Hello Ontbirders
It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Richard Poulin of Ottawa. He lost his battle with esophageal cancer on Saturday, December 13 while at home surrounded by his family. Rick was a long-time and keen member of the Ottawa birding community, starting back in the late 1960s through to the early 1990s. Together with his birding friend Roger Foxall, he added several new species to the Ottawa–Gatineau bird list during that period. Rick was also far ahead of everyone else at the time in the careful study and field identification of gulls. He was an active member of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club during the 1970s, taking part in the spring and fall bird counts and leading many local outings. Rick helped me start the Dunrobin–Breckenridge Christmas Bird Count in 1981, and was the compiler of the Ottawa–Gatineau CBC for a number of years. Bird banding became a passion for Rick. He set up a banding station in the 1970s, just south of the Ottawa airport, and spent countless hours there banding during the spring and fall migration, as well as later projects on Common Redpoll, Loggerhead Shrike, Snowy Owl and Great Gray Owl. His redpoll work gave us a better understanding of the field identification of redpoll subspecies. He was a founding member of the Ottawa Banding Group now called the Innis Point Bird Observatory. Rick spent many years working in the Ornithology department of what is now called the Canadian Museum of Nature, where he was a superb field technician and preparator of specimens for the collections. Rick took me on my first birding road trip in August 1972 to Cape May, New Jersey. Included in the group were Jim Harris, Tom Hince, Bruce Mactavish, and Steve O’Donnell. We were all members of the ‘Ottawa Bike Gang’, a group of teenage ‘bicycling’ birdwatchers that also included Tom Plath, Mike Bentley and Mark Gawn. Rick was generous in sharing rarities and birding trips, and for mentoring a group of young birders. He will be fondly remembered, and sadly missed, by us all. Rick’s family invites friends to celebrate his life at their home on Saturday, December 20 between 1-4 p.m. at 46 Alberni St. in Barrhaven in southwest Ottawa, Ontario. Condolences can be e-mailed to Rick Poulin’s daughter, Angel, at [email protected] Bruce Di Labio Carp, Ontario Sent from Windows Mail _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
