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Tom Burke has been a NYSOA member for about 35 years, and in 2018 he marked his 30th year as a member of NYSARC. Anyone who has birded with Tom knows that he is not only super knowledgeable but also unfailingly helpful, always ready to go out of his way to get everyone on every bird they want to see. Read on and learn how football got Tom into birding!
How long have you been a NYSOA member?
“Not sure – it’s been a very long time, back to the early 1980’s at least.”
What positions have you held in the organization (and for how long)?
“I’ve been a Committee member of NYSARC since 1988, I believe, when I was asked to fill in for Fritz Scheider, a wonderful, witty and very knowledgeable friend whose standards, I knew, would be very difficult to measure up to. I have also recently become a member of the NYSOA Audit Committee. In the NYC region, I have been the editor and voice of the NY Rare Bird Alert since taking over from Tom Davis in 1984."
What is it about NYSOA that keeps you involved?
“NYSOA provides a key leadership position among the birding communities within the State, important for both long-time birding enthusiasts and young birders alike. Its publications are a needed information source and records archive, and, of course, I must plug NYSARC with its responsibilities of reviewing unusual bird records and maintaining the official NYS checklist, which is now closely approaching a very impressive 500 species!”
How long have you been birding?
“See below, but I wish I’d started much earlier.”
Did you have a particular experience that hooked you on birding?
“Back in 1972, when I was much more athletic, a group of us would gather each weekend to play football. One late August day only two of us showed up, and the other, Dr. Barry Boyd, who was also a birder, suggested we go to a new Westchester County park that had just opened up in my hometown of Rye called Marshlands Conservancy. Among the many birds he pointed out was a Great Blue Heron, which impressed me greatly. After a nice day birding, he suggested we go out again soon, as it was migration time - a little after 6AM the next Saturday we were knocking on his door, and I’ve been birding constantly ever since.”
What is your favorite place to go birding in NYS?
“Certainly there are many, from Montauk Point to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and numerous places in between and beyond. I also especially enjoy our annual summer vacation in the Adirondacks – establishing a State Park of this magnitude so early on and maintaining it to the degree they have is in my mind one of the most important accomplishments the NYS government has ever provided its citizens. And, of course, my hometown City of Rye, with three very productive parks (Marshlands, Read Sanctuary at Playland Park, and Rye Nature Center), is the source of my most active list keeping, currently standing at 324 species for this small community.”
Favorite species?
“Again, there are many: local favorites have evolved over the years from Belted Kingfisher at the onset to Golden-winged Warbler currently, and Evening Grosbeak will always be at the top. Internationally, picking among the many spectacular choices is much more difficult, but watching a pair of Light-mantled Albatrosses soaring in tandem around the cliffs of South Georgia Island or a Lammergeier working a mountain side thirty feet below my perch in the Pyrenees are sights I will always remember.”
Is anyone else in your family a birder as a result of your interest?
“Only casually, but I do get questions regarding identification and behavior, and sometimes how to get woodpeckers to stop drumming on their gutters or prevent robins from pecking at their own window reflections.”
What do you do for a living?
“Until April 2017 I was an accountant, specializing in tax work for individuals and small businesses as well as for not-for-profit organizations. Now I go birding. You needn’t ask which I prefer.”
And any other information that you would like to add would be terrific!
“I’m very grateful to the many birding friends I’ve been able spend time with over the decades, both for companionship and educational purposes, and especially to Gail Benson, who has been by my side since we met during the Wood Sandpiper stay in Rye back in 1990. Thank you all!” |
