Able, Kenneth P(aul)

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ABLE, Kenneth P(aul)

PERSONAL:

Male. Education: University of Louisville, B.S., M.S.; University of Georgia, Ph.D., 1971.

ADDRESSES:

Office—State University of New York, University at Albany, Biology 112, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12222-0001. E-mail—kpa@cnsunix.albany.edu.

CAREER:

Biologist. State University of New York at Albany, professor of biological sciences, 1971—.

MEMBER:

American Society of Naturalists.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fellow, American Ornithologists' Union, 1981; corresponding fellow, Deutsche Ornithologen-Gesselschaft, 1988; fellow, Animal Behavior Society, 1993; William Brewster Memorial Award, American Ornithologists' Union, 1996; Excellence in Research award, State University of New York at Albany, 1997.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Gatherings of Angels: Migrating Birds and Their Ecology, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 1999.

Contributor of articles to scholarly publications, including Journal of Comparative Physiology, Nature, and Avian Biology. Series editor of "Monographs in Field Ornithology," for the American Birding Association.

SIDELIGHTS:

Biologist Kenneth P. Able is an award-winning educator who specializes in ornithology, especially the directional capabilities of birds in flight. The recipient of numerous National Science Foundation grants as well as the prestigious William Brewster Memorial Award, Able has penned dozens of articles and papers on his research. He is also the series editor for the American Birding Association's "Monographs in Field Ornithology." In 1999 he edited Gatherings of Angels: Migrating Birds and Their Ecology.

Gatherings of Angels looks at the homing and directional methods birds use in their migratory patterns. Able, acting as editor, "presents an integrated treatment of the biology of bird migration by fully exploiting a cast of the world's most knowledgeable migration researchers," observed Trevor E. Pitcher in American Scientist. Pitcher went on to praise the collection for providing "one of the best general reviews of the majority of scientific and conservation issues surrounding bird migration." The book discusses stopover points for migratory birds and the need for ecological measures to preserve these stops. Pitcher concluded that Gatherings of Angels "is first rate." This sentiment was also shared by a reviewer for Northeastern Naturalist, who called Gatherings of Angels a "fine series of essays" that gives "insights into the biology, the beauty, and the excitement of avian migration."