Andrews, Robert, 1952-

Robert "Bob" Andrews was born in 1952 and raised in Denver, Colorado. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in environmental biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1979 and 1988, respectively. His thesis was titled "Distributional Ecology of the Gray Catbird and Brown Thrasher in the Platte River Valley." He has worked as a biologist at Barr Lake State Park near Denver, for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Region 6 office in Lakewood, Colorado, and on research projects in Venezuela, Trinidad, and Mexico. His first teaching job was as a biology teaching assistant at CU-Boulder, where he later worked as biology lab coordinator. Later he taught at Bowie High School in Bowie, Arizona. Today, Andrews continues to pursue his passion for teaching in Africa. Since first visiting Africa in 1992, he has spent all but three years there, occasionally returning to his Denver home. At first he taught environmental science and geography at a senior secondary school in Ruacana, Namibia. Now he is a volunteer lecturer in biology and geography at Central Buganda University in Kasaka, Uganda. Andrews grew up with an interest in nature and animals. He recalls that on a family trip at age 10 he made his first bird sighting, a Lark Bunting, the state bird of Colorado, on a road in southern Wyoming. He became more interested in birds, observing and identifying them by his house and on family outings. For identifications he used the 1939 National Geographic The Book of Birds and the newly published Birds of Colorado (Denver Museum of Natural History, 1965) borrowed from a neighbor. In early 1967 at age 15 he set out on his first birding trek along Cherry Creek in southeast Denver. It was successful, and soon thereafter he contacted the Denver Museum of Natural History (DMNH, now Denver Museum of Nature & Science) inquiring about bird field work. Dr. Alfred M. Bailey, at that time Director of DMNH, referred him to the Denver Field Ornithologists (DFO), a very active group of birders. This began Andrews' long association with these two institutions, DMNH and DFO. Andrews' first field trip with DFO birders happened to be to Barr Lake State Park. On that day in May 1967 he added 40 birds to his life list. With this success he became an avid birder and went on as many birding trips as possible, both with DFO and on his own. He was an active member of DFO and served as a field trip leader, Vice President and President. He also was very active with Colorado Field Ornithologists (CFO), Western Field Ornithologists (WFO), and the National Audubon Society. In addition to leading field trips for them, he performed important duties as member and chairman of the CFO Records Committee and Colorado editor of the WFO journal Western Birds. Andrews edited and contributed many articles to the CFO Journal. He was senior author on two important books: Colorado Birds: a Reference to Their Distribution and Habitat, DMNH, 1992, and Birds of Barr Lake and Surrounding Areas 1888 through 1999, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, 2002. From an early age, Andrews has been a frequent visitor to the Museum. He volunteered in the Zoology Department and led numerous Museum field excursions. The Museum's extensive bird collections provided much information for his wide-ranging research projects and books, and the 1992 Colorado Birds book was published by DMNH. His donation of manuscript and bibliographic materials along with extensive bird records is an important addition to the Museum's wealth of birding archives.

Robert "Bob" Righter was born in 1939 and raised in Bedford Hills, New York. After graduating from high school in 1957, he served three years in the U. S. Marine Corps, then came to Colorado to attend the University of Colorado. In the late 1960s he was part of an early team in charge of planning and initiating Copper Mountain ski area. Sidelined by back problems in the late 1970s, Righter became interested in birds. He joined Denver Field Ornithologists (DFO), became an avid birder and participated in many outings, including a month spent birding around Venezuela. As he gained expertise in the early 1980s, he started leading birding trips in and around Denver. Today, more than twenty years later, Righter continues to lead DFO trips locally, nationally, and to Canada. He has served as treasurer of DFO and was awarded the prestigious Ronald A. Ryder Award for Distinguished Service by Colorado Field Ornithologists. In the early 1980s, Righter began volunteering in the Zoological Department at the Denver Museum of Natural History (DMNH), now the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS), where he worked with the bird collections. In the late 1980s, he partnered with his DFO friend and birding buddy from the Venezuela trip, Bob Andrews, to plan and write a new book to update the 1965 DMNH classic Birds of Colorado by Bailey and Niedrach. In 1992 Righter and Andrews' book "Colorado Birds: a Reference to Their Distribution and Habitat" was published by DMNH. It has been a big seller ever since. Bob Righter continues to serve the birding community by identifying the need for new popular publications and by organizing teams to write and produce them. In 1999, the audio guide "Bird Songs of the Rocky Mountain States and Provinces" by Righter and Keller was published by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. He teamed again with Bob Andrews and others to write "Birds of Barr Lake and Surrounding Areas 1888 through 1999" by Andrews, Righter, Carter, Leukering and Banks, published in 2002 by Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. His latest effort is "Birds of Western Colorado Plateau and Mesa Country" by Righter, Levad, Dexter and Potter, published in 2004 by Grand Mesa Audubon Society.

Robert "Bob" Andrews was born in 1952 and raised in Denver, Colorado. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in environmental biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1979 and 1988, respectively. His thesis was titled "Distributional Ecology of the Gray Catbird and Brown Thrasher in the Platte River Valley." He has worked as a biologist at Barr Lake State Park near Denver, for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Region 6 office in Lakewood, Colorado, and on research projects in Venezuela, Trinidad, and Mexico.

His first teaching job was as a biology teaching assistant at CU-Boulder, where he later worked as biology lab coordinator. Later he taught at Bowie High School in Bowie, Arizona. Today, Andrews continues to pursue his passion for teaching in Africa. Since first visiting Africa in 1992, he has spent all but three years there, occasionally returning to his Denver home. At first he taught environmental science and geography at a senior secondary school in Ruacana, Namibia. Now he is a volunteer lecturer in biology and geography at Central Buganda University in Kasaka, Uganda.

Andrews grew up with an interest in nature and animals. He recalls that on a family trip at age 10 he made his first bird sighting, a Lark Bunting, the state bird of Colorado, on a road in southern Wyoming. He became more interested in birds, observing and identifying them by his house and on family outings. For identifications he used the 1939 National Geographic The Book of Birds and the newly published Birds of Colorado (Denver Museum of Natural History, 1965) borrowed from a neighbor. In early 1967 at age 15 he set out on his first birding trek along Cherry Creek in southeast Denver. It was successful, and soon thereafter he contacted the Denver Museum of Natural History (DMNH, now Denver Museum of Nature & Science) inquiring about bird field work. Dr. Alfred M. Bailey, at that time Director of DMNH, referred him to the Denver Field Ornithologists (DFO), a very active group of birders. This began Andrews' long association with these two institutions, DMNH and DFO.

Andrews' first field trip with DFO birders happened to be to Barr Lake State Park. On that day in May 1967 he added 40 birds to his life list. With this success he became an avid birder and went on as many birding trips as possible, both with DFO and on his own. He was an active member of DFO and served as a field trip leader, Vice President and President. He also was very active with Colorado Field Ornithologists (CFO), Western Field Ornithologists (WFO), and the National Audubon Society. In addition to leading field trips for them, he performed important duties as member and chairman of the CFO Records Committee and Colorado editor of the WFO journal Western Birds. Andrews edited and contributed many articles to the CFO Journal. He was senior author on two important books: Colorado Birds: a Reference to Their Distribution and Habitat, DMNH, 1992, and Birds of Barr Lake and Surrounding Areas 1888 through 1999, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, 2002.

From an early age, Andrews has been a frequent visitor to the Museum. He volunteered in the Zoology Department and led numerous Museum field excursions. The Museum's extensive bird collections provided much information for his wide-ranging research projects and books, and the 1992 Colorado Birds book was published by DMNH. His donation of manuscript and bibliographic materials along with extensive bird records is an important addition to the Museum's wealth of birding archives.

Robert "Bob" Righter was born in 1939 and raised in Bedford Hills, New York. After graduating from high school in 1957, he served three years in the U. S. Marine Corps, then came to Colorado to attend the University of Colorado. In the late 1960s he was part of an early team in charge of planning and initiating Copper Mountain ski area.

Sidelined by back problems in the late 1970s, Righter became interested in birds. He joined Denver Field Ornithologists (DFO), became an avid birder and participated in many outings???including a month spent birding around Venezuela. As he gained expertise in the early 1980s, he started leading birding trips in and around Denver. More than twenty years later Righter continued to lead DFO trips locally, nationally, and to Canada. He served as treasurer of DFO and was awarded the prestigious Ronald A. Ryder Award for Distinguished Service by Colorado Field Ornithologists.

In the early 1980s, Righter began volunteering in the Zoological Department at the Denver Museum of Natural History (DMNH), now the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS), where he worked with the bird collections. In the late 1980s, he partnered with his DFO friend and birding buddy from the Venezuela trip, Bob Andrews, to plan and write a new book to update the 1965 DMNH classic Birds of Colorado by Bailey and Niedrach. In 1992 Righter and Andrews' book Colorado Birds: a Reference to Their Distribution and Habitat was published by DMNH. It has been a big seller ever since.

Bob Righter continued to serve the birding community by identifying the need for new popular publications and by organizing teams to write and produce them. In 1999, the audio guide Bird Songs of the Rocky Mountain States and Provinces by Righter and Keller was published by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. He teamed again with Bob Andrews and others to write Birds of Barr Lake and Surrounding Areas 1888 through 1999 by Andrews, Righter, Carter, Leukering and Banks, published in 2002 by Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. His latest effort is Birds of Western Colorado Plateau and Mesa Country by Righter, Levad, Dexter and Potter, published in 2004 by Grand Mesa Audubon Society.