Program: Rare Birds & Rare Bird Chasing in CA , 1960s to 2010, by Paul Lehman. Come join us to hear some great stories from Paul on the rarities that show up in our state.
Paul has traveled extensively throughout virtually every nook and cranny on the continent, and has written many articles and papers on North American bird distribution and identification. Paul grew up in the suburbs of New York City, where he started birding at the age of nine. He then moved to California, where he lived for 20 years before moving back to the east coast in 1994 to Cape May, New Jersey, where he resided until returning to southern California in 2008.
Formerly a lecturer in geography and environmental studies at the University of California in Santa Barbara, Paul has strong interests in the fields of weather, biogeography, and North American regional geography. He was editor of Birding magazine for nine years, from 1989-1997. He was also chief editor of several titles in the ABA Birdfinding Guides series, is an associate editor for North American Birds magazine, and has been a principal consultant on many popular field guides, most recently as senior range map researcher and consultant for the new editions of Roger Tory Peterson’s Field Guide to the Birds (the North American Eastern, and Western volumes), the National Geographic Society’s Field Guide to the Birds of North America (several editions) and their Complete Birds of North America, the National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Birds of North America, the Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America, and the two-volume Sibley East and West field guides.