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I am an author, scientist, naturalist, educator, and father of two lovely daughters. Learn More ⟶ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/6a63a7a2-9d09-4869-8511-62cfd664e096/book+cover.jpg Home - “This account by one of the world’s top experts, authoritative and accurate but written in a lively, engaging style, opens up the mysteries of the loon’s world and makes it more fascinating than ever.” – Kenn Kaufman, editor of the Kaufman Field Guide series https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/9933900a-c8a4-40f1-b6be-2f9800baf5ed/Jim+Loon+Lake+Jocassee+284.JPG Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/693e461a-c27b-44b0-8aba-a9264f43b568/Alaska+2011+5+138.jpg Home https://www.jamesparuk.com/about daily 0.75 2023-07-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1626377880717-NAD6V9IXG6SLVQ8QKYBS/Jim%2Bselfies%2B037.jpg About - About Besides loons, I have a lot of passions, such as playing guitar (& dulcimer), birding, hiking, tennis, coaching, natural history, reciting poetry, reading non-fiction, and sharing nature with people of all ages. I have been associated with colleges and universities as a professor (for 18 years) and as a student (for 11 years). As a professor, I have taught courses in Anatomy and Physiology, Animal Behavior, Animal Physiology, Biology, Botany, Ecology, and Ornithology. As a researcher, understanding the breeding and non-breeding ecology of the Common Loon has been a life-long interest of mine. I have studied breeding loons in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Saskatchewan and Maine and non-breeding loons in California, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Maine. I spent 7 years monitoring the health of a population of loons off the Louisiana coast in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Besides loons, I spent six years studying the winter ecology of the Northern Shrike, also known as the ‘butcher bird’ for its habit of impaling their prey on barbed wire and thorns. I taught at non-traditional schools (no walls) for seven years. For five years I worked as a naturalist at Yosemite Institute (renamed later to Nature Bridge) where I took groups of children (from 4th graders to seniors in high school) on daily nature hikes in Yosemite National Park. While there I developed and wrote a field guide to Trees of the Sierra Nevada entitled, “The Sierra Nevada Tree Identifier.” Also, I worked for two years as a field instructor for Sierra Institute (affiliated with University of California extension) teaching field-long semester courses on The Mountains of California and The Natural History of the Tropics. I think Thoreau was right about a good many things as it pertains to how to live one’s life. For example, one should get the most out of each day, to suck the marrow out of life (carpe diem). In other words, the greater tragedy in life is not what we suffer, but what we miss, right? Hike that mountain peak, paddle that river, and set your alarm for 3am to watch the Perseid meteor shower. As a naturalist-geek I have travelled throughout the USA with the intent of observing new fauna and flora. I have identified > 600 bird species, >600 plant species, >100 mammal species and >100 butterfly species, >75 mushroom species and >40 dragonfly species. My favorite nature and science writers are Jennifer Ackerman, David Quammen, Scott Weidensaul, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Stephen Jay Gould. I start my day between 4:00-5:00am. My favorite poet is Mary Oliver and one of my favorite poems is The Silence by Wendell Berry (below). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/b4095797-4869-4c45-b9c7-f3812b852c7c/Jim+selfies+094.JPG About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/fda1be8c-c64b-4027-a35e-788d86cee7ba/Misc+2019+019.JPG About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/a4de73e7-d088-497a-9e65-6d3786e7e91d/Jim+selfies+046.JPG About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/c04c7713-9845-4085-860f-bf398abc087d/Paruk+YBLO+NOrth+Slope.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/b5c25be9-9310-47e2-bcdc-643c6c558c5b/Misc+2019+078.JPG About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/dd2c32b2-590b-400a-8fa3-7c67676a6fab/Jim+Loon+Lake+Jocassee+366.JPG About https://www.jamesparuk.com/book daily 0.75 2022-03-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1624905950418-HZ6NCGWO05AY34WO3B2Z/Screen+Shot+2021-06-28+at+2.00.16+PM.png Book - Loon Lessons: Uncommon Encounters with the Great Northern Diver Even those who know the loon’s call might not recognize it as a tremolo, yodel, or wail, and may not understand what each call means, how it’s made, and why. And those who marvel at the loon’s diving prowess might wonder why this bird has such skill, or where loons go when they must leave northern lakes in winter. For these and so many other mysteries, Loon Lessons provides evolutionary and ecological explanations that are curious and compelling. Written by one of the world’s foremost experts on the subject, the book is a compendium of knowledge about the common loon and an engaging record of scientific sleuthing, documenting more than twenty-five years of research into the great northern diver. James D. Paruk has observed and compared loons from Washington and Saskatchewan to the coasts of California and Louisiana, from high elevation deserts in Nevada to mountain lakes in Maine. Drawing on his extensive experience, a wealth of data, and well-established scientific principles, he considers every aspect of the loon, from its plumage and anatomy to its breeding, migration, and wintering strategies. Here, in the first detailed scientific account of the common loon in more than thirty years, Paruk describes its biology in an accessible and entertaining style that affords a deeper understanding of this beautiful and mysterious bird’s natural history and annual life cycle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1630781286136-UUVDVIINBFY9I2J8EACS/paruk+book.JPG Book https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1630781868901-CU6KEZ9WN5ZL4MC2B9NI/953e5035-8a29-41b6-bc9c-f20e3f092cf8_1140x641.jpg Book https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1630782586939-OC98YM6QVPPXK6RIWLJ0/Screenshot%2B%25282%2529.jpg Book https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1639186142262-OWJRAY9HUQD0VMKOB20D/loon+winter.jpg Book https://www.jamesparuk.com/visit daily 0.75 2022-08-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1627223617733-5LCRER4MMW8LP6QL4S22/IMG_1269+%281%29.JPG Contact - Interested in a talk? Jim gives talks on loons, including their behavior, migration and conservation. If you are interested in hosting a talk, contact me via this email (jamesparuk@gmail.com). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1660854135947-IFBU7QCL01M1PCGA7Q6V/DSC04434+DAVE+EVERS.jpg Contact https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1660854773386-HLAZ2PQ66K0BNMNCQDYM/IMG_1232.jpg Contact https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1660905724290-XQZODVC2XO907TKBGDJ1/Screen+Shot+2022-08-18+at+8.42.17+PM.png Contact https://www.jamesparuk.com/publications daily 0.75 2023-07-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1625697033733-4FQ1IDKHNZ5XH8DA25UN/IMG_3781.JPG Publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1625697134769-UDSTCADMGC3WUXVS1NKV/Screen+Shot+2021-07-07+at+6.31.58+PM.png Publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1627226958427-XON8Z0PIK7PQF52QRVL1/COLO+winter+adult5.JPG Publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1627231336258-UH7QVG0Z1NF90M0RUUHI/Loon+Satellite+Transmitter.jpg Publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1627232590947-5PYC7WQH6TXBZS9DUZ2X/Loon+platform+J+Fiely.jpg Publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60da0375dbea5c0046e0ea54/1639187290722-P02YDKXAG4RWESDOMR7C/Social+loons+in+winter.jpg Publications