Birder: a person who identifies and studies birds in their natural habitats; synonym: bird watcher. Roger Wykes, Natural Area Preservation (NAP) volunteer since 1995, is certainly a birder. Asked why he does it, Roger responds that, in addition to the beauty and mystery of birds, he likes statistics and list making, and greatly enjoys the friendly competitive nature of birding.

Each year NAP likes to celebrate an extraordinary voluntter, who has gone over and above in the past year, or in the recent past. Here is Roger Wykes' story of volunteer at NAP.

In December 1993, John Swales (NAP volunteer & past Director of the English Language Institute at UM) wrote an article in the Washtenaw Audubon Society newsletter challenging other birders to find 200 bird species in a single year in Washtenaw County. Up to that point John had reached only 192. In May 1994 Roger found himself at 180, so he took John’s challenge. Stuck all summer at 196, Roger was contacted by an Ann Arbor News reporter. They went out birding from mid-day to sundown, a bit more than the reporter had anticipated. Pleased to find the resultant Sunday feature article quite accurate, Roger largely ignored its title, “Wing Nuts.” In January 1995 Roger & friends had a potluck celebrating the past birding year. Roger’s bird count had reached 212. He was surprised and delighted to receive the new Wing Nut trophy, which the group agreed to give to the birder with the highest count each year. “Of course, I didn’t intend to give the trophy up.” Over the succeeding years Roger has won the trophy seven times, and tied for it three additional times. His highest annual county record, 238 in 2005, will probably be broken this year by Bob Arthurs. Roger came to Ann Arbor for graduate study at the University of Michigan, earning a Masters in English Literature, and becoming acquainted with the zoology professor Marston Bates, an Entomologist, Epidemiologist, and author of a series of popular science books. Roger worked for Dr Bates for ten years as a private secretary, helping care for his exotic plants and animals, during which time Roger and his wife, Barbara held their wedding reception in the professor’s home. (Barbara was also a NAP volunteer!) Roger and Barbara have had many connections throughout the Ann Arbor community. They volunteered for the Ecology Center in various capacities, forming many lasting friendships. Barbara served as board president for five years and was chief fan for the Center’s softball team, on which Roger played several positions. As a Washtenaw Audubon member since 1974, Roger has led many local birding field trips and often helps with bird walks in Nichols Arboretum and elsewhere - introducing new birders to this activity. Roger also leads one section of the Ann Arbor Audubon Christmas Bird Count, and coordinates the International Migratory Bird Day in Washtenaw County on the second Saturday every May. The goals of these bird census are to understand where the birds are and what they are doing at those times in the year and to determine what we can do to assist them. Among Roger’s favorite bird species from Marshall Park, where he has been surveying breeding and migratory birds since 2001, are Broad-winged Hawk, Blue-headed Vireo, Hooded Warbler, and Summer Tanager. NAP would like to thank Roger for his work raising awareness and understanding about NAP’s winged friends. We look forward to further improving our natural areas management from Roger’s surveying and depth of knowledge. Jason Frenzel works for Natural Area Preservation and can be reached at 734.794.6627 or jfrenzel@a2gov.org