Derek Lovitch

Derek Lovitch has made a career out of his lifelong passion for birds. After graduating with a degree in Environmental Policy from Rutgers University, he 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 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 Freeport Wild Bird Supply, a retail store that caters to birders of all levels. The store serves as a vehicle for Derek to continue to share his enthusiasm for birding, birds, and bird conservation.

Derek has served on his town’s Conservation Commission and on various boards including the Bradbury-Pineland Corridor Trail Adivsory Board, and with Jeannette founded the Bradbury Mountain Raptor Research Project, and is active with many birding and conservation issues in Maine. Yet somehow he still finds to time to bird just about every day: whether as a Senior Leader for WINGS, guiding for private clients, or simply working on his local patch list, hardly a day goes by when he isn’t in the field.

Derek’s first book, titled How To Be a Better Birder, was published in March 2012 by Princeton University Press. His second book, Birdwatching in Maine has just been published (May 2017) by the University Press of New England. He was also the “Tools of the Trade” Department Editor for Birding magazine for 6 years, and his writing has also 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 wrote the text and designed the Birds of the Maine Backyard folding guide. Along with birding, Derek enjoys hiking, exploring new natural areas, developing his native plant garden, good food, and beer.