Donald Ryder Dickey

Donald Ryder Dickey (1887–1932) was an American ornithologist, mammalogist, and nature photographer. He collected 50,000 specimens and produced 7,500 photographs and moving images of nature subjects. At his death, his collection of bird and mammal specimens was the largest private collection in the United States.

Biography Donald Ryder Dickey was born on March 31, 1887, in Dubuque, Iowa, the son of Anna Roberts Ryder and Ernest May Dickey (superintendent of the Diamond Joe Steamship Line). In 1902, Dickey and his mother, also an avid naturalist, joined a Sierra Club group hiking King's River Cañon and climbing Mount Whitney. Others on this trip included John Muir, C. Hart Merriam, Dr. Henry Gannett, historian Theodore Hittell and landscape artist William Keith. and was captain of the University Gun Team. During his senior year at Yale, Dickey suffered severe heart failure; he slowly recovered his health during a three-year convalescence, living for a time first in Ojai

Field research Upon recovering his health, Dickey began to pursue his interests in natural history by photographing and collecting birds and small mammals. He ultimately determined upon a goal of establishing a major research collection on Southern California fauna.

Dickey's research collection of bird and mammal specimens and still photographs and moving images ultimately comprised 50,0000 specimens, 10,000 natural history books and papers, and 7,500 photographs. In 1926, Caltech provided Throop Hall to house the growing collection.

Dickey died on April 15, 1932, in Pasadena, California.

Photography Dickey's nature photography, in both still and motion picture work, was extensive and widely admired. His photographs are reprinted in The Birds of California by William Leon Dawson (1873–1928) and Life Histories of North American Birds by Arthur Cleveland Bent (1866–1954).

Gambel Sparrow on Log From a photograph, Copyright 1914, by D. R. Dickey Taken in Pasadena. From The Birds of California (1923).

Patronyms Branta dickeyi Loye H. Miller, Condor, xxvi, September 15, 1924, p. 179. Dichromanassa rufescens dickeyi van Rossem, Condor, XXVIII, September 21, 1926, p. 246. Phalaenoptilus nuttallii dickeyi Grinnell, Condor, XXX, March 15, 1928, p. 153. Eumomota superciliosa dickeyi Griscom, Proc. New England Zool. Club, XI, October 31, 1929, p. 55. Colinus leucopogon dickeyi Conover, Condor, XXXIV, July 15, 1932, p. 174. Microdipodops megacephalus dickeyi Goldman, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 40, September 26, 1927, p. 115. Urocyon littoralis dickeyi Grinnell and Linsdale, Proc. Biol. Sot. Wash., 43, September 26, 1930, p. 154. Procyon lotor dickeyi Goldman, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 44, February 21, 1931, p. 18. Peromyscus dickeyi Burt, Trans. San Diego Soc. Nat. Hist., 7, October 31, 1932, p. 176. Canis latrans dickeyi Nelson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 45, November 26, 1932, pp. 223–226.