introduction to birds came from my father, James J. Dinsmore, then an ornithologist at the University of Tampa (Florida). My earliest birding trips consisted of helping my father survey and band colonial waterbirds (mainly Laughing Gulls and several species of terns) in and around Tampa Bay. At first, birding was a casual pastime for me, but it became a bit more infectious in the 1980s when I obtained a driver's license. Since then, I have traveled widely throughout the United States and abroad, mainly as a result of my desire to learn more about bird identification and distribution. I have a particular fondness for waterbirds, especially shorebirds, gulls, and terns.

I have always had a strong interest in writing about birds, as illustrated by the list of publications on my CV. I regularly write articles for several state bird journals, have authored multiple Changing Seasons columns for North American Birds, and actively publish the results of my bird research in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

In the mid-1980s I chose to pursue a career in ornithology, and much of my time between 1985 and 2001 was spent obtaining three college degrees. I completed graduate school in December 2001 and was employed from 2001-2005 as an Avian Population Ecologist in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries at Mississippi State University. Currently, I am employed as an Avian Ecologist in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State University. To learn more about me, check out my CV.

Area of Expertise: Avian Ecology