Kevin T. Karlson has been a wildlife photographer for 26 years and active as a birder for 30 years. He has traveled from the wilds of the Alaskan Arctic to the rainforests of South America to photograph birds.

As a noted wildlife photographer in North America, his work is widely published in numerous birding magazines and journals, as well as books, field guides, calendars and CD-ROM’s. In 1999, Tidemark Press published Kevin’s own calendar titled “Birds of the Arctic Tundra”, which was endorsed by the American Birding Association. He worked closely with Peter Thayer in creating the CD-Rom “The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Guide to Birds of North America” as head ornithologist, photo researcher and submitter of almost 800 photos.

Kevin is currently on the advisory board of Wild Bird Magazine as well as a staff contributor of the column Birder’s ID.  Additional contributions include writing feature articles. He is a former photo editor of North American Birds, an ornithological journal of the American Birding Association. Besides photography, Kevin authors various articles on birds, from advice on good locations to see and photograph them to insights on natural history and field identification. He recently completed an innovative book called “The Shorebird Guide”  with co-authors Michael O’Brien and Richard Crossley, released by Houghton Mifflin Publishers in April 2006.  This comprehensive field guide presents a different approach to field identification based initially upon various impressions rather than analysis of plumage details. It contains 893 photos, many showing comparisons of similar species in real life settings.

Mr. Karlson spent the summers of 1992-95 as a wildlife biologist in the Alaskan Arctic working for Troy Ecological Research Associates of Anchorage.  He helped conduct research and census studies of birds that use this fragile habitat. His photo collection from this region is one of the best in the world.

In recent years, Kevin has joined the Birding Symposium and Festival circuit as a keynote speaker and workshop presenter. Recent venues include the San Diego Bird Festival, Eastern Shore of Virginia Bird Festival, Central Valley Bird Symposium in California, Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival in Harlingen, Texas , Galveston’s Featherfest , Florida’s Space Coast Festival, and the Copper River Shorebird Festival in Cordova, Alaska.

Currently a resident of Cape May, NJ, Kevin is a recently retired 12-year member of the NJ Bird Records Committee and active in the Cape May birding community. He is the founder and president of Jaeger Tours, Inc., a small birding tour company with an emphasis on the enjoyment of a total birding and nature experience.