Luke Seitz is a phenomenal birder--one of the best ever to come out of Maine. His skills are known across the country and beyond, for example in South America where he has gained tremendous expertise. For me, Luke's keen understanding of observational evidence, the importance of notes taken in the field for example, and ability to objectively evaluate those documents was something rarely seen, especially for someone his age. He was the primary architect of the eBird system used in Maine, which required building a framework for status and distribution out of scratch. He deserves a lot of credit for the foundation he put in place.
Today, it was a pleasure to see one of Luke's photographs on the cover of the latest issue of The Condor, one of the world's most esteemed ornithological journals. His photograph of a singing Streak-headed Antbird (Drymophila [caudata] striataceps) in cloud-forest bamboo of Andean Ecuador accompanies a paper by Mort Isler and others reviewing the taxonomy of Long-tailed Antbird, of which Streak-headed is a split. For anyone visiting South America, birds in the genus Drymophila become one of the most endearing, with 6 of the 8 (now 11?) species restricted to southeast Brazil. Thanks to Field Guides Inc., Jan Pierson and Bret Whitney, I've seen 7 of the 8 species. They are definitely one of my favorite birds! The latest issue is not online yet, but when it is you can look for it here: http://www.bioone.org/loi/cond (Volume 114, Number 3, August 2012)
Luke matriculated at Cornell this fall and will be missed here. Let's all wish him thanks and great success.
Louis Bevier
Fairfield
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