There is a nice obituary for Chandler Robbins in today's Washington Post at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/chandler-robbins-friend-to-birds-and-birdwatchers-dies-at-98/2017/03/23/d7c331b0-0f44-11e7-9b0d-d27c98455440_story.html?utm_term=.eb28114ebf55
.
I knew Chandler and had a lot of contact with him from the late 1970s
through the early 1990s when I used to regularly attend Wilson
Ornithological Society and American Ornithologist's Union annual meetings.
I used his Birds of North America field guide for many years and still have
a very worn and tattered copy that he autographed. The sonagram song
illustrations are especially helpful for learning songs that did not have
memorable word translations such as "teacher teacher teacher."
Although not well known by many Tennessee birders, there is a strong
Tennessee connection to the development of the Breeding Bird Survey. Joe
Howell, former zoology professor who taught ornithology at UT for many
years (see www.tnbirds.org/MigrantOnline/v069/V069p027-028.pdf), began
making roadside censuses of birds in the late 1940s. This early work
greatly contributed to the development of the Breeding Bird Survey.
Chuck Nicholson
Norris, TN
On Tue, Mar 21, 2017 at 3:43 PM, Aborn, David <David-Aborn@xxxxxxx> wrote:
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>.
