Tour Leader

Rick Wright

Book A Tour
Place holder alt Rick Wright
Rick Wright is a widely published author and sought-after lecturer and field trip leader. A native of southeast Nebraska, Rick studied French, German, Philosophy, and Life Sciences at the University of Nebraska before making a detour to Harvard Law School. He took the Ph.D. in German Languages and Literatures at Princeton University in 1990, then spent a dozen years as an academic, holding successive appointments as Assistant Professor of German at the University of Illinois, Reader in Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, and Associate Professor of Medieval Studies at Fordham University. His numerous scholarly publications include two books on the Latin animal literature of the later Middle Ages. Among Rick's recent books are the second editions of his ABA Field Guide to Birds of New Jersey and ABA Field Guide to Birds of Arizona; his Peterson Reference Guide to American Sparrows is the standard work on the family Passerellidae. He is also the co-author, with Sanford Sorkin, of Watching Birds in Montclair and Watching Birds in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Especially interested in the history and culture of birding, he is hard at work on a study of hummingbird collecting in France from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. In his spare time, he teaches Latin courses online for the Paideia Institute. Rick lives with his wife, Alison Beringer, and their black lab, Quetzal, in Durham, North Carolina.

Upcoming Events:

Fyke Nature Club, Nomadic Birds and Their Stories, A Zoom Lecture, January 23, 2026, 8:00 pm EST.