Carr holds a Ph.D. in zoology, but, despite his love of birds, he didn’t become an ornithologist.
“Birds are actually kind of hard to study – they move around a lot,” he said.
But that’s OK, he’s willing to go to them.
“I’ve gone birding all over North America, from the Bering Strait to the Everglades, and a few other countries too,” he said. “My wife and I like to take trips to national parks, and we often meet up with friends from grad school to watch birds at different locations.”
Travel as he may, Carr really doesn’t have to go far to see many of the bird species found in the eastern United States. He finds them at Blandy, where he has recorded 214 species during his 23 years as director, with “more yet to see.”
He often photographs the ones he does see. He started several years ago with a good point-and-shoot camera. He got some pretty good shots with it, but envied the work of professional bird photographers. Then, a couple of years ago, he bought a Canon single-lens reflex camera with a 100mm-400mm zoom lens. His photography got a lot better.