James W. Wiley, 1943–2018 : In memoriam

Abstract

The authors of the article point out that James W. Wiley' s most outstanding achievements over his long career were: (1) his success in promoting effective recovery of the severely endangered Puerto Rican Parrot; (2) his highly informative studies in collaboration with Will Post on the Yellow-shouldered Blackbird under stress from the Shiny Cowbird; (3) his ground-breaking studies of various raptor species of the West Indies; (4) his many studies of various columbid species of the West Indies; (5) his exhaustive and incredibly useful annotated bibliography of references pertaining to birds of the West Indies, published by the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology in 2000—a publication covering more than 11,600 references; (6) his close collaboration with ornithologists of Cuba (including AK) in studies of many of its endemic avian species; (7) his detailed studies of the parrots of the Cayman Islands; (8) his mentoring of numerous young West Indian ornithologists, especially in Cuba, but also through his leadership of Cooperative Wildlife Units in Louisiana and Maryland; (9) his collaborations with other ornithologists (including HR) in producing important field guides to birds of the West Indies (Birds of the West Indies, Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and The Birds of Hispaniola); and (10) his role as an editor of ornithological publications for the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology in Los Angeles and for the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds (SCSCB).