Derek Lovitch
Derek is a career biologist with a lifelong passion for birds, having worked in 9 states from New Jersey to Hawaii, Florida to Michigan, on avian research and education projects. He also worked as a tour guide on the Pribilof Islands of Alaska for three summers, serving as tour director in 2003, as well as organizing and conducting the first comprehensive Fall Avian Survey in the island’s history. Derek and his wife Jeannette have settled down in Pownal, Maine and have opened the Wild Bird Center of Yarmouth, a retail store that caters to birders of all levels. The store serves as a vehicle for Derek to continue to share his enthusiasm for birding, birds, and bird conservation.
Derek serves on his town’s Environmental Commission, on the Board of Directors for Merrymeeting Audubon, and –along with Jeannette – founded the Bradbury Mountain Raptor Research Project. Yet somehow he finds to time to bird just about every day - whether guiding for private clients, organizing pelagic trips, or simply working on his local patch list, hardly a day goes by when he isn’t in the field. He writes about his adventures, big and small, on his “Field Notes” Blog for Mainetoday.com
Derek is also the “Tools of the Trade” Department Editor for Birding Magazine, and his writing has also appeared in Bird Observer, Bird Watcher’s Digest, and Winging-It. He has also authored “A Birder’s Guide to Whitefish Point (Michigan).” Along with birding, Derek enjoys hiking, exploring new natural areas, developing his native plant garden, and eating.