Kevin T. Karlson has been a wildlife photographer for 28 years and active as a birder for 30 years. He has traveled from the wilds of the Alaskan Arctic to the rainforests of South America to photograph birds.

As a noted wildlife photographer in North America, his work is widely published in numerous birding magazines and journals, as well as books, field guides, calendars and electronic media.

Kevin recently completed an innovative book called “The Shorebird Guide”  with co-authors Michael O’Brien and Richard Crossley, released by Houghton Mifflin Co. in April 2006. This comprehensive field guide presents a different approach to field identification based initially upon various nonchangeable impressions before applying details of plumage and feather patterns. It contains 894 photos, many showing comparisons of similar species in real life settings.  He is currently working with co-author Dale Rosselet on a new book titled Birding by Impression for Houghton Mifflin Company which carries the concept of The Shorebird Guide to other bird families. 

Kevin contributed chapters to Good Birders Don't Wear White (Houghton Mifflin, 2007) as well as to Fifty Places To Go Birding Before You Die by Chris Santella (Stewart, Tabrori & Chang, 2007).

Kevin was a long time member of the NJ Bird Records Committee and currently sits on the advisory board of Wild Bird Magazine.  He writes the Birder’s ID column and regularly contributes feature articles to this and other magazines on birds, from advice on good locations to see and photograph them to insights on natural history and field identification. He is a former photo editor of North American Birds, an ornithological journal of the American Birding Association.

He spent the summers of 1992-95 as a wildlife biologist in the Alaskan Arctic working for Troy Ecological Research Associates of Anchorage.  In this capacity Kevin conducted research and census studies of birds that use this fragile habitat. His photo collection from this region is one of the best in the world. In 1999, Tidemark Press published Kevin’s own calendar titled “Birds of the Arctic Tundra”, which was endorsed by the American Birding Association.

Other notable credits include:  "The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Guide to Birds of North America” CD-ROM as head ornithologist, photo researcher and submitter of almost 800 photos. Kevin also provided 170 photos for the “North American Bird Reference Book” CD-ROM, produced by Lanius Software in 1999.

Kevin is a regular keynote speaker, workshop presenter and field trip leader at birding festivals and symposiums around the country.  Annual venues where Kevin speaks or leads field trips include Galveston's Featherfest, Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival, Florida's Space Coast Birding Festival and New Jersey Audubon Society's Fall Weekend and The Bird Show.  For those interested in photographic instruction, Kevin is an annual presenter at Florida's Birding and FotoFest in St. Augustine.  Additional venues can be found on his speaking engagements page.   

Kevin resides with his wife, Dale, in Cape May, NJ.