John Sterling started birding at age 11 in California, during what I’ve always considered the golden age of modern U.S. birding, where a generation of young birders took birding to a new level. They explored known birding spots, and discovered many new hotspots. Looking for and chasing vagrants became a key part of the birding game in those days, and many California and ABA first species sightings were discovered. John, with the support of his Dad and many of the California birders of his youth, became a key part of that renaissance.
Don Roberson’s site Who Was Who in California Birding: 1965-1989.
He tells us about his remarkable career as a field ornithologist, with stories of the American tropics, California birding, research in the northern boreal forests, and his recent trip to China.
Here are photos from John’s web site of his trip to China last month. Here are his photos from the trip I went with him to Kenya in 2016.

Here is a link to Cornell’s Neotropical Birds telling the story of the Cocha Antshrike that John was involved with the rediscovery of in the 1980’s in Equador that he talks about in the episode.

Brewers sparrow is the species I talk about in the introduction, and play the song from the Sibley App at the end of the episode. These are among the more drably marked LBJ’s (little brown jobs) we see in WA, and I don’t have any great personal photos, so here is a pic from the same site as the Cocha Antshrike above. Here is a link to the site for reference.

Please leave comments below if you have any questions or suggestions.

Thanks.

Good birding. Good day!