William L. Murphy

A lifelong, passionate birder originally from northern New York state, Bill Murphy's interest in birds began at age five, when his birding father pointed out a very close Least Bittern and then started taking little Billy with him on birding trips. The family moved to Maryland in 1964, he became friends with expert naturalists throughout the National Capitol area. He spent summers working with endangered species of birds at a nearby federal research center. After earning his degree in biology, Bill started guiding tours, mostly east of the Mississippi, from Maine to Florida and from Ontario to Texas. Birding quickly took him to many other corners of the world as well. He wrote The Birder’s Guide to Trinidad & Tobago and has led 93 tours to that destination so far, more than anyone else in history, and he recently helped produce a mobile app for identifying the birds of T&T. His passion for education has led him to serve on the Trinidad & Tobago, Ohio, and Indiana rare bird committees. Many of his 100+ publications have focused on the status and distributions of birds, while other papers have focused on insects, including descriptions of new species. His major interests are field identification, especially vocalizations, and bird distribution and migratory routes. He stepped down this year after 15 years of serving as newsletter editor for the largest Audubon society in the state to allow more time for travel. Bill lives near Indianapolis with his partner, April, who he met—no surprise—while birding. When not guiding tours or birding in some remote area, he serves as research collaborator with the Smithsonian Institution, investigating the taxonomy of snail-killing flies.