When Drew called me about the rare Yellow-throated Warbler, and I sent out the text message from my phone, I had to be concise but clear. "Fuertes" and "Renwick" are the same number of characters, but "Renwick" is, I think, a bit less ambiguous. "Renwick" refers to a couple streets in a neighborhood nearby, while I think there are several places named for Louis Agassiz Fuertes. Wasn't the pond- and feeder-viewing area inside the old Lab of O called the Fuertes Observatory? Isn't the auditorium at the current Lab which displays so many of his paintings also named for Fuertes? There are a couple of bronze plaques by the Swan Pond, one of which honors Fuertes, and the other talks about swans. Fuertes was a great artist, so I associate his name with his wonderful paintings and drawings more than with those woods. I see no disrespect in that. Official name or no, many people do and will call it the Renwick Sanctuary, including users of the new birding guide which the club just published (see p.21).
--Dave Nutter
On May 08, 2012, at 08:26 AM, Matthew Medler <m...@cornell.edu> wrote:
Hi All,The discovery of the Yellow-throated Warbler in the woods south of Stewart Park highlighted a question that I've wondered about for some time: why do most Ithaca birders refer to this area as "Renwick Woods" or "Renwick Bird Sanctuary" rather than "Fuertes Bird Sanctuary?" Based on the City of Ithaca's web site, it appears that the official name for this area is in fact "Fuertes Bird Sanctuary":http://www.ci.ithaca.ny.us/parks/stewartpark.cfmEven putting this aside, it's always puzzled me that Ithaca birders would favor the name of an early Ithaca settler over Louis Agassiz Fuertes. Not only is Fuertes one of America's greatest bird artists, but he is also one of our most illustrious Ithaca birding ancestors, having been very active in the Cayuga Bird Club and the local birding community for many years. I would think that we would want to celebrate Fuertes's name and use it to refer to the bird sanctuary that was named in his memory after his untimely death.I am truly interested in learning why it is that so many use the name Renwick to refer to the Fuertes Bird Sanctuary. But, in the absence of any compelling reason for favoring Renwick over Fuertes, I'd also encourage birders to use the sanctuary's official name and honor Fuertes's legacy in the process.Matt MedlerIthaca--Cayugabirds-L List Info:Archives:Please submit your observations to eBird!--
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