Alexander Skutch


Alexander Frank Skutch was a naturalist and writer. He published numerous scientific papers and books about birds and several books on philosophy. He is best remembered ornithologically for his pioneering work on helpers at the nest.

Biography

Alexander Skutch was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He received a doctorate in botany from Johns Hopkins University in 1928. He then found employment with United Fruit Company, which had a problem with banana diseases, for which it needed the expertise of a botanist. After an initial stay in Jamaica, Skutch traveled to Guatemala, Panama and Honduras. During this time he fell in love with the tropics and also acquired a deep interest in birds. He began studying their habits. Skutch collected plants for museums to make money, but observing birds remained his life's main focus.
In 1941 Skutch purchased a farm in Costa Rica. There, as an author of one of his obituaries wrote:
A lifelong vegetarian, Skutch grew corn, yucca and other crops, and, without running water until the 1990s, bathed and drank from the nearest stream. He believed in "treading lightly on the mother Earth". With his wife Pamela, daughter of the English naturalist, botanist, and orchidologist Charles H. Lankester, whom he married in 1950, and their adopted son Edwin, he stayed there for the rest of his life.

Skutch wrote over 40 books and over 200 papers on ornithology, preferring a descriptive style and eschewing statistics and even banding. He died eight days before his 100th birthday, in the same year that he received the Loye and Alden Miller Research Award. He is universally regarded as one of the world's greatest ornithologists.

Selected publications

As well as numerous contributions to the scientific literature, books and book-length papers authored or coauthored by Skutch include:
  • 1954 – Life Histories of Central American Birds I: Families Fringillidae, Thraupidae, Icteridae, Parulidae and Coerebidae.. Cooper Ornithological Society: Berkeley.
  • 1960 – Life Histories of Central American Birds II: Families Vireonidae, Sylviidae, Turdidae, Troglodytidae, Paridae, Corvidae, Hirundinidae and Tyrannidae.. Cooper Ornithological Society: Berkeley.
  • 1967 – Life histories of Central American highland birds.. Harvard University: Cambridge.
  • 1969 – Life histories of Central American birds III: Families Cotingidae, Pipridae, Formicariidae, Furnariidae, Dendrocolaptidae, and Picidae.. Cooper Ornithological Society: Berkeley.
  • 1970 – The Golden Core of Religion. Holt, Rinehart and Winston: New York.
  • 1971 – A Naturalist in Costa Rica. University of Florida Press: Gainesville..
  • 1972 – Studies of Tropical American Birds.. Harvard University: Cambridge.
  • 1973 – The Life of the Hummingbird. Crown Publishers: New York..
  • 1976 – Parent Birds and Their Young.. University of Texas Press: Austin.
  • 1977 – A Bird Watcher's Adventures in Tropical America.. University of Texas Press: Austin.
  • 1979 – The Imperative Call: A Naturalist's Quest in Temperate and Tropical America. University of Florida Press: Gainesville.
  • 1980 – A Naturalist on a Tropical Farm.. University of California Press..
  • 1981 – New Studies of Tropical American Birds... Harvard University: Cambridge..
  • 1983 – Birds of Tropical America... University of Texas Press: Austin.
  • 1984 – Aves De Costa Rica.. Editorial Costa Rica: San Jose.
  • 1984 – Nature Through Tropical Windows. University of California Press.
  • 1985 – La Finca De Un Naturalista.. Libro Libre: San Jose, Costa Rica.
  • 1985 – Life Ascending. University of Texas Press: Austin.
  • 1985 – Life of the Woodpecker.. Ibis Publishing: Santa Monica.
  • 1987 – Helpers at Birds' Nests: A Worldwide Survey of Cooperative Breeding and Related Behavior... University Of Iowa Press..
  • 1987 – A Naturalist Amid Tropical Splendor.. University of Iowa Press.
  • 1989 – A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica.. Comstock Publishing Associates/Cornell University Press: Ithaca..
  • 1989 – Birds Asleep.. University of Texas Press: Austin..
  • 1989 – Life of the Tanager.. Comstock Publishing: Ithaca.
  • 1991 – Life of the Pigeon.. Comstock Publishing: Ithaca.
  • 1992 – The Origins of Nature's Beauty. Essays.. University of Texas Press: Austin.
  • 1996 – Antbirds and Ovenbirds: Their Lives and Homes.. University of Texas Press: Austin.
  • 1996 – Orioles, Blackbirds, and Their Kin: A Natural History.. University of Arizona Press.
  • 1996 – The Minds of Birds.. Texas A&M University Press: College Station.
  • 1997 – Life of the Flycatcher.. University of Oklahoma: Norman.
  • 1999 – Helpers at Birds' Nests: A Worldwide Survey of Cooperative Breeding and Related Behavior... University Of Iowa Press.
  • 1999 – Trogons, Laughing Falcons, and Other Neotropical Birds.. Texas A&M University: College Station.
  • 2000 – Harmony and Conflict in the Living World.. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman.
  • 2002 – Field Guide to the Wildlife of Costa Rica... University of Texas Press: Austin.
  • 2006 – . Axios Press.

Skutch Award

After a joint meeting of the Association of Field Ornithologists, American Birding Association and Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica held in San Jose, Costa Rica, in 1997, Skutch made an endowment to the Association of Field Ornithologists to establish a research award. Officially The Pamela and Alexander F. Skutch Research Award, the award is usually referred to as the Skutch Awards. Skutch was honored at that meeting for over 60 years of contributions to ornithology.