Robert Sterling Ridgely (born 14 January 1946) is an American

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

, specializing in the

neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeog ...

. He is the co-author of three books on neotropical ornithology: the field guide ''The Birds of

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

'' (with John Gwynne), ''The Birds of

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

'' (with Paul Greenfield), and ''The Birds of South America'' (with Guy Tudor), of which two monumental volumes (out of four), covering the

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

s, have appeared. He was long affiliated with the

Academy of Natural Sciences The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natur ...

in Philadelphia, then Vice-President at the

American Bird Conservancy American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is a non-profit organization, non-profit membership organization with the mission of conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. ABC is the second BirdLife International partner in the United ...

until 2006. In 2001 he was awarded the

Linnaean Society of New York The Linnaean Society of New York (LSNY) was established in 1878, in the city of New York, United States of America, by a group of amateurs interested in natural science, especially ornithology. The founding members included H.P. Bailey, Eugene Pi ...

Eisenmann Medal The Eisenmann Medal is awarded by the Linnaean Society of New York (LSNY) in recognition of the recipient's ornithological excellence and encouragement of amateur efforts in ornithology and birding. The medal commemorates the ornithologist and p ...

. In 2006, he received the

Chandler Robbins Award The ABA Chandler Robbins Award for Education/Conservation is an award given by the American Birding Association to an individual who has made significant contributions either to the education of birders or to bird conservation and the "management ...

from the

American Birding Association The American Birding Association (ABA) is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, dedicated to recreational birdwatching, birding in Canada and the United States. It has been called "the standard-bearer for serious birding in North America." ...

. He served as President of the

Rainforest Trust Rainforest Trust is a US-based nonprofit environmental organization focused on the purchase and protection of tropical lands to strategically conserve threatened species. Founded in 1988, Rainforest Trust was formerly known as World Parks Endowme ...

until 2021, then becoming President Emeritus, and is one of the founders of the conservation

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco (Jocotoco Conservation Foundation) is an Ecuadorians, Ecuadorian Non-governmental organization, non-governmental environmental organization. It was established to purchase and protect land important to the conse ...

which, working with the Trust, owns and manages ten nature reserves in

Discovery of the bird that barks

Ridgely and fellow birder John Moore discovered a new

antpitta Grallariidae is a family of smallish suboscine passerine birds of subtropical and tropical Central and South America known as antpittas. They are between long, and are related to the antbirds, Thamnophilidae, and gnateaters, Conopophagidae. Th ...

during their trek through the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

in Southern

near the

Podocarpus National Park Podocarpus National Park () is a national park located in the provinces of Zamora Chinchipe and Loja, in the south-east of Ecuador. It was created in 1982. It covers , from two spurs of the eastern range of the Andes to the basins of the Na ...

in November 1997. The bird is peculiar because of its unique call: it hoots and it ''barks''. The bird was named

jocotoco antpitta The jocotoco antpitta (''Grallaria ridgelyi'') is an endangered species of bird in the family Grallariidae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The jocotoco antpitta is monotypic. Its closest relatives appear to be the c ...

(''Grallaria ridgelyi''). Ridgely's antpitta is one of the largest birds discovered within the past 50 years. He suspects that it went undetected for so long because either it has a very small range or it barks only during a short breeding season.The Bird that Barks - SciAm June 22, 1998
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridgely, Robert American ornithologists Living people 1946 births