Welcome! My name is David Allen and this page will give you a bit of background about me.
The name “Dr. Dude” came about when I was teaching in a graduate environmental education program and I created a second Geocaching account to use with my students. Coincidentally, I had recently watched The Big Lebowski, so it all just seemed to coalesce into Dr. Dude. To quote Jeff Bridges, “The Dude abides.” I have been a middle school and high school science teacher, I have worked in large-scale science assessment, and was an assistant professor of education and environmental education. I am currently a university administrator working in institutional effectiveness and accreditation.
I have always had a fondness for the outdoors, spending a lot of time with my father hunting and fishing, and in the Boy Scouts. My father’s doctoral research was on waterfowl so I guess spending a lot of time with him was the beginning of my passion for wildlife, especially waterfowl and other birds.
My wife (a better birder than I am) and I enjoy nature together, so she is my partner in this venture. I have always enjoyed photography, although on an Oklahoma teacher’s budget, my results were not great. Only recently have I been able to acquire mid-range digital single-lens reflex technology, and even more recently, a mirrorless camera (the eye-tracking autofocus is, as all the blogs and videos I viewed doing my research state, a game changer). I also love data, and as a quantitative researcher, I am tracking almost everything. I also want empirical evidence (photos) of the birds I claim to have seen. Hopefully my identifications are accurate. If you see one that is misidentified, please let me know and provide an accurate identification. I am always happy to improve via the peer-review process.
Thanks for visiting this site and I hope you enjoy.