Marc Parnell is an ornithologist, author, and wildlife photographer. He is best known for ''The Birding Pro's Field Guides'', a series of photographic identification guides to the birds of North America, and is the second-most published ornithologist in the world, based on books in active print.

Background

Parnell was born in

Greenville, North Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is the county seat of and the most populous city in Pitt County, North Carolina, United States. It is the principal city of the Greenville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the List of municipalities in North Carolina, 12t ...

, where the immediate proximity of his childhood home to the banks of the

Tar River The Tar River is a river that is approximately long, in northeast North Carolina flowing generally southeast to an estuary of Pamlico Sound. The Tar River becomes the tidal Pamlico River once it passes under the U.S. Highway 17 Bridge in Was ...

fostered an early love of nature. These seeds of childhood curiosity began to take greater root after a move to the city of

Jamestown, New York Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamesto ...

, the birthplace of American naturalist

Roger Tory Peterson Roger Tory Peterson (August 28, 1908 – July 28, 1996) was an American natural history, naturalist, Conservationist (biology), conservationist, citizen scientist ornithology, ornithologist, artist and illustrator, educator, and a founder of th ...

. Parnell cites Peterson among his early influences, having received a green, fabric-bound Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians on the occasion of his fourth birthday. After several additional moves, Parnell spent his teenage years in small-town

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

before attending

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, where he would eventually reside. During his time away from home, Parnell had arranged a set of bird feeders in his mother's backyard to serve as a regular topic of conversation, and eventually composed a short, 20-page guide to the local birds that she would be most likely to observe. After having failed to identify a suitable, comprehensive replacement for his mother's booklet, he began to compose the framework of what would eventually become his collected series of

field guide A field guide is a book designed to help the reader identify wildlife (flora or fauna or funga) or other objects of natural occurrence (e.g. rocks and minerals). It is generally designed to be brought into the " field" or local area where suc ...

Career

In early 2021 and 2022, Parnell released a series of 41 photographic bird-identification guides, ''The Birding Pro's Field Guides'', several of which reached bestseller status in multiple countries. These field guides, which each focus on an individual state, city, or province, provide information specific to the local area; for instance, his first-of-their-kind monthly birding forecasts for each species give month-by-month values for local frequency and ease-of-finding. Parnell is known for also having pioneered the birding-by-comparison approach, which allows birders to identify new birds by comparing them to those which they already know, primarily by using size-based and behavioral categorizations. Parnell follows a multi-step approach to the

writing process A writing process is a set of mental and physical steps that someone takes to create any type of text. Almost always, these activities require inscription equipment, either digital or physical: chisels, pencils, brushes, chalk, dyes, keyboards, tou ...

. Firstly, he locates and observes birds all throughout the calendar year, in a variety of different habitats and geographic locations, so as to best understand each species' evolving behaviors through the passing months. Secondly, he reflects and logs entries in a personal diary, placing emphasis on a contextualized "day-in-the-life" approach to each species. Finally, he uses data analysis to make wider conclusions and to inform the data presented in his final drafts. In addition to the naturalist-specific works of Roger Tory Peterson, Parnell cites

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works ar ...

Jack London John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors t ...

, and

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

as literary influences. Alongside his writing pursuits, Parnell is an educator and advocate for safe birding practices and the mitigation of bird-window collisions. His favorite North American bird is the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Parnell currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

Publications

* ''The Birding Pro's Field Guides: City Series'' * ''The Birding Pro's Field Guides: State Series'' * ''The Birding Pro's Field Guides: Province Series''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parnell, Marc People from Jamestown, New York People from Greenville, North Carolina Educators from Cleveland American naturalists American ornithological writers American male non-fiction writers Case Western Reserve University alumni Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)