Albert Kenrick Fisher

Portrait circa 1903

Albert Kenrick Fisher (born March 21, 1856 in Sing Sing (since 1901 Ossining ), New York , † June 12, 1948 in Washington, DC ), sometimes known by the acronym A. K. Fisher , was an American ornithologist .

Life

Fisher was the son of Hiram and Susan E. Fisher, née Townsend. After graduating from Holbrook's Military High School, he attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City , where he completed his medical training in 1879. He was married to Alwilda Merritt, with whom he fathered two sons and two twin daughters. His son Walter Kenrick Fisher (1878-1953) later became a well-known zoologist.

On September 26, 1883, he was a founding member of the American Ornithologists' Union , where he served as President from 1914 to 1917. On July 1, 1885, he co-founded the Economic Ornithology Branch with Clinton Hart Merriam within the Department of Entomology of the United States Department of Agriculture . Thanks to the efforts of Merriam and Fisher, this branch was granted independent status on July 1, 1886, and was renamed the Department of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy. Much of the early work was focused on studying food and educating farmers about birds and mammals that influenced their interests so that beneficial species could be prevented from being destroyed. At this time Fisher was preparing his standard work The Hawks and Owls of the United States in Their Relation to Agriculture , which was published in 1893. As a result of this work, the hunt for falcons and owls was severely restricted so that they were no longer threatened with extinction.

Fisher was involved in several major expeditions, including the Death Valley Expedition of 1891, the Harriman-Alaska Expedition in 1899, and the Pinchot South Seas Expedition in 1929. From these expeditions he brought many bird skins with him to add to the collection of the National Museum of Natural History added. The 150+ articles he published covered subjects such as birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, various invertebrates, and biographical sketches.

In 1905, Fisher helped found the Bureau of Biological Survey, which focused on biological exploration of relatively unknown areas in North America. He later went to considerable lengths to make the Bureau of Biological Survey an important part of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service . Fisher worked for the bureau until he retired in 1931.

He played an important role in the conservation movement and was a personal friend of several famous conservationists, including Gifford Pinchot and Theodore Roosevelt .

Dedication names

After Albert Kenrick Fisher the subspecies is Ammospiza maritima fisheri the beach Ammer named.

literature

• Matthew C. Perry; Washington Biologists 'Field Club (Ed.): The Washington Biologists' Field Club: Its Members and its History (1900-2006) . Washington, DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-615-16259-1 , pp. 122 (English, usgs.gov [PDF]).
• Francis M. Uhler: In memoriam: Albert Kenrick Fisher . In: The Auk . Vol. 68, No. 2 , 1951, p. 210–213 (English, si.edu [PDF]).