Dana Thomas
An interest in birds began in elementary school for PebbleCreek (PC) year-round resident, Dana Thomas. He was camping in a tent with his brother, Danny, also a PC resident, in their backyard in Fairbanks, Alaska, one summer when a bird’s continuous singing made it difficult to sleep. Dana later determined that bird was a white-crowned sparrow—a bird species that migrates to the Goodyear area during the nonbreeding season.
Because of his interest in nature, Dana earned his baccalaureate degree in Biology. As an undergraduate, he and ornithology classmates made two spring field trips to the Copper River Delta near Cordova, Alaska, to witness the tens of thousands of waterfowl and shorebirds migrating to their breeding grounds. During his 35-year career as a statistics professor and administrator at the University of Alaska, Thomas’ birding was opportunistic and occasional. After retiring and building a home in PC in 2014, his passion for birding grew quickly, especially after he decided to photograph birds. As an active member of the PC Hiking Club, he often points out birds along the trail.
Over the past two years, Thomas has photographed birds in Australia, Puerto Rico, Belize, Bhutan, India, Colombia, and many U.S. areas.
Thomas would like to get to know other PC residents interested in birding and, if there is sufficient interest, to form a PC Birding Club. He can be contacted at dlthomas@alaska.edu or phoned (his number is listed in the directory). If you would like to see more of Thomas’ bird photos and learn about birding locally, nationally, and internationally, he is presenting “Birding: Near and Far” at the Jan. 12, 2026, Monday LifeLong Learning lecture.