March Program and Meeting

Chasing America’s Raptors – presented by Scott Harris – birder, photographer, and author.

Scott Harris spent 17 months, chasing 53 Raptors across 34 states—his version of a Raptor Big Year. RaptorQuest is about his adventures, misadventures, successes and failures. From -36 degree days, to ones over 100 degrees, to just getting on the bird just in time, to the frustrations of missing one by minutes. It’s about the birds—of course—but it’s also about the people he met, the things he learned and why he’s already working on his next adventure.

Scott Harris and his wife Randi retired to South Carolina in March of 2020-soemthing Scott will tell you was one of the best decisions they have made in their 44 years of marriage. It was also when he first started birding – a hobby he never imagined himself participating in, but now can’t imagine living without. They sold their long-time home and business, Mustang Marketing, a marketing/branding company they had owned for 35 years. They are blessed that both their children and their grandson are also in South Carolina.

While in California, Scott had a syndicated newspaper column and two weekly radio shows. He and his son Justin also hosted a Los Angeles Dodgers weekly live radio show. Scott sat on dozens of boards over the years, including Boys & Girls Club, United Way, The Sheriff’s Foundation, Pepperdine University, Moorpark College and California State University Northridge.

In the month before leaving Ventura County, Scott was honored as Man of the Year, with his company having won Business of the Year two years previously. His interests and hobbies include the largest collection of John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley in the world, playing harmonica in a blues band for five years and he has written almost fifty books in the past six years – though the one he’ll be discussing today is his first entrée into the world of birding and birds. That book, RaptorQuest: Chasing America’s Raptors, is the story of his year-long adventure tracking down every species of Raptor in the Lower 48 states. And today, we’ll learn about his adventures, misadventures, successes and failures.

Presentation via Zoom but broadcast in person at GPNC. The program will also be available on YouTube the next day