Joachim Steinbacher

Joachim Steinbacher (18 November 1911 – 31 July 2005) was a German ornithologist and curator at the Senckenberg-Museum in Frankfurt. He was a writer of both scientific and popular books on birds and served as editor of the avicultural periodical Gefiederte Welt.

Life and work Steinbacher was born in Hoexter on the river Weser and he grew up in Goslar in the Harz mountains. His interest in natural history as a child was nurtured by his uncle Friedrich Steinbacher who lived in Berlin along with another ornithologist cousin Georg. After his Gymnasium he spent time at the Helgoland bird observatory and later worked on bird migration in the North Sea. He went to study at the University of Göttingen in 1931 and then transferred to Berlin. Between studies he worked at the Rossitten observatory. In 1936 he worked along with Oskar Heinroth and Helmut Sick to produce a vinyl record of bird songs. He completed his doctoral dissertation under Erwin Stresemann in 1937 on the systematics of the Galbulidae and the Bucconidae. He spent some years working at the Berlin Zoo.