Jim Paruk, Ph.D.

Loon Program Director

Phone: (207) 839-7600 ext. 249/Fax: (207) 839-7655
jim.paruk@briloon.org

Biography:

Jim’s passion for loons began when he was a college student camping on Isle Royale National Park in August; while there, he observed loons chasing one another and vocalizing extensively. Although it would take him several years and many interesting twists, he eventually found a place to conduct loon research. After that summer camping excursion, he completed his bachelor’s degree in biology (1984) at Lake Superior State University in Michigan. While earning his master’s degree in biology at Northern Illinois University, he focused his research on wintering Bald Eagles along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers and Red-winged Blackbird reproductive success along roadsides. Following his Master’s he travelled alone for six months, driving 24,000 miles from his home in Michigan, pass the Arctic Circle in Alaska, down to the Baja peninsula, then to New England, down the eastern seaboard to the Florida Everglades, documenting his route with more than 5,000 photographs. Following this personal sojourn, he worked as a naturalist for Yosemite Institute, leading seminars on California Natural History (bird and flower identification, winter ecology) and chaperoning elementary and high school children on camping trips (1988-1992). He has worked two years as a college field instructor for the University of California extension, teaching field courses in tropical ecology (Belize, Guatemala) and the mountains of California. In the summer of 1993, he began studying loon behavioral biology in Michigan, at Seney National Wildlife Refuge. He earned his doctorate in biology at Idaho State University (1999), investigating Common Loon parental roles and their level of cooperation and compensation.

After receiving his doctorate, Jim accepted a professorship at Feather River College in northern California, where he taught courses in anatomy, biology, botany, ecology, ornithology, and zoology, while also assisting in a Common Loon migration study in Nevada and a Common Loon winter ecology study in Morro Bay, California. He served as vice president of the North American Loon Fund for two years. In 2004, he accepted a professorship at Northland College, a small, private liberal arts college in northern Wisconsin where he taught courses in animal behavior, animal physiology, ecology, ornithology, birds of Mexico and birds of Hawaii. He directed research in Voyageur’s National Park, Minnesota, investigating fluctuating water levels on Common Loon reproductive success (2004-2006). He served as a board member for LoonWatch, chairing the research committee for five years. He helped co-write, with David Evers, the Common Loon species account for the Birds of North America. He also initiated a long-term winter ecological study of Northern Shrikes (2004-2009).

In January 2010, Jim joined BRI as director of the loon program, where he can further explore his passion for loon research; he hopes to study coastal movements of wintering loons along the eastern seaboard, winter ecology of loons in the Gulf of Mexico, and breeding biology of Yellow-billed Loons on the north slope of Alaska. He will oversee all BRI loon research in Maine and New York.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Peer-Reviewed Publications(selected):