Marc Parnell
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Marc Parnell | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | |
| Occupation | Author, ornithologist, photographer |
| Nationality | American |
| Subject | Birds |
| Notable works | The Birding Pro's Field Guides |
| Website | |
| www | |
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.[1][2][3][4]
Parnell was born in Greenville, North Carolina, where the immediate proximity of his childhood home to the banks of the Tar River fostered an early love of nature.[5][6] These seeds of childhood curiosity began to take greater root after a move to the city of Jamestown, New York, the birthplace of American naturalist Roger Tory Peterson.[7] 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.[8][9] After several additional moves, Parnell spent his teenage years in small-town Pennsylvania before attending Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he would eventually reside.[10][11]
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.[12][13] 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 guides.[14][15]