Birds of Kent County--A. A. Wood

Things have been very slow with birds this week.  

Some migrant Sandhill Cranes were at Port Lambton on Tuesday, and more Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Stagnant weather all week, but tomorrow (Friday) things will change.  Strong northerly winds are forecast, so that will stir it up.

Recently I was given a re-typed copy of an unpublished manuscript by A. A. Wood.  It is entitled Birds of Kent County (1949).  It is actually quite comprehensive and contains a wealth of information about bird life in Kent up until that time.

Albert Andrew Wood (2 May 1885-2 April 1963) was a well-rounded naturalist.  He specialized in entomology and worked out of Strathroy at the Dominion Entomological Laboratory.  While there he prepared exhibits and developed a knack for displaying insects.  Throughout his life he also prepared mammal and bird skins.

In those days, birds were shot and collected.  Wood, over his lifetime, prepared hundreds of bird skins and later on he donated over 600 to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).

He also did quite a bit of writing, including many articles for The Canadian Field Naturalist (Ottawa).

At some point he decided to write a document about the birds of Kent County.  According to some reading I did, it arose as a result of discussions among a number people in the Kent Nature Club.  (The Kent Nature Club held its first meeting November 27, 1930 at the Chatham Public Library.  The club eventually became one of the charter members of the Ontario Federation of Naturalists which was formed in May 1931.  The Kent Nature Club existed until interest dwindled in the early 1980's).
The information came about from Wood's own observations as well as many other ornithologists/"birdwatchers" of the day.  It made use of research collections, mounted specimens, field notes, diaries and publications.  For example, Rev. Francis William Sandys of Chatham had quite a collection of mounted birds that were useful.

The book contained an annotated list of 271 species plus 22 additional hypothetical species known to occur in Kent County.

Wood also touched on previous ornithological work in Kent County, including London native Dr. W. E. Saunders (I wrote about him last winter), James L. Baillie (studied nests at Rondeau), and Dr. George Thomas McKeough of Chatham who wrote A List of Birds of Kent County (1924).

[I have a copy (reprint) of McKeough’s work that was published by the Kent Historical Society.  An original, from my Dad’s collection went to the local museum.]

A. A. Wood’s work included a list of nesting birds in Kent.  Another list was of the spring migration of birds giving the number of years observed, average date of arrival and earliest date.

After Wood’s death a brief biography was written late in 1964 by H. B. Wressel in The Canadian Field Naturalist.  Wressel was a keen naturalist living in Chatham and frequented Point Pelee.  By the way, past issues of The Canadian Field Naturalist can be viewed online!

It is unfortunate that the 100 page manuscript was never actually published as it paints an accurate picture of bird life in Kent up until the 1940’s.

Just for interest, the accompanying photo shows some handwriting on the inside cover of a booklet I picked up years ago at a used book store.  I am not sure the origin of it. The book is a ROM publication entitled No. 11:  BAIRD’S SPARROW, by B. W. Cartwright, T. M. Shortt and R. D. Harris (1937).