CHANDLER ROBBINS: RIP
Sadly, the renowned ornithologist, author, educator, and
public servant, Chandler S. Robbins, passed away on 20 March. Chan, as
he was known to everyone, was 98 years old.
He graduated from Harvard with a degree in physics and began
teaching math and science in Vermont. Robbins joined the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service in 1945 as a junior biologist at Patuxent Research
Refuge in Maryland, where he engaged in early research on the effects of
DDT and had his papers edited by his USFWS colleague, Rachel Carson.
Also, Chan was the bander who first banded the Laysan Albatross named
Wisdom in 1956. He re-banded her, the world's oldest known banded bird,
in 2002. (See last month's E-bulletin for an update on Wisdom: http://tinyurl.com/E-bMar17 )
For many birders in the 1960s, their introduction to birding and to Robbins was through his role as lead author of A Guide to Field Identification: Birds of North America.
(See Book Notes above.) In 1966, this book - simply called "the Golden
Guide" by many - was a breakthrough field guide with profound features.
It covered all of the continental U.S. and Canada; all illustrations
were in color; birds were presented in a variety of postures and often
in some habitat; text and images were on facing pages; continental range
maps accompanied the text; measurements were of live birds, and those
puzzling sonograms were first introduced to an eager popular audience.
In the same year that the Golden Guide appeared, Chan
launched one of the most important citizen science tools that we have
today, the North American Breeding Bird Survey. The creation of the BBS
was not universally and instantly appreciated, however. He actually
received a disciplinary letter in his work file for its premature
launch!
In 1981, he co-authored the memorable paper familiar to an
entire generation of ecologists: "Effects of forest fragmentation on
avifauna of the eastern deciduous forest." This article led to a
national effort to identify and prioritize large, still-unbroken tracts
of forest while there was still time. In 2012, Chan declared that this
was the work of which he was most proud.
After his 60 years of full-time work as an avian biologist at
the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (he didn't retire until
2005), Chan became "Scientist Emeritus" at Patuxent where he actually
continued to work. One could often find him at his office at the far end
of the library, at the Gabrielson building, working on the next paper,
the next study, always keeping connected, and always making a
difference. Chan Robbins was at the same time a giant in the field of
bird study and also a gracious, quietly creative, and unassuming
colleague. The world has lost another of The Great Ones.
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