#florence merriam bailey

[vivian-bell]

Florence Merriam Bailey.  Photo taken September 1920 by William Lovell Finley.  Published by the Oregon Historical Society.

[sophia-sol]

Birds Through an Opera-Glass, by Florence A. Merriam (aka Florence Merriam Bailey)

I first heard about this book a few years ago, before I first became interested in birding, but was intrigued by it because of the history and context. Birding in a Western context originated with the approach of going out into the field to shoot birds, and then taking the dead birds home with you to analyse in detail for identification. But in the late 19th century there was a movement to change this, because enthusiasts all going out to kill birds is not actually good for the well-being of birds. And this book was written with that agenda in mind: to convince readers that it is worthwhile to examine live birds in the field, and then leave them be.

When I tried reading it at the time I first heard of it, though, I very quickly became bored of it and gave up. But recently it occurred to me that the book might read better to someone who has an intrinsic love of birds properly installed, and gave it another try - and it was so worth it!

It's fascinating to compare this book to modern field guides. Its approach is so different! Of course, due to the type of printing available at the time, detailed full-colour images of every bird can't reasonably be included, so there are just a few black and white drawings here and there. But also the information provided in the text itself is so different! This is where your can really see its agenda. It earnestly takes its time to tell you personalized individual little stories about times the author has encountered these birds, and what an interesting and charming experience it was. It also spends a lot of time describing the birds' personalities, in very human-like ways! But of course it does. It wants to convince the reader that the birds are worth keeping alive.

The other information it provides is more haphazard. It nearly always takes the time to discuss habitats, nesting habits, and something of appearance, but the level of detail is wildly variable, and it's rarely sufficient that I would feel confident in identifying a bird based on the description. Sometimes the author attempts to convey what the bird's songs and calls sound like, but it's hopeless to give meaningful information on this through the medium of text, though it's clear when the author thinks it's particularly important for a bird that you know what it sounds like, and is really earnestly trying to help you out. Too bad the Merlin app didn't exist in 1889!

And it makes some very odd choices about how to organise its information. For example: its discussion of the different orders and families to which birds belong is.....in the section on chipping sparrows, more than 60 pages into the book. Then the classifications are mentioned on and off, inconsistently, until they're summarized as a whole in the section on thrushes at page 195. What the heck! It makes it clear that the expected use of the book is to read it front to back, rather than just to pick it up as a reference to figure out a particular bird you're seeing. Though the back does have some....mildly useful appendices for looking up birds by specific characteristic.

But the nesting habits and behaviour descriptions are actually nice to have (even if they're couched in flowery victorian nature-writing language) because modern field guides don't seem to tend to include that information, just details on appearance and a brief suggestion of habitat, with only occasional additional info. Modern field guides want to fit as many birds as possible into as pocket-sized a book as possible, and so they keep their text very short, and I do think this is too bad!

I also loved getting the insights into some of the old or more regional names for some of the birds, instead of just the official name you get in modern field guides! "Bee martin" for kingbird! "Chippy" for chipping sparrow! "Crow blackbird" for grackle! "Yellow hammer" and a whole collection of other options for the northern flicker! (in fact I had to go look this one up in Merlin using the description given for the yellow hammer to determine for sure which bird was being referred to, because "northern flicker" isn't among any of the names given for the bird in this book!)

It also has fun little bits of sass (for example, when it talks about the chipping sparrow's song, it says the bird has a "cheerful perseverance that would grace a better cause," lol) but sometimes in its efforts to personify the birds it's pretty mean. The author clearly doesn't think highly of flycatchers for example, and I felt very indignant. "All the disagreeable qualities of the flycatchers seem to centre in this bird," it says about the kingbird, and I'm just like HOW RUDE. HOW DARE YOU. YOU'RE SO WRONG.

At any rate I'm very glad that this book was written at the time it was for the purpose it was, and it was an enjoyable look into a different era of birding, despite its foibles!

[teconozcomascarita]

Florence Merriam Bailey. New Mexico, 1901. Vernon Bailey Collection / American Heritage Center / University of Wyoming

[mypubliclands]

Women’s History Month: Janet Ady

March is Women’s History Month, and throughout the month, we’ll be highlighting some notable women in BLM. Every day, the women of the Bureau of Land Management help the agency make history and fulfill our multiple-use mission.

Janet Ady is the BLM’s Division Chief of Education and Community Partnerships in Washington, DC and was recently awarded as the Corps Network’s 2019 Federal Champion for her support of opportunities to engage young people in managing our public lands.

As Division Chief, she oversees the BLM’s youth, volunteer, outdoor ethics and interpretation programs across the nation. In addition, she regularly partners with other federal agencies with like responsibilities, plus non-government programs. One big thing that Janet says she’s learned along the way is to keep an eye on the mission and focus on the long-term vision, and not to get buffeted or discouraged by distractions.

Inspired by the on-the-ground efforts to engage and educate members of local communities across the nation, Janet has dedicated her career to strengthening education and community partnership programs across the BLM. When asked about her favorite part of her job, Janet says, “I really enjoy working with really motivated, talented, creative people who are excited about what they do. Sharing a vision with such capable individuals can make things happen and together accomplish our goals. Personally, connecting to public lands myself is fun!”

Getting young people involved in citizen science is also a priority for Janet. “The integration of education and youth engagement with our work can be really powerful, and something that I’m always trying to facilitate or promote. Since many women have historically been the educators and teachers, it’s also important to recognize their role in citizen science.” According to Janet, a woman, Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey, created the first ever field guide to birds and and encouraged youth and women "citizen scientists" to contribute bird observation data to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Janet says it is important for her to understand the history of youth education and community engagement efforts, especially recognizing the women trailblazers of the natural science world.

[kathleenseiber]

Florence Merriam Bailey flips the bird

In the late 19th century one of the first environmental protection movements sprang up, triggered by public concerns over, of all things, women’s hats.

Bailey with her husband Vernon in Netarts, Oregon, in 1920. Credit: WL Finley/American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming

In the late 1880s, a fashion craze swept through significant portions of western society: bird parts became key components of hats and other accessories. Feathers, wings, even whole birds were used.

An article written for the US National Public Radio network says that by 1886 “more than five million birds were being massacred yearly to satisfy the booming North American millinery trade”. 

NPR cites Douglas Brinkley’s 2009 book The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America: “Dense bird colonies were being wiped out in Florida… Some women even wanted a stuffed owl head on their bonnets and a full hummingbird wrapped in bejeweled vegetation as a brooch.”

Fortunately, this avian carnage did not go unnoticed. One bird-loving activist was a young college student named Florence Augusta Merriam (who later married naturalist Vernon Bailey). 

She worked out that if women didn’t buy feathered fashions, milliners and designers would stop making the stuff.

But rather than lecture or scold her friends and fellow students on the ethics of killing birds for the sake of fashion, she organised bird-watching outings in which she taught them to appreciate the beauty of birds in their natural environments.  

Bailey in 1904. Credit: The Condor / Wikimedia Commons

“The birds must be protected; we must persuade the girls not to wear feathers on their hats,” she wrote in 1889 in Bird-Lore, a magazine published by the National Audubon Society.

“We won’t say too much about hats, though… We’ll take the girls afield and let them get acquainted with the birds. Then, of inborn necessity, they will wear feathers never more.”

Bailey was born into a wealthy family in rural New York on 8 August 1863. She was encouraged to pursue her interest in science from an early age and by the time she entered Smith College, a prestigious school for women, in Massachusetts, in 1882, her studies in ornithology were already well advanced.

An early point of difference in her approach to bird studies is explained in an article published in the Journal of the Sierra College Natural History Museum.

At that time, it says, most naturalists studied the carcasses of dead birds, which were usually housed in private collections. “Florence championed the study of live birds and is considered the first to propose using binoculars when birding.”

Or, as a description of her published by the Smithsonian Institution puts it: “Florence Bailey was at the forefront of the movement to use binoculars, rather than shotguns, to observe birds.”

After finishing at Smith in 1886, Bailey took to bird watching in earnest, writing a series of articles for the National Audubon Society, which in 1889 became the basis for her first book, Birds Through an Opera-Glass, described by the New York Times as “the first field guide to American birds”.

Credit: Boston Public Library

Having contracted tuberculosis, Bailey was sent to convalesce in the warm, dry western climate of California, Arizona and Utah. These travels gave her material for travelogues and bird field guides including Birds of Village and Field in 1898.

As her health improved, she joined her bother, Clinton Hart Merriam, in Washington state, where he was part of a national wildlife survey.

C Hart Merriam was a well-known naturalist and one of the founders of the US Biological Survey, the federal government’s first natural sciences agency, which later became the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

He introduced his sister to a member of the survey, naturalist Vernon Bailey; Florence and Vernon married in 1899 and began travelling and documenting the natural world.

Among the books they produced, the best known are Handbook of Birds of the Western United States, in 1902, and Birds of New Mexico, in 1928.

Much of their fieldwork was incorporated into much larger guides edited by other scientists.

Florence Bailey died in Washington, DC on 22 September 1948.

Florence Merriam Bailey flips the bird published first on https://triviaqaweb.weebly.com/

[xtruss]

Conservation

Seven Women Who Made the World Better for Birds and People

We’re giving a major hat tip to these die-hard conservationists, because every month should be Women's History Month

Celebrate Women’s History Month by learning about these pioneering female environmentalists.

— By Emily Silber, an alumna of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, is a freelancer based in NYC. She's a former editorial fellow of Audubon.

Rachel Carson was a staunch defender and lover of birds.

When we hear the word “naturalist,” we often think of Charles Darwin and his theories, John Muir, the “Father of National Parks,” and of course, John James Audubon. But let’s not forget the women who rallied to preserve the natural realm. From creating the first avian field guide, to ending the feather trade, to dying in pursuit of birds, these seven femmes prove that the history of incredible women transcends any single month.

Genevieve Estelle Jones

1847-1879

Ohio native Genevieve Estelle Jones was a self-taught scientific illustrator christened the “other Audubon.” After seeing some of Audubon’s paintings at an exhibition, Jones decided to draw the nests and eggs of the 130 bird species nesting in Ohio at the time. But before she could finish, she died from typhoid fever at age 32. Her family spent the next seven years completing the hand-colored plates, of which 90 copies were made. Only 26 still exist.

Harriet Lawrence Hemenway and Minna Hall

1858-1960 and 1864-1944

This two-woman dream team was responsible for taking down the 19th-century plume trade and establishing the National Audubon Society. Appalled by the number of birds being killed in the name of fashion, Hemenway, an impassioned amateur naturalist, and her cousin Hall, persuaded their socialite friends to boycott the trade and protect the wildlife behind it. Ultimately, they recruited 900 women to join the fight, and gave rise to an establishment that, a century later, has grown to 1 million members and supporters strong.

Florence Merriam Bailey

1863-1948

Florence Merriam Bailey, maker of the first known bird guide, in New Mexico, 1901.

American nature writer and ornithologist Florence Merriam Bailey was a jane of all trades. Not only did she work with the National Audubon Society during its early years, she is also credited for writing the first known bird guide, Birds Through an Opera Glass, published in 1889. A true pioneer in the field, Merriam protested the mistreatment, killing, and trade of feathered animals. Her legacy still remains in the form of a subspecies of the California Mountain Chickadee, Parus gambeli baileyae, that was named in her honor.

Rachel Carson

1907-1964

Rachel Carson is most famous for her book Silent Spring, in which she bared the sins of the pesticide industry. In her later writings, the author and activist continued to examine the relationship between people and nature, questioning whether human beings are truly the dominant authority. Needless to say, she was an outspoken advocate for the environment and one of the greatest social revolutionaries of her time.

Frances Hamerstrom

1907-1998

This female ornithologist dedicated the majority of her life to just one kind of bird: The Greater Prairie-chicken. Frances Hamerstrom headed a research team that ultimately saved the eccentric species from extinction in Wisconsin. She helped identify the ideal habitat for prairie-chickens, and was also one of the first to put colored leg bands on wild birds—a technique that has helped reveal important information on bird behavior through the decades.

Phoebe Snetsinger

1931-1999

When faced with the grim diagnosis of melanoma, 50-year-old Phoebe Snetsinger turned her life upside down: She went from being a housewife to racing around the globe as a competitive birder. Despite being beaten and raped in Papua New Guinea, Snetsinger never gave up on her passion. In 1995, she broke a world record by being the first person to spot more than 8,000 species of birds. A short time later she died in a bus crash while birding in Madagascar. But she will always be celebrated for living life with absolute fearlessness.

These women are just a few of the heros who forged the path for the modern-day bird-conservation movement. Today’s ornithologists, birders, and activists certainly match their passion and dedication. In fact, in 2011, of the 47 million birdwatchers in the United States, more than half were women. Between women spearheading sustainable projects around the world, Audubon’s standout conservationists, and badass chicks

[indigodreams]

A-Birding on a Bronco by Florence Merriam Bailey, Boston: Houghton Mifflin,

[histsciart]

And the Winning Feathursday BIRB is...

Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)! This delightful illustration was done by Louis Agassiz Fuertes for Florence Merriam Bailey, Handbook of Birds of the Western United States (1902), which was contributed to @biodivlibrary by MBLWHOI Library. I think this book may be my secret weapon for next week’s NAME THAT BIRD! hosted by @oregonstatelib. 

[tracygrenier-blog]

Overlooked No More: Florence Merriam Bailey, Who Defined Modern Bird-Watching https://nyti.ms/2SnjP53

[triciansmithdesign]

Overlooked No More: Florence Merriam Bailey, Who Defined Modern Bird-Watching

http://dlvr.it/R8dhcL

[radharmonyartisan]

Her pioneering approach involved quietly examining birds in their natural habitat, rather than shooting them, as people had previously done.

from NYT > U.S. News https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/17/obituaries/florence-merriam-bailey-overlooked.html?emc=rss&partner=rss via NY Times

[smugrocknation]

Overlooked No More: Florence Merriam Bailey, Who Defined Modern Bird-Watching

Her pioneering approach involved quietly examining birds in their natural habitat, rather than shooting them, as people had previously done.

[huuvinhp]

New Post has been published on THIẾT BỊ KHOA HỌC CÔNG NGHỆ

New Post has been published on http://thietbikhoahoccongnghe.com.vn/khoa-hoc-cac-loai-chim-phan-6.html

Khoa học các loài chim - Phần 6

John Hurrell Crook nghiên cứu hành vi của chim weaverbirds và chứng minh mối liên hệ giữa các điều kiện sinh thái, hành vi và các hệ thống xã hội Các nguyên lý từ kinh tế học đã được Jerram L. Brown đưa vào nghiên cứu sinh học trong công trình giải thích hành vi lãnh thổ. Điều này dẫn đến nhiều nghiên cứu về hành vi sử dụng các phân tích chi phí và lợi ích . Sự quan tâm ngày càng tăng đối với xã hội học xã hội cũng dẫn đến sự bùng nổ các nghiên cứu chim trong khu vực này 

Nghiên cứu về hành vi in ​​dấu của con vịt và ngỗng của Konrad Lorenz và các nghiên cứu về bản năng của con rùa cá trích Nicolaas Tinbergen đã dẫn tới việc thành lập lĩnh vực đạo đức học. Nghiên cứu về học tập đã trở thành một lĩnh vực quan tâm và nghiên cứu về bài hát chim đã là một mô hình nghiên cứu về thần kinh học thần kinh. Nghiên cứu về hoóc môn và sinh lý học trong việc kiểm soát hành vi cũng đã được hỗ trợ bởi các mô hình chim. Những điều này đã giúp tìm ra nguyên nhân gần của chu kỳ tuần hoàn và tuần hoàn. Các nghiên cứu về di cư đã cố gắng trả lời các câu hỏi về sự tiến hóa của di cư, định hướng và định hướng. 

Sự phát triển của di truyền học và sự gia tăng của sinh học phân tử đã dẫn tới việc áp dụng quan điểm gen về trung tâm của sự tiến hóa để giải thích các hiện tượng của chim. Các nghiên cứu về quan hệ họ hàng và vị tha, như những người giúp đỡ, trở nên đặc biệt quan tâm. Ý tưởng tập thể dục đã được sử dụng để diễn giải những quan sát về hành vi và lịch sử cuộc sống và các loài chim đã được sử dụng rộng rãi để thử nghiệm giả thuyết dựa trên các lý thuyết được W. D. Hamilton và các nhà nghiên cứu khác đưa ra.

Các công cụ mới của sinh học phân tử đã thay đổi nghiên cứu hệ thống chim. Hệ thống học thay đổi từ việc dựa trên kiểu hình ảnh tới kiểu gen cơ bản. Việc sử dụng các kỹ thuật như lai ghép DNA-DNA để nghiên cứu các mối quan hệ tiến hoá đã được Charles Sibley và Jon Edward Ahlquist đi tiên phong dẫn đến cái gọi là hệ thống phân loại Sibley-Ahlquist. Những kỹ thuật ban đầu này đã được thay thế bằng những kỹ thuật mới hơn dựa trên trình tự ADN ty thể và các phương pháp phát sinh loài phân tử sử dụng các quy trình tính toán để sắp xếp trình tự, xây dựng các cây phát sinh và hiệu chuẩn các đồng hồ phân tử để suy ra các mối quan hệ tiến hóa  Các kỹ thuật phân tử cũng được sử dụng rộng rãi trong các nghiên cứu về sinh học và sinh thái dân số gia cầm. 

Rise to popular  Việc sử dụng kính trường hoặc kính thiên văn để quan sát chim bắt đầu vào những năm 1820 và 1830 với những người tiên phong như J. Dovaston (người cũng đi tiên phong trong việc sử dụng các máy cho chim), nhưng mãi cho đến những năm 1880 sách hướng dẫn bắt đầu nhấn mạnh vào sử dụng thiết bị trợ giúp quang học như “kính thiên văn hạng nhất” hoặc “kính trường”. 

Trang từ một hướng dẫn trường sớm bởi Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey Sự gia tăng hướng dẫn thực địa để xác định loài chim là một sự đổi mới quan trọng khác. Các hướng dẫn ban đầu như của Thomas Bewick (2 tập) và William Yarrell (3 tập) là rất cồng kềnh, và chủ yếu tập trung vào việc xác định các mẫu vật trong tay. Thế hệ đầu tiên của các hướng dẫn thực địa được chuẩn bị bởi Florence Merriam, chị gái của Clinton Hart Merriam, nhà nghiên cứu vúm. Điều này đã được xuất bản vào năm 1887 trong một loạt Những gợi ý cho công nhân Audubon: Năm mươi chim và Làm thế nào để biết chúng trong Tạp chí Audubon của Grinnell . Tiếp theo là các hướng dẫn lĩnh vực mới bao gồm các tác phẩm kinh điển của Roger Tory Peterson. 

Sự quan tâm đến việc theo dõi chim đã trở nên phổ biến ở nhiều nơi trên thế giới và đã nhận ra rằng có khả năng các tay nghiệp dư đóng góp vào các nghiên cứu sinh học. Ngay từ năm 1916, Julian Huxley đã viết một bài viết về Auk, lưu ý đến sự căng thẳng giữa nghiệp dư và các chuyên gia và gợi ý rằng “một đội quân chim ưng và những người theo dõi chim có thể bắt đầu cung cấp cho các nhà khoa học dữ liệu cần thiết để giải quyết vấn đề những vấn đề căn bản của sinh học “

Các tổ chức được bắt đầu ở nhiều nước và nhanh chóng trở thành thành viên, đặc biệt trong số họ là Hội Hoàng gia về Bảo vệ chim (RSPB) ở Anh và Hội Audubon ở Mỹ. Hội Audubon bắt đầu vào năm 1885. Cả hai tổ chức này đều bắt đầu với mục tiêu chính là bảo tồn. RSPB, sinh năm 1889, đã phát triển từ một nhóm phụ nữ nhỏ bé ở Croydon gặp thường xuyên và tự gọi mình là “Người da lông, lông vũ và lông vũ” và đã cam kết “không được mặc lông của bất kỳ con chim nào không bị giết vì mục đích của thức ăn, đà điểu chỉ được miễn. ” Tổ chức này đã không cho phép đàn ông làm thành viên ban đầu, phủ nhận một chính sách của Liên hiệp Ðộng cơ Anh để ngăn chặn phụ nữ . Không giống như RSPB, vốn chủ yếu là theo định hướng bảo tồn, Tổ chức Trust of Ornithology (BTO) của Anh được bắt đầu vào năm 1933 với mục đích tiến bộ nghiên cứu về loài chim. Các thành viên thường tham gia vào các dự án nghiên cứu về chim sống hợp tác. Các dự án này đã dẫn đến các bản đồ phân bố chi tiết về sự phân bố của các loài chim ở Anh.  Tại Hoa Kỳ, Các cuộc Điều tra về Chăn nuôi, do Điều tra Địa chất Hoa Kỳ tiến hành, cũng đã đưa ra các thông số về mật độ thả nuôi và sự thay đổi về mật độ và sự phân bố theo thời gian. Các dự án cộng đồng tình nguyện khác đã được thành lập ở những nơi khác trên thế giớ

[a-disaster-piece]

Inspirational Women in Ornithology: Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey

P.S. That first one was a photograph her husband, Vernon Bailey, kept in one of his field books. Adorable bird scientist love!

(Despite admiration, insert comment about scientific nepotism and the rich, white, Westerner gentle-person scientist concept of this era, that still runs rampant in the field today. But, she also was a woman doing a man’s work during that time period, and still did amazing things with the luck of her socioeconomic background. So, whatever, yay for women in science, especially back in the days of old!)