From the Winter 2024 situation of Dwelling Fowl journal. Subscribe now.
In July 2023, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology neighborhood misplaced a pricey good friend and colleague when Tom Johnson handed away unexpectedly on the age of 35.
Tom’s extraordinary abilities in images, chook identification, and as a birding tour information had been pushed by how a lot he cherished being out in nature. Johnson generously contributed greater than 10,000 photographs, audio, and video recordings to the Cornell Lab over 20 years, from his highschool years via his 2010 commencement from Cornell College and past.
“Past his formidable abilities and galvanizing ardour for birding, Tom was an much more excellent individual,” wrote Ian Owens, the manager director of the Cornell Lab. “His heat, thoughtfulness, humility, and generosity of spirit made him an exemplary ambassador for birds and the pure world and a pricey good friend to many.”
An Eye for Magnificence
“Tom had a straightforward, heat means about him, instantly making anybody he was with really feel comfy,” says Brian Sullivan, a Cornell Lab digital publications venture chief and shut good friend of Johnson’s. “He had the sort of charisma that made others really feel seen and heard. He would need us to maintain seeing all the wonder round us—the heartbeat of the planet that he cherished a lot, the wonder that by no means escaped his eyes.”
All photographs are by Tom Johnson. Faucet/click on hyperlinks to view bigger photographs by way of their Macaulay Library archive web page.
Warblers in Flight
From an early age, Tom appeared to own a pure present for taking chook photographs. By the point he was an undergraduate at Cornell, within the late 2000s, he was already capturing split-second flight photographs of tiny birds on the transfer in opposition to a limitless sky. None had been extra spectacular than his warbler photographs, lots of them taken at daybreak from the statement platform at Higbee Seaside in his beloved Cape Might, New Jersey. For many of us, getting a well-lit, well-focused flight shot of any type is trigger for celebration; over time Tom captured sensible flight photographs of properly over 20 warbler species, together with seldom-seen treasures like Cerulean, Connecticut, and Golden-winged Warblers.
Maybe the one finest illustration of Tom’s character, expertise, and dedication is a photograph of a Prothonotary Warbler he discovered in the midst of the night time on a ship south of Nantucket, Massachusetts. As famous on an eBird guidelines from the day, Tom heard the chook’s chip word in his sleep and awoke at 2:30 a.m. Taking his digital camera alongside to research, he ended up capturing this dramatic flight shot, in near-complete darkness, miles from land.
A Connection With Seabirds
For a number of years after Tom’s commencement he served as a seabird observer on NOAA analysis ships—a chance to sharpen his formidable observational abilities with a few of the chook world’s most infamous identification challenges. Tom was nicknamed “Albatross” by his Area Guides colleagues, and his affinity for these wide-ranging, stressed, and ineffably swish creatures is obvious from the photographs he introduced residence. A chook like a Southern Royal Albatross could appear giant, however in opposition to the limitless sweep of a grey ocean even this huge seabird is a problem to seize in a digital camera body.
Frontiers of Identification
Birding is about noticing particulars—it’s what brings a way of discovery and risk to each journey exterior. Tom’s eye for element was unparalleled, and his skill to key in on almost invisible variations or irregularities meant he typically observed uncommon birds that others may need handed by. Think about watching a swooping swallow and realizing it was not a Cliff Swallow, nor the same Cave Swallow, however a hybrid of the 2? Or standing on a seaside in Nome, Alaska, and choosing via 100 White-winged Scoters to seek out 5 almost an identical Stejneger’s Scoters. Tom’s eBird guidelines illustrates that finely tuned eye, noting the Stejneger’s totally different head form, eye blaze, and flank shade. (Whereas additionally noting, with attribute enthusiasm, that the sighting was “extremely superior.”)
A World of Capability
Tom spent almost 10 years guiding birding excursions for Area Guides, touring to not less than 15 international locations on some 120 journeys (learn a remembrance from Area Guides). In his 35 years, he amassed an amazing retailer of information and expertise that he shared with anybody in his heat and inspiring means.
“The fields of ornithology and birding mixed have suffered an enormous loss,” says Sullivan, “as Tom was one of many uncommon individuals who had the combination of abilities wanted to interrupt down the boundaries between these two worlds—he deftly communicated the magic of birds and the ability of science to anybody in his path.” Tom had a breadth of information and enthusiasm that spanned from the tropics to the poles.
One of many true privileges of working on the Cornell Lab is the chance to spend time with so many proficient younger birders and ornithologists who come right here to review. Tom was one of many very brightest, and all of us assumed that we’d be studying from him for many years to come back. We’re grateful for the time we had with Tom, and we be part of together with his household, associates, and the broader birding neighborhood in remembering his life.
