Hi everyone, I just wanted to share the news of the passing of Orwin Rustad with the Minnesota birding community. He was 95 years old. For those unfamiliar, Orwin was the founder of River Bend Nature Center here in Faribault, as well as the creator of the Outdoor Classroom Nature Trails at Shattuck-St. Mary's School. He, along with Dr. George Rysgaard, started the Rice County Christmas Bird Count in 1951 and he never missed a single count since its inception. Orwin also had a hand in the formation of the original Rice County Bird Club.
Orwin earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from St. Olaf College in Northfield in 1942, and his master's degree in science education from the U of M in 1953. He also studied ornithology at Cornell University, and studied geology and natural history at Oslo University in Norway. Over the years, Orwin received numerous awards; many from local organizations, but he won the WCCO Good Neighbor Award as well. Orwin had a great interest in phenology, but his first love was birds and his interests started as a child of 11 years old, hearing an unfamiliar birdcall, tracking down the bird and sketching it. He sent the sketch to the US Biological Survey in Washington D.C. and was delighted to get a response describing the bird as a Horned Lark. In his 1997 book, "A Journal of Natural Events in Southeast Minnesota", Orwin describes the Horned Lark as his favorite bird. (Incidentally, Orwin's book was published right around the time I started birding, and words can't describe what an impact that book had on my life!) Along with his interests and studies of birds, mammals and plant-life, Orwin also banded birds for 47 years. Our neck-of-the-woods wouldn't be anywhere near as special as they are without the vision and accomplishments of Orwin Rustad. He will be missed, but his legacy will live on here for a long, long time. Good birding, Dave Bartkey Faribault, MN screechowl at charter.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080708/838991d9/attachment.html
