This is the subject of my current writing project…due to appear by about 2008
Lawrence Harvey Walkinshaw (1904-1993) and the Michigan Audubon Society were separated by only two-days in age when he published its 75-year history1. Born in rural Pennfield Township, Calhoun County, Michigan, Larry’s birding interests emerged early in life. By age 12, ten of his one-room schoolmates joined his new Junior Audubon Society but he continued Christmas Bird Counts alone until 1929. “No one else liked birds the way I did” was his admission2. He first attended local Olivet College but earned the D.D.S. degree from the University of Michigan, with honors, at age 25. By then he had published 13 articles and established notable contacts with Michigan Audubon Society leaders. Soon Josseyln Van Tyne, the University of Michigan’s Curator of Birds, would become his mentor directing his interest toward cranes and Kirtland’s Warblers. Once Van Tyne wrote3 “I am very much pleased with the way you are progressing in ornithology. You may be sure that I would not have bothered to annotate your manuscripts so extensively if I did not think you are ’going places’…” Larry’s 80-years of ‘amateur’ birding concluded with 350 other publications including The Sandhill Cranes (1949), Cranes of the World (1973) and Kirtland’s Warbler: The Natural History of an Endangered Species (1983).
Today Larry’s son-in-law is two-years into the process of compiling his biography. Larry’s son Jim is to serve as Editor. We seek to identify as much salient detail about his life as may be documented by those who considered him among their friends, their dentist, Boy Scout Leader, fellow dental professional or as a fellow member of the Battle Creek Lions Club. Each of these professional and community activities spanned a 40-year commitment to include leadership responsibilities. As busy as Larry may have been with his family of two and a large dental practice plus holding offices in three dental societies, his ‘amateur’ contributions to the profession of ornithology were exemplary.
Twice Larry served as the Wilson Society President, was an AOU Fellow and for decades shared responsibility as first co-editor of the Jack-Pine Warbler. His zeal for conservation of nature resulted in establishment of two Michigan Audubon Society sanctuaries, the Walkinshaw Wetlands of the Huron-Manistee National Forest, the National Mississippi Wildlife Refuge plus others in Japan and in the DMZ of Korea. Today special Walkinshaw collections reside with Cornell University, Nest Record Library; Smithsonian Institution Archives; Texas A&M University, Cushing Library, University Archives and University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library and the Museum of Zoology, Bird Division.
His species saving efforts on behalf of the Greater Sandhill Cranes, the Whooping Cranes and the Kirtland’s Warblers are widely recognized. Today the North American Crane Working Group acknowledge him as their “Father of Crane Research” when presenting the Walkinshaw Crane Conservation Award – the highest honor attainable by the world’s 1,000 or so crane researchers. He always claimed a ‘transformed life’ after discovering his first Sandhill Crane and Kirtland’s Warbler nests in Michigan in 1931. Yet in 1993 Mayfield noted that4 “he accomplished the remarkable feat of finding more than 100 nests of each of Acadian Flycatcher (Empidonax virescens), Willow Flycatcher (E. trailli), and Least Flycatcher (E. minimus). In his career he found the first nest in Michigan for many species and also banded 40, 000 birds”. His ability to locate secluded nests was almost legendary.
Larry always attributed much of his success to his mother, his extensive array of international birding friends whom he loved, and to Clara, his wife of 61-years. Those who knew Larry offer additional insights on his capacity for work to include working all hours of the day with exceptional organizational skills and powers of concentration. Superseding those observations about the man, his friends uniformly acknowledge his unique ability to inspire others. Dr. George Archibald, co-founder of the International Crane Foundation said5, “He inspired me and he has inspired many others.”
As an early member of the Whooper ‘Pen Pals,’ Larry was a founding member of the WCCA and led its ‘Techniques Committee’ until 1988 while serving on two other national Whooping Crane Committees. During formative years of Whooping Crane research, he worked along side of Robert Porter Allen in both Canada and Texas. He acquired the first picture of an active Whooper nest in Wood Buffalo National Park in 1964. His Sandhill Crane data combined with his expansive knowledge of other world cranes served as an intellectual foundation favorably affecting the outcome of Whooping Crane survival.
The emerging structure of his biography includes four sections. Section I deals with The Man and His Habitat, II addresses The Amateur Birder, III focuses upon The Quiet Leader while IV offers Lessons to Inspire. Since Larry published five books on his family genealogy, the man was well defined. Likewise, his plethora of ornithology works greatly aided with Section II. However, as I work with Sections III and IV it becomes apparent that perhaps the most powerful message of his life’s work involved human behavior. Greater inputs from those who knew him seem essential to the task. How, as a successful leader in so many spheres, could this “quiet and gentle man” so effectively inspire others? As he claimed in the Preface to Cranes of the World6, “there is as human story to be told…”
Similar to his “An Appeal for the Marsh Hawk” article of 1929, we now appeal for your inputs7. Please contact Dr. Lowell M. Schake, 142 Five Dove Circle, Port Aransas, Texas 78373, at wschake1@centurytel.net or 361-749-2315 to relate your experiences with him to aid in reconciling our desire to publish a comprehensive and accurate reflection of Larry’s inspiring “human story to be told”. Schake expects this selection to be off the press in 2008.
References:
1. Lawrence H. Walkinshaw. 1979. A History of the Michigan Audubon Society and Its 75 Years of Service to Michigan. The Jack-Pine Warbler, 57(3):115-120.
2. Lawrence H. Walkinshaw. 1960. My Autobiography (unpublished, six typed pages).
3. Lawrence H. Walkinshaw. 1929-1973. Walkinshaw Collection. Cushing Library, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. (Unpublished correspondence).
4. Harold F. Mayfield. 1993. In Memoriam: Lawrence Harvey Walkinshaw, 1904-1993. The Auk. Volume 110 (3):629-631.
5. Tom Palmer. May 1983. The Ledger of Lakeland, Florida. 77 (213):1A and 4A.
6. Lawrence H. Walkinshaw. 1973. Cranes of the World. Winchester Press, NY.
7. Lawrence H. Walkinshaw. 1929. An Appeal for the Marsh Hawk. Bird-Lore, 31 (5):334.
To learn more about LARRY, Amatuer Birdman of the World - Whose inspirations saved the Whooping Cranes * Kirtland’s Warblers * Sandhill Cranes, the title of this selection, proceed to Lawrence H. Walkinshaw’s website. Also hint the International Crane Foundation site at http://www.savingcranes.org/about/whats_new/whatsnew_article.cfm?id=166 for more.
