About Giff...

A one-sentence summary of my hobbies might go along the lines of "always trying to learn more and see more..." I got into nature study through my early twin loves of fishing and photography, starting in Maryland the early 1970s. Here are a couple of shots from those years:

                               
 Near the beginning!                  Largemouth Bass, 8 lbs.                A nice Brown Trout, 22 1/2 ins
         (1975)                                         (1982)                                                (1984)

Along the way I joined the US Navy and then went through Flight School.

             
     USNA, 1977          My first trainer, the venerable T-28, 1982               Learning to fly the P-3, 1983

I got out in 1988 and have been flying for Delta Air lines ever since..

  
      US Navy P-3, I flew these for 3 years                                What I fly now, the 737-800

Fishing gradually gave way to birding, and has expanded now to an interest in just about any living creatures, especially insects. The sheer amount of beauty and variation in nature continues to astound and fascinate me, and I look forward to many more years of enjoying the amazing diversity all around us...

Here are some shots from a couple of birding trips:

                                                              
              Rabun Bald, GA, with Jon Dunn                                            Khao Yai, Thailand, with            
                               Jan 1995                                                           Kamol Komolphalin Sep 1996        

                                                  
        Gambell. AK, June 2000. L-R Jim Flynn, Earl Horn,                           Taping nocturnal migrants  
  Bob+Deb Zaremba, Lex Glover, Adam Byrne, Pierre Howard, me           with Bill Evans, Sep 2002

          
         TX Big Day team L-R Adam Byrne, Ron Weeks (team leader), me, Bob Kemp, Dwight Peake
                  Apr 24, 2001, 258 species in one day, still the ABA North American Big Day record.
      (As of Apr 2008, I have learned that this record has been broken, but I haven't seen any details yet.)

And here are some more recent shots from the field of other natural pursuits...

                       
Shooting Purple Bluet female     With a chameleon     Comparing tiger beetle shots    Shooting Septima's Clubtail
    near Tallahassee, 2005           Tanzania 2005         with Mike Thomas (L) and                   in AL, 2007
                                                                                   Steve Krotzer (R) 2007

In addition to trying to keep up with all these web pages, I have written a few books about birds and nature.

Signed copies of any of these books can be purchased from me (except the ACOGB) by emailing me at giffbeaton@mindspring.com

	My first book was Birding Georgia, a guide to the best birding sites in Georgia, published in 2000. Click here to go to the book's web site, which has all the latest updates for the locations covered in the book. ($22.95)
	The next project was the fifth edition of the Annotated Checklist of Georgia Birds, or "ACOGB." It came out in 2003. I wrote several sections of the text, with the rest coming from Paul Sykes and John Parrish, and then did most of the editing. It is available from GOS, and can be ordered by clicking on the image to go to the GOS website.
	Birds of Kennesaw Mountain was next, coming out in 2004. It's an annotated checklist covering twelve year's worth of almost daily migration walks at Kennesaw Mountain. This book would not have been possible without all the many folks who kept meticulous notes of the daily results. Click on the cover at left to go to an updates page that has data on significant new findings since the book was published, usually updated at the end of each season (June and November). ($20.00, all goes to GOS)
	The next project was Birds of Georgia by Lone Star Press. I was fortunate enough to work again with John Parrish on this one, and he did most of the work! It came out in 2006. ($21.95)
	The most recent is the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Georgia and the Southeast, which came out in 2007. As the name suggests, it is a field guide to the odonates of the southeast. You can click on the image of the cover to go to a preview page with ordering information from the publisher, UGA Press.($24.95)

JUST A COUPLE OF LINKS:

	Bob Cammarata and I have known each other for over 30 years. We used to fish together constantly (the fish photos at the top of this page were taken by him) and now we both have gravitated to photography. His website has some amazing shots, he is an amazing photographer, as well as award-winning. You can check it out here.
	Greg Lasley and I also started out doing something else, birding. He has been at the photography gig longer than I have, and is also a phenomenal photographer (award-winning too I might add). Check his website here.