It's CBC season, and time to remember Frank Chapman for his contribution to modern birding and citizen science. It was in 1900, we all know, when he decided that the wasteful practice of a Christmas Day bird shoot should be replaced with a more benign activity, that of simply identifying and counting birds. What started as a pleasant winter activity has become one of our most wide-spread and effective ecological data collection systems.
I'm sure Frank would be amazed (as am I) at the number and skill of today's birders, the optical and other gear we take mostly for granted, and the data and communication systems like eBird that facilitate not only finding birds, but understanding them.
My Dad knew Frank Chapman briefly in the 1930's at the American Museum of Natural History, where Chapman was Curator of Ornithology and my Dad was researching. He had a few of Chapman's books, which I supplemented and I now have around 14 of his 19 major bird works. One that is most relevant this time of year is his simple guide "Our Winter Birds - How to Know and How to Attract Them" (D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1919. Illustrations by Ernest Thompson Seton and Edmund J. Sawyer)
End Papers from Our Winter Birds (1919)
One bird that caught my eye in these illustrations was the Northern Shrike, a few of which are regularly found in winter in the southern New York/New England area. On our CBC December 19 (Woodbury-Roxbury, CT) we located a first winter Northern Shrike first found by Russ Naylor.
First Winter Northern Shrike, Southbury, CT 12/19/15
Here's a bit of what Frank Chapman had to say about this bird:
I'm sure Frank would be amazed (as am I) at the number and skill of today's birders, the optical and other gear we take mostly for granted, and the data and communication systems like eBird that facilitate not only finding birds, but understanding them.
My Dad knew Frank Chapman briefly in the 1930's at the American Museum of Natural History, where Chapman was Curator of Ornithology and my Dad was researching. He had a few of Chapman's books, which I supplemented and I now have around 14 of his 19 major bird works. One that is most relevant this time of year is his simple guide "Our Winter Birds - How to Know and How to Attract Them" (D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1919. Illustrations by Ernest Thompson Seton and Edmund J. Sawyer)
End Papers from Our Winter Birds (1919)
First Winter Northern Shrike, Southbury, CT 12/19/15
Here's a bit of what Frank Chapman had to say about this bird:
"Here is a bird which was born in the group of...Perching Birds; who is a relative of the gentle Red-eyed Vireo, but who shows such astonishingly bloodthirsty habits that he is commonly known as the Butcher-bird. More persistent than a Hawk who, failing in its swoop on its intended prey, will let it escape, the Shrike hangs on the trail of its victim, making every dodge and turn, following closely through bushes and out again, until at last the capture is made and his sharply hooked bill does its fatal work. Then he discovers that after all he is a Sparrow! In place of the strong, large feet with their long, curved talons, he has only the perching feet of his relatives. So, gathering the captured Redpoll, Siskin or Junco in his feet (which are at least powerful enough for that), he seeks some favorable bush or tree where, with much tugging and fitting, the bird is stuck upon a thorn or hung from a close-fork branch. Then the well-named Butcher-bird can help himself at his leisure."My favorite Chapman book is "The Warblers of North America" and I'll be looking for a warbler theme that can draw on his expertise for a future Blog post. Meanwhile, remember the father of Christmas Bird Counts when you are out freezing your toes, contributing to bird science, and, hopefully, finding rarities.
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