21 March 2017
The world of birding and bird conservation lost one of its giants last night,
with the passing of Chan Robbins. Many of you have participated in Breeding
Bird Surveys, and that is an important part of Chan's legacy. For many of you,
myself included, his field guide was the first one you owned and helped get you
started on your birding endeavors. Many of you keep up with the life of wisdom,
the Laysan Albatross Chan banded in 1956, and who continues to produce chicks
to this day. The list of his accomplishments is lengthy. A friend and colleague
put together an obituary for the ornithological community, which I share with
you below. I knew Chan personally, and he was a very humble, cheerful, and
helpful person.
David Aborn
Chattanooga, TN
--------------------------------
Chan Robbins, whose legendary status in the ornithological and birding worlds
was well-earned, passed away on 20 March 2017 at the age of 98. Robbins was
born and raised in a Boston suburb. There, and at the Gloucester beaches, he
watched birds with 3X opera glasses. He earned a degree in physics from Harvard
in 1940. Ornithologist Ludlow Griscom was one of his advisors, and that
influence may have played a role in Chan's turn to a career in ornithology. He
joined the Civilian Public Service during World War II. Fate sent him to the
Bird Banding Lab at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in 1943. Two years
later, he became an employee of the BBL and went on to develop the Breeding
Bird Survey.
This 2014 article from Audubon includes a wonderful video clip of Chan on a
Christmas Bird Count at the age of 96! It was his 406th count!
http://www.audubon.o...ndler-s-robbins<http://www.audubon.org/news/in-memory-chandler-s-robbins>
Chan is also known for having banded
"Wisdom"<https://www.allaboutbirds.org/qa-chan-robbins-talks-about-wisdom-the-worlds-oldest-banded-bird/>
a Laysan Albatross - in 1956. She is still producing offspring at age 66,
having last produced an egg in February 2017.
In the mid-1940s, Robbins became coordinator of the continent-wide collection
of bird migration records. These 90 years of records are now being digitized
and transcribed as part of the North American Bird Phenology Program.
Robbins co-wrote Birds of North America: A Guide to Field Identification in
1966, more commonly known as the "Golden Guide" , which introduced innovative
two-page spreads that integrated text, illustrations, range maps and
silhouettes and a range of plumages. The Golden Guide also represented bird
vocalizations with sonograms, two-dimensional graphs of frequency and amplitude
over time.
Among Chan's many awards:
Linnaean Society of New York's Eisenmann Medal
U.S. Department of the Interior's Distinguished Service Award
American Birding Association, Ludlow Griscom Award
American Ornithologists' Union (now the American Ornithological Society),
Elliott Coues Award
National Audubon Society, Audubon Medal
Partners in Flight Lifetime Achievement Award
In 2000, the American Birding Association established the Chandler Robbins
Award<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandler_Robbins_Award> for significant
contributions to birder education and/or bird conservation. The Foundation for
Ecodevelopment and Conservation (FUNDAECO) of Guatemala named the Chandler
Robbins Biological Station, located in its Cerro San Gil reserve, in his honor.
Chan retired in 2005 but continued to work at the Bird Banding Lab on a
regular basis. His colleagues at Patuxent created this web
page<https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/robbins/index.cfm> dedicated to Chan. The
slideshow<https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/robbins/Slides_web.pdf> is definitely worth
watching.
Selected publications
* Robbins, Chandler S.; P. F. Springer; and C. G. Webster. 1951. "Effects
of five-year DDT application on breeding bird population," Journal of Wildlife
Management 15(2):213-216.
* Stewart, R. E. and Chandler S. Robbins. 1958. Birds of Maryland and the
District of Columbia. North American Fauna No. 62. U.S. Dept. of the Interior,
Fish and Wildlife Service.
* Robbins, Chandler S.; Bertel Bruun; and Herbert S. Zim. 1966. Birds of
North America: A Guide to Field Identification. Golden Press, Inc., New York,
NY. ISBN
978-0-307-13656-5<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780307136565>.
* Robbins, Chandler S. and W. T. Van Velzen. 1967. The Breeding Bird
Survey, 1966. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Special Scientific
Report-Wildlife No. 102.
* Whitcomb, R. F.; Chandler S. Robbins; et al. 1981. "Effects of forest
fragmentation on avifauna of the eastern deciduous forest." Pages 125-205 in
R.L. Burgess and D.M. Sharpe, editors. Forest Island Dynamics in Man-Dominated
Landscapes. Ecological Studies 41. Springer-Verlag, New York. ISBN
978-0-387-90584-6<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780387905846>.
* Robbins, Chandler S.; D.K. Dawson; and B.A. Dowell. 1989. Habitat Area
Requirements of Breeding Forest Birds of the Middle Atlantic States. The
Wildlife Society, Wildlife Monographs no. 103.
* Robbins, Chandler S., senior editor; E. A. T. Blom, project coordinator;
et al. 1996. Atlas of the breeding birds of Maryland and the District of
Columbia. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA. ISBN
978-0-8229-3923-8<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780822939238>.
