Theodore A. Parker III

Theodore Albert "Ted" Parker III (April 1, 1953 – August 3, 1993) was an American ornithologist who specialized in the Neotropics. He "was widely considered the finest field birder / ornithologist that the world had ever seen."

Identification skills According to Zimmer (1993), "Voice, microhabitat, and behavior are the keys [to identification] in neotropical forests, and Ted was not only the first to recognize this (his seminal paper on foliage-gleaner identification that appeared in the April 1979 issue of Continental Birdlife should be required reading for all students of tropical birding), but also honed his discrimination of these essential cues to a finer degree than anyone else." Zimmer adds that as knowledge of these matters was limited, "any field problems... took weeks of patient effort for Ted to work out for himself." at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

When he went to work for Conservation International, he conceived of an interdisciplinary program to provide scientific information in South America's conservation crises. This Rapid Assessment Program has led to the creation of many parks and reserves. Parker was doing a survey for it in western Ecuador when he was killed in a plane crash along with three others, including the botanist Alwyn Howard Gentry.

The Theodore A. Parker III Natural Area in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the Parker/Gentry Award for Conservation Biology are named for him.

Birds named after Parker

The following bird species have their English or scientific names commemorating Parker:

Subtropical pygmy-owl Glaucidium parkeri Ash-throated antwren Herpsilochmus parkeri Parker's antbird Cercomacroides parkeri Chusquea tapaculo Scytalopus parkeri Cinnamon-faced tyrannulet Phylloscartes parkeri

Additionally, the following subspecies names commemorate Parker as well:

Copper Metaltail Metallura theresiae parkeri Black-and-yellow silky-flycatcher Phainoptila melanoxantha parkeri Natterer's slaty-antshrike Thamnophilus stictocephalus parkeri