On the occasion of a new biography on Freddie Chapman being published, Jon Henley of The Guardian has a column celebrating Mr. Chapman’s extraordinary exploits, including the fact that he and two others, in their first two weeks behind Japanese lines in Malaya during World War II, “blew up 15 railway bridges, derailed seven trains and exploded 40 military vehicles, mostly using homemade bombs of gelignite hidden in bamboo sticks.” How much of a birder was Mr Chapman? Well, he would announce “his own nocturnal arrival with the cry of a British tawny owl.”
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy, their son, Desmond Shearwater, and their indoor cat, B.B. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
Leave a Comment