Re, "We cannot understand today's birds--their populations,
Greetings,
Re, "We cannot understand today's birds--their populations, foods, behaviors, timings of migration and nesting, etc.--without finding out
everything we can about them yesterday."
I don't know how "out of norm" my thinking is, but other than nostalgia, I don't know why historical information rates high on a "need to know" scale. If the planet froze in time 100 years ago, there was no human population growth, and all natural lands that existed 100 years ago were here today, well then hey, that's a whole different story and yes, that would be crucial information.
But, ... that's not the way it is. It is an entirely different state of Ohio and an entirely different planet. We are in a mass extinction crisis. The destruction of habitats over the last 100 years is so severe, it is hard to describe without understating the severity of it.
My opinion is comparisons should be shorter ranged, maybe 10-15 years at most. I was in Ohio for a week last week for a family reunion and taking in some birding, and granted, Ohio has not seen the destruction of habitats like Florida or Asia or South America has, but still, so many Ohio birds migrate through or winter in a virtual nuclear waste zone such as Florida and many areas of Central America and South America that Ohio birds are being affected.
Ornithologists might feel that comparing today to decades ago (bird behavior, food habits, nesting, etc.) is important, but at the "warp factor 9" speed of destruction going on worldwide, that is just "busy work" producing little valuable information for many species, IMO, since the ecosystems and habitats are degrading so fast.
You are comparing "apples to poisoned apples" if you try to understand today's birds based on info from 100 years ago.
Bob Stalnaker
Longwood, FL
On Saturday, July 26, 2014 11:39 AM, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
As many of you know, I have been digging around in Ohio ornithological
history. I am especially puzzled by one topic, and I wonder if any
readers can cast some light.
We cannot understand today's birds--their populations, foods,
behaviors, timings of migration and nesting, etc.--without finding out
everything we can about them yesterday. For some reason, three of the
state's respected ornithologists chose 1903 as a time to describe Ohio's
avifauna. In that year Lynds Jones of Oberlin published his "The Birds
of Ohio," and Wm. Dawson of Columbus his own "The Birds of Ohio." Both
are in libraries and used-book stores, and texts are on the internet.
A third prominent ornithologist, Oliver Davie of Columbus, had by
that time published seven books between 1884 and 1902, four of them
devoted to birds, concentrating on eggs. By some strange coincidence it
was also in 1903 that he announced he had completed a work, "Life
Histories of the Birds of Ohio: A State Textbook," of some 700 pages,
with 100 colored plates. It was offered by Fred Herr, a prominent
Columbus publisher.
I can't find a copy of it. Nothing in the Ohio Historical Society,
the OSU Museum, or the state libraries. There are some rather unreliable
published mentions and offhand reviews of this seemingly significant
work, but I have the feeling it was never finally published. Surely
there was a text, a draft with illustrations, but it seems lost. I'm
thinking there are clued-in folks who read this list who may have
information about a draft copy or at least a manuscript, or maybe only a
review with information, about this work, or even about where there may
be a trove of Davie's manuscripts. Please get in touch if you do.
Thanks,
Bill Whan
Columbus
______________________________________________________________________
Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]
______________________________________________________________________
Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]
|
