From the Winter 2024 subject of Residing Chook journal. Subscribe now.
In July 2023, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology group misplaced a pricey pal and colleague when Tom Johnson handed away unexpectedly on the age of 35.
Tom’s extraordinary abilities in pictures, chicken identification, and as a birding tour information had been pushed by how a lot he beloved being out in nature. Johnson generously contributed greater than 10,000 pictures, audio, and video recordings to the Cornell Lab over 20 years, from his highschool years by his 2010 commencement from Cornell College and past.
“Past his formidable abilities and provoking ardour for birding, Tom was an much more excellent individual,” wrote Ian Owens, the chief 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 pal to many.”
An Eye for Magnificence
“Tom had a simple, heat method about him, instantly making anybody he was with really feel comfy,” says Brian Sullivan, a Cornell Lab digital publications challenge chief and shut pal of Johnson’s. “He had the type of charisma that made others really feel seen and heard. He would need us to maintain seeing all the sweetness round us—the heartbeat of the planet that he beloved a lot, the sweetness that by no means escaped his eyes.”
All pictures are by Tom Johnson. Faucet/click on hyperlinks to view bigger pictures 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 chicken pictures. 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 pictures, a lot of them taken at daybreak from the statement platform at Higbee Seaside in his beloved Cape Could, New Jersey. For many of us, getting a well-lit, well-focused flight shot of any variety is trigger for celebration; over time Tom captured sensible flight photographs of nicely 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 chicken’s chip observe in his sleep and wakened at 2:30 a.m. Taking his digicam alongside to analyze, 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 chicken 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 sleek creatures is obvious from the photographs he introduced house. A chicken like a Southern Royal Albatross could appear giant, however in opposition to the infinite sweep of a grey ocean even this large seabird is a problem to seize in a digicam body.
Frontiers of Identification
Birding is about noticing particulars—it’s what brings a way of discovery and risk to each journey outdoors. Tom’s eye for element was unparalleled, and his means to key in on practically invisible variations or irregularities meant he typically seen 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 by 100 White-winged Scoters to seek out 5 practically equivalent Stejneger’s Scoters. Tom’s eBird guidelines illustrates that finely tuned eye, noting the Stejneger’s completely 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 practically 10 years guiding birding excursions for Area Guides, touring to at the very least 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 method.
“The fields of ornithology and birding mixed have suffered a large loss,” says Sullivan, “as Tom was one of many uncommon individuals who had the combo 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 nice privileges of working on the Cornell Lab is the chance to spend time with so many gifted 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, buddies, and the broader birding group in remembering his life.
