On the Wing #6: Griscom's Legacy: Birds of Concord, Sudbury, and Wayland
Ludlow Griscom (1890-1959) while not as famous as Concord's Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, or Nathaniel Hawthorne, his presence is still appreciated by ornithologists and birders who have graced a local library and perhaps found a curious volume called "Birds of Concord". The book itself isn't a field guide, but instead a reference for any bird lover that wished at the time to better understand the mechanisms behind bird abundance and rarity as well as why migration occurred and what birds were considered common in this small, but rigorously surveyed portion of Massachusetts. Griscom himself was one of the first ornithologists to shift away from "shotgun ornithology" and instead use the field marks present on a bird body to determine its identity. Around the time of Griscom, it was common for those studying birds to have to shoot them in order to tender an identification of the bird in hand. This was certainly true for smaller, harder to see songbirds like sparrows and warblers, but was also done for species that one would deem to be quite easy to identify such as Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) and American Robins (Turdus migratorius) The field guides used to determine the identity were wordy and needlessly detailed.
A prime example of this was the book entitled "Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America" by Frank Chapman. Chapman (1864-1945) himself worked with Griscom at the American Natural History Museum in New York City and is regarded as being the pioneer of detailed and descriptive field guides. The detail-oriented nature of the guide however, was designed for experts, not amateurs and made it difficult for visual field use. While birding today, I was using Sibley's eGuide to the Birds of North America on my iTouch to determine whether I'd seen a Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) at Wayland Community Garden or if it was the more common Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia). As it turned out, it was the latter, but this modern guide follows in a long tradition of field guides that build on the need to identify a bird quickly and effectively. The description for an adult Song Sparrow in Chapman's guide is as follows:
"Crown rufous-brown, with a grayish line through its center; a grayish line over the eye; a rufous-brown line from behind the eye to the nape; feathers of the back streaked with black and margined with rufous-brown and grayish; greater wing-coverts with black spots at their tips; no white wing-bars or yellow on the wing; tail rufous grayish brown, the middle feathers darker along their shafts; outer feathers shortest; sides of the throat with black or blackish streaks; breast with wedge-shaped streaks of black and rufous-brown which tend to form one larger blotch on the center; sides washed with brownish and streaked with black and rufous-brown; middle of the belly white. L. 6.30in; W. 2.52in; T 2.62in; B. 0.49in" (L. = Length, W. = The wing length of one wing. Not a wingspan. T. = Tarsus. Part of the leg. B. = Beak length.)
This verbose description is detailed, but problematic. Due to its length, by the time you'd read it several times and remembered enough of the details, the bird could have skyved off leaving you muddled and confused. It was these descriptions that inspired a young Roger Tory Peterson (1908-1996) to try to make a better field guide that could be used by birding amateurs, as well as laymen wishing to know what lay beyond their backyards. His guide entitled "A Field Guide to the Birds" revolutionized birding for the masses and can be considered one of the greatest artistic achievements for both nature artists and lovers alike. In his simple, yet elegant style, Peterson describes the Song Sparrow as follows:
"5-6 3/4 in. Breast heavily streaked, the streaks confluent into a large central spot; pumps tail as it flies"
Simple and to the point, the text provides a basic understanding towards the main field mark, as well as a behavioral tick. The picture description has arrows pointing to the breast streaking and central spot mentioned in the text. Griscom also helped to mold a young Peterson by teaching him to identify birds by those same field marks that were later emphasized in Peterson's field guides.
While being inspirational to the creator of the most influential field guide of his time (at least until Sibley and Kaufman came along), Griscom's greatest legacy however can be found in the aforementioned "Birds of Concord". Published in 1949, the book provides insight into the population trends of birds found in the town of Concord and other surrounding towns and wild lands. Today, as I birded Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Water Row, Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, and Wayland Community Gardens, I thought about the birds I was seeing and whether some of the commoner species I was seeing today were just as common back in Griscom's day. After returning home, I picked up my copy of "Birds of Concord" and listed the species I'd seen today. I was shocked to find that many species that could be considered to be common backyard birds were quite uncommon to rare in the late 1800s into the early 1900s. Species like the Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens), and Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) were regarded as being uncommon due to either a lack of habitat (extensive woodland had largely been reduced by clearing of the land for farming) or harsh winters. Others were considered rarities. Staple birds of suburbia such as Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) and Carolina Wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus) (the name of the latter is a bit of a giveaway though) were formerly more southerly in their range before beginning a steady northerly increase. These examples represent the changes that Concord and surrounding towns have experienced in terms of greater abundance of bird life, but it also shows the impact of man on the environment through callous destruction of wild creatures and their homes often for immediate profit and with little consideration for the consequences.
These three men represented the start of a revolution not only in scientific discovery and learning, but also a revolution in terms of an increased awareness and interest in the birds that inhabit this small section of the world. Without their efforts to try to make bird recognition easier and more efficient, I might never have written this blog to describe their accomplishments, their vision, and hopes for the birders of the future. These men, more inspirational and focused that Audubon, Fuertes, and Sibley combined, provided a platform with which many imitated and built their own systems upon those models proposed, tested, and demonstrated all those years ago. Like a beaver adding to a dam or an eagle to its nest, these early achievements reflect the ambitions of an eager foundation, only to be built up and improved upon bit by bit in the coming generations so that birding can remain as easy and fun as those men did for us all those years ago.
A prime example of this was the book entitled "Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America" by Frank Chapman. Chapman (1864-1945) himself worked with Griscom at the American Natural History Museum in New York City and is regarded as being the pioneer of detailed and descriptive field guides. The detail-oriented nature of the guide however, was designed for experts, not amateurs and made it difficult for visual field use. While birding today, I was using Sibley's eGuide to the Birds of North America on my iTouch to determine whether I'd seen a Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) at Wayland Community Garden or if it was the more common Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia). As it turned out, it was the latter, but this modern guide follows in a long tradition of field guides that build on the need to identify a bird quickly and effectively. The description for an adult Song Sparrow in Chapman's guide is as follows:
"Crown rufous-brown, with a grayish line through its center; a grayish line over the eye; a rufous-brown line from behind the eye to the nape; feathers of the back streaked with black and margined with rufous-brown and grayish; greater wing-coverts with black spots at their tips; no white wing-bars or yellow on the wing; tail rufous grayish brown, the middle feathers darker along their shafts; outer feathers shortest; sides of the throat with black or blackish streaks; breast with wedge-shaped streaks of black and rufous-brown which tend to form one larger blotch on the center; sides washed with brownish and streaked with black and rufous-brown; middle of the belly white. L. 6.30in; W. 2.52in; T 2.62in; B. 0.49in" (L. = Length, W. = The wing length of one wing. Not a wingspan. T. = Tarsus. Part of the leg. B. = Beak length.)
This verbose description is detailed, but problematic. Due to its length, by the time you'd read it several times and remembered enough of the details, the bird could have skyved off leaving you muddled and confused. It was these descriptions that inspired a young Roger Tory Peterson (1908-1996) to try to make a better field guide that could be used by birding amateurs, as well as laymen wishing to know what lay beyond their backyards. His guide entitled "A Field Guide to the Birds" revolutionized birding for the masses and can be considered one of the greatest artistic achievements for both nature artists and lovers alike. In his simple, yet elegant style, Peterson describes the Song Sparrow as follows:
"5-6 3/4 in. Breast heavily streaked, the streaks confluent into a large central spot; pumps tail as it flies"
Simple and to the point, the text provides a basic understanding towards the main field mark, as well as a behavioral tick. The picture description has arrows pointing to the breast streaking and central spot mentioned in the text. Griscom also helped to mold a young Peterson by teaching him to identify birds by those same field marks that were later emphasized in Peterson's field guides.
While being inspirational to the creator of the most influential field guide of his time (at least until Sibley and Kaufman came along), Griscom's greatest legacy however can be found in the aforementioned "Birds of Concord". Published in 1949, the book provides insight into the population trends of birds found in the town of Concord and other surrounding towns and wild lands. Today, as I birded Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Water Row, Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, and Wayland Community Gardens, I thought about the birds I was seeing and whether some of the commoner species I was seeing today were just as common back in Griscom's day. After returning home, I picked up my copy of "Birds of Concord" and listed the species I'd seen today. I was shocked to find that many species that could be considered to be common backyard birds were quite uncommon to rare in the late 1800s into the early 1900s. Species like the Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens), and Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) were regarded as being uncommon due to either a lack of habitat (extensive woodland had largely been reduced by clearing of the land for farming) or harsh winters. Others were considered rarities. Staple birds of suburbia such as Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) and Carolina Wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus) (the name of the latter is a bit of a giveaway though) were formerly more southerly in their range before beginning a steady northerly increase. These examples represent the changes that Concord and surrounding towns have experienced in terms of greater abundance of bird life, but it also shows the impact of man on the environment through callous destruction of wild creatures and their homes often for immediate profit and with little consideration for the consequences.
These three men represented the start of a revolution not only in scientific discovery and learning, but also a revolution in terms of an increased awareness and interest in the birds that inhabit this small section of the world. Without their efforts to try to make bird recognition easier and more efficient, I might never have written this blog to describe their accomplishments, their vision, and hopes for the birders of the future. These men, more inspirational and focused that Audubon, Fuertes, and Sibley combined, provided a platform with which many imitated and built their own systems upon those models proposed, tested, and demonstrated all those years ago. Like a beaver adding to a dam or an eagle to its nest, these early achievements reflect the ambitions of an eager foundation, only to be built up and improved upon bit by bit in the coming generations so that birding can remain as easy and fun as those men did for us all those years ago.
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