Derek Lovitch
Derek Lovitch is a career biologist with a lifelong passion for birds. He has worked on avian research and education projects in nine states, from New Jersey to Hawaii and from Florida to Michigan. He also spent three summers as a tour guide on Alaska’s Pribilof Islands; he served as tour director there in 2003, and organized and conducted the first comprehensive Fall Avian Survey in the island’s history.
Derek and his wife, Jeannette, have settled down in Pownal, Maine, where they own and operate the Freeport Wild Bird Supply, a retail store catering to birders of all levels. The store serves as a vehicle for Derek to share his enthusiasm for birding, birds, and bird conservation.
Derek serves on his town’s Conservation Commission, and with Jeannette founded the Bradbury Mountain Raptor Research Project. Active in many birding and conservation issues in Maine, he also works as a consultant, conducting bird surveys in the state. Yet somehow he still 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 Derek isn’t in the field. He writes about his adventures, big and small, at his “Field Notes” blog for Mainetoday.com.
Derek spent six years as the “Tools of the Trade” Editor for Birding magazine, and his writing has appeared in Birder’s World, Bird Observer, Bird Watcher’s Digest, NJ Audubon, and Winging It. He is the author of A Birder’s Guide to Whitefish Point (Michigan), and author and designer of the folding guide Birds of the Maine Backyard. Along with birding, Derek enjoys hiking, exploring new natural areas, developing his native plant garden, and eating.