The Author

In recent years, Mathew Tekulsky has been busy writing fiction, resulting in his first published novel The Martin Luther King Mitzvah (Fitzroy Books, 2018). He has also written two other novels and a collection of more than twenty short stories.

Mathew has dedicated himself for more than thirty years to photographing birds in his gardens in the Brentwood Hills of Los Angeles, California; in Adamant, Vermont; and in various places around the world. This work culminated in the publication of his book Backyard Bird Photography: How to Attract Birds to Your Home and Create Beautiful Photographs (Skyhorse Publishing, 2014). From January 13 through March 8, 2015, the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History in Jamestown, New York mounted an exhibition of thirty of the bird photographs that are featured in the book. This exhibition, entitled “The Art of Backyard Bird Photography,” has also been shown at Mass Audubon’s Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary from April through May, 2016 and at the Santa Monica Mountains Visitor Center in July 2016.

Mathew is the author of The Art of Hummingbird Gardening and The Art of Butterfly Gardening (both Skyhorse Publishing, 2015). He is also the author of “The Birdman of Bel Air,” a column at NationalGeographic.com featuring essays about his birding experiences. His bird photographs have been published in field guides such as the National Geographic Field Guide to Birds: California and the Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America.

Mathew’s photograph of a Willow Flycatcher was featured in the national museum tour of the exhibition entitled “Endangered Species: Flora and Fauna in Peril” that included the Wildling Art Museum (June 22-September 14, 2008) and the U.S. Department of the Interior Museum (November 1, 2008-February 28, 2009). His photograph of an Allen’s Hummingbird chick and egg in a nest was displayed in the Harvard Museum of Natural History exhibit entitled “Eggs and Nests” in 2007; an exhibition of twelve of his bird photographs was mounted at the San Francisco Airport Museums from February-April, 2009; and his photograph of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird was exhibited at the Festival de L’Oiseau et de la Nature in Le Crotoy, France from April 9-17, 2016. His iconic photograph of Tunnel View in Yosemite National Park was turned into a seven by seven-foot poster by the Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau, and his landscape photographs have been featured in the Yosemite Sierra Visitors Guide on numerous occasions.

photo credit: David Hume Kennerly