Edward S. (Ned) Brinkley is the editor of North American Birds, the American Birding Association's quarterly journal of ornithological record. A native of Norfolk, Virginia, Ned has birded since age six, his interest sparked by the southern warblers of the Great Dismal Swamp and, later, the seabirds of the Gulf Stream off North Carolina. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Film from Cornell University and was formerly a professor of literature and film at the University of Virginia. Ned currently co-owns a birders' bed-and-breakfast in Cape Charles, Virginia, and guides birding tours to the Caribbean and Central America for Field Guides, Inc.