Ebook: Studies in Neotropical Ornithology Honoring Ted Parker

The future of Neotropical ornithology changedforever when Ted Parker died in
August 1993. We'll never know exactly how it was changed,but we know it is going
to be different without him. Most of his first 40 years were spent developingan
unrivaledknowledgeof naturalhistory,andhe hadjust begunto acquiretheconfidence
and stature to apply that backgroundto big problems. His death was, therefore, a
multidimensionaltragedy.The first two papersin this volume provide many details
on Ted and his career,thus allowing this prefaceto be brief.
Soon after Ted's death his legions of friends searchedfor ways to expresstheir
appreciationfor his friendship and his influence.This volume is one of thoseefforts.
A primary goalwasto completeasmanyof Ted'sunpublishedmanuscriptsaspossible.
Otherwise,the only initial criteriafor submissionof manuscriptswasthatthey involve
Neotropical ornithology, that at least the lead author was one of Ted's friends, and
that Ted would have enjoyedreadingthe manuscript.We all hopethat we succeeded
in the latter; certainly Ted would be gratifiedto see so many of his favorite themes
represented.Ted also would have appreciatedthe range in author experience,from
"householdnames" in Neotropical ornithologyto studentsand non-professionalssubmitting their very first papersfor peer-review.He would also have appreciatedthe
range in nationalitiesof the authorsas well as the number of authors(15) from countries in the Neotropics.