Lydia C. Thompson

Whether Lydia is talking about birds, writing about birds, or drawing birds, her major focus is to intertwine her bird studies and art.  After college, she worked in advertising for seven years as a designer for retail advertising.   While working, she found an etching studio and started learning more about her chosen medium.  Realizing that advertising was not her calling, she took some time to travel and learn about birds and drawing.  That first year, she traveled over 38,000 miles and identified 560 species of birds.  She settled in the Golden Isles of Coastal Georgia.  She set up shop as a printmaker for etching artists. She worked with over ten professional artists.  She has earned her title of “Master Printer.”  But art trends come and go. When etchings fell out of fashion, she had to discover another way to make a living.

 

Preservation and Conservation of bird habitats are her primary concerns. She began to combine her experience of birding with her art and writing. Now she is a popular columnist for the Jekyll Golden Islander newspaper and Golden Isles Magazine. She is emphasizing the shorebirds in the area. In 2011, she started the outreach program Operation Plover Patrol. Always searching for ways to connect people to shorebirds, she combined her art and writing to create her first children’s book. In 2016, the Georgia Ornithological Society awarded her the Earle R Greene award for her conservation work. She is taking her love of birds and her talent for printmaking and combining them into a way of life.

    Join her for a Thursday Morning Bird Ramble From October through May on Jekyll Island. $45 a person Email for information and reservation.