Who is this guy, 

anyway??

  Hi! My name is John Pratt. I have been a birder for about twenty years, and in that time I have learned a lot, and taken lots of pictures. I decided to set up this website so that I could share some of the things I have seen and learned over the years, and also to encourage you to do the same.

I am a native Newfoundlander. I grew up in St. Catherine's, St. Mary's Bay, about an hour's drive from the capital city, St. John's. The house I grew up in is located on the banks of the Salmonier River. Every year we saw a great variety of interesting birds - everything from eastern kingbirds and ruby-throated hummingbirds to snowy egrets and boreal owls. With those birds visiting my yard, how could I not become fascinated with birds?!

I also met some pretty influential birders when I was a kid. Dr. Les Tuck and his student, David Nettleship, were conducting research on common snipe just up river from my house. We got to know them quite well - partly because my mother was doing some of the illustrations for Dr. Tuck's monograph, "The Snipe", published by Canadian Wildlife Service. At one point, Les tried to entice me into hunting down bird nests - for a dollar a nest. I think I spent the whole of one afternoon at that enterprise, and decided that lawn-mowing was an easier way to earn a few bucks.

After a number of career changes that included park naturalist and environmental consultant, I have become a lawyer. The route from hunting for birds' nests to being a lawyer would require a whole other website to explain. To keep myself sane, I go birding as much as I can, and I write a column on birding called "Winging It" (sorry, ABA) that is published in The Telegram, the local daily paper, every Saturday. You'll find a link to that paper on my "Links" page. I am also on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Nature Federation and on the executive of the Canadian Bar Association National Environmental Law Section. 

I hope you enjoy this site. Please send me your comments, questions and criticisms. I can't promise to respond to everything I receive, but I will do my best.

Happy Birding,

John Pratt