Cin-Ty Lee

Joined: Jul 29, 2017 Last Active: Mar 28, 2024 iNaturalist

I am a professor of geology at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where I teach geology and ornithology. Like many geologists, I'm a birder. I have been birding for almost all my life. I have become an avid fan of iNaturalist as it rekindled my childhood interests in insects and plants by making it easier to learn and identify. I spend most of my time documenting local biodiversity in Houston, TX. During migration season, I also record the night skies with a microphone, listening to the birds flying overhead.

I have published numerous identification articles on dowitchers, pewees, pipits, and loons. Together with my long-time friend and collaborator, Andrew Birch, we have recently embarked on a series of advanced identification field guides, published by Princeton University Press. Our first one, which will ship to the stores, will be out in April 2023 and it is focused on the field identification of Empidonax flycatchers and pewees.

You can learn more about our work here
Twitter (@CintyLeeEarth)

Webpage (cintylee.org)
some of the publications below can be downloaded from this webpage.

BOOKS ON BIRDS
Lee, C-T., Birch, A., 2023, Field Guide to the Flycatchers of North America: Empidonax and Pewees, Princeton University Press, 192 pages, ISBN 9780691240626

Lee, C-T, 1995, "Birdwatching in Riverside, California", San Bernardino County Museum Association, Redlands, volume 42, 218 pp., 117 figures.

FLYCATCHER IDENTIFACTION
Lee, C-T., Birch, A., 2023, Field Guide to the Flycatchers of North America: Empidonax and Pewees, Princeton University Press, 192 pages, ISBN 9780691240626

Lee, C.-T., Birch, A. 2022, Field Identification of Tropical and Couch’s Kingbirds, Texas Birds Annual 18: 7-19.

Lee, C-T, Birch, A, Eubanks, T., 2008, Advances in the field identification of Western and Eastern Wood-Pewees, Birding 40: 34-40.

ACOUSTIC MONITORING OF BIRDS
Lee, C.-T., Aquila, G., Birch, A., 2021, Acoustic survey of nocturnal bird migration at Rice University in Houston, TX during Fall 2020, Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society 54:37-57.

SHOREBIRDS
Lee, C-T and Birch, A, 2006, Advances in the field Identification of North American dowitchers, Birding 38:34-43.

Lee, C-T A, Wen, Y-Y, 2010, Breeding-plumaged Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea in Taiwan during the northern winter, Birding Asia Bulletin of the Oriental Bird Club 13:79.

Lee, C-T, 2011, Answers to the January Photo Quiz, Hard Shorebirds, Birding 43:54-57.

PIPITS
Lee, C-T and Birch, A, 2002, Notes on the distribution, vagrancy, and field identification of American Pipit and “Siberian Pipit”, North American Birds 56:388-398.

ORIOLES
Lee, C-T and Birch, A. 2001, Wing covert pattern as a diagnostic feature in identifying immature and female Bullock’s and Baltimore Orioles: reply to A. Jaramillo, “Wing covert pattern as an aid to identifying female and immature Bullock’s and Baltimore Orioles-Another look”, Birding, 33: 64-68.

Lee, C-T and Birch A, 1998, Field identification of female and immature Bullock's and Baltimore Orioles, Birding 30: 282-295.

LOONS
Birch, A and Lee, C-T, 1995, Identification of the Pacific Diver - a potential vagrant to Europe, Birding World 8:458-466.

Birch, A. and Lee, C-T, 1997, Field identification of Arctic and Pacific Loons, Birding 29: 106-115.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS IN NATURAL HISTORY
Lee, C.-T., Wen, Y.-Y., 2009, The natural history of the Galapagos Islands, Natura-Aviflora Press, 156 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0-9842192-0-9.

Lee, C-T and Shany, N 1998, Birding Taiwan, Birding 30:492-503.

Lee, C-T and Birch A, 1998, Answers to the June photo quiz, Birding 30: 296-298.

Lee, C-T, 1996, Birding Taiwan: 1996 report. In Foreign Field Note Series, American Birding Association.

Lee, C-T, 1994, A teenaged birder's syndrome, A Bird's Eye-view 2:6.

Lee, C-T, 1994, More records of breeding Barn Swallows in Riverside, California, Western Birds 26:155-156.

Lee, C-T, 1994, Birding Taiwan: Trip report from summer 1994. In Foreign Field Note Series, American Birding Association

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