In the Dispatch this morning appeared the following obituary:
"Nelson P. Thomson, 'Tom,' born January 23, 1924. Passed away December
5t, 2015. Graduate of North High School, 1942. Navigator of U.S. Navy
WWII. Graduate of OSU School of Journalism in 1949. Was the Founder of
the Short North Gazette. Author of Birding in Ohio. Past feature writer
and nature columnist for the Columbus CJ. Passions were writing,
birding, poetry, photography, nature, and family. He is preceded in
death by former wife and best friend Jeanne and brother David. Survived
by Janet (Gary) Campbell, Jeff (Kim) Thomson, James Thomson; and many
grandchildren and great grandchildren. Thank you to Mt. Carmel West
Hospital and grand-daughter Carrie Bailey for the tremendous amount of
support and care. A private memorial will be held for the family. Please
send memorial contributions donations to Mt. Carmel Hospice or the
Audubon Society. Arrangements entrusted to Edwards Funeral Service, 1166
Parsons Ave., Columbus OH 43206."
        Ohio birders will remember, or at least have heard of, his two books
entitled "Birding in Ohio" One edition came in 1983 and the other in
1994, and both are out of print but widely available in used-book
stores. Both provide checklists of the state's birds, but the earlier
edition is more valuable by virtue of far more checklist detail. The
later edition improves on a much larger section devoted to birding
locations in the state. Both met with some grumbling from reviewers, but
no one has published anything to replace them.
        Tom also conducted America's earliest "bird alert" service, based on
telephone recordings, started back in the '60s, and continued for many
years thereafter. If he felt announcements were not numerous enough,
he'd call some of us birders for news for more. He shared personal
information and treated some of his famous birding acquaintances on his
website   http://www.sailorthomson.com/index.html  .  Some samples of
his Short North Gazette material, often about birds, are at
http://www.shortnorth.com/LegendaryTales.html  .
He was working on a book about his effort to see all the birds of the
nation in one year back in the '70s, also conducted that same year, as
it happened, by a young fellow named Kenn Kaufmann who he met along the
way; last I heard he was deciding between a straighforward tale of his
adventures versus an imaginary version, but the book was not finished,
and we have not heard much from him over the past fifteen years. Tom was
a fine birder and a sweet and complicated man, who never ceased efforts
to encourage birders to the cause.
Bill Whan
Columbus

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