•4' AmericanBirds, hismost popular books, The ersanyshare scientists the daydreamandbird- Imperative Call, Skutch • ofslipping the leash of civi- writes: "Two voices summon -• • • lization,vanishing into the menwith a callso imperative • • ' wildernessto studyand enjoy thatfew who hear clearly can • "- •... naturewithout restraintor resist.One is the voice ofrdi- • interruption.The great escape gion,which bids us abandon isstill possible, but it requires allmundane pursuits and seek holiness,God, and life ever- Nature lured AlexanderSkutch lasting.The other is the voice to thetropics and Costa Rica, giving the of nature, which invites us to fill ourspirits with its beauty worlda•rich, important voice for birds. and wonder and challenges us a single-mindednessthatbor- to disclosesome of itsclosdy derson passion.One must hiddensecrets. Obeying either hear the call. ofthese voices, we may neglect Alexander E Skutch heard nearlyeverything that pru- it while a youngsterin the dent men esteem and strenu- Piedmonthills of Maryland. ouslyseek: wealth, security, The siren lured him to the solid comfort, and socialsta- '•tropics,and he has spent most tus.We mayeven abandon of the last five decadeswatch- family,friends, and homeland ingbirds in a remotevalley in to follow the call into a wilder- south-centralCosta Rica. From nesswhere perils lurk." there,Skutch has launcheil a Because of his books, seriesof booksand papers, ind_udingA Bird Watcher5 charmingand important, that Adventuresin 3opicalAmer- placehim high in thepan- ica and A Naturalist in Costa theonof tropicalnaturalistsl Riea,the storyof howa shy, ' ByChris Wille In the foreword to one of introspectiveboy from the Volume 47, Number I ß25 Marylandsuburbs became the shy, introspective botany that I hadrecently earned, I mighthave leadingauthority on the birds of Mesoamericais relinquishedit without protest." well known. The intoxicatedyoung botanist underwent a At the ageof 16, in 1920,young Alec was transformation on that Panama banana farm. His spendinga lot of timealone in thehardwoods missionwas to investigatethe anatomy of banana behindhis home, reading. plants,and he passed dutiful hours peering through "Afterreading Shelley's poetry and essays, I a microscopeat green tissue. But his attention was couldnot continue to eatthe flesh of slaughtered diverted by a Rufous-tailedHummingbird that animals,a refusal that brought me into conflict beganbuilding a nestoutside the laboratory win- withmy father and the family doctor, my uncle, dow.Skutch carefully recorded every stage as the whopredicted, falsely, that my health would suf- nesttook shape, eggs appeared, and tiny chicks fer,"remembers Skutch. pippedtheir way into his world. He wascaptivat- This was well be- edand vowed to devotehis life to probingthe forevegetarianism was secretlives of tropicalbirds. • • in the least fashion- Skutchwandered the wild, skinny,bird-rich able.Skutch now sup- isthmusof CentralAmerica, living out of a knap- posesthat "it put me sack,sleeping on floors. To survive,he collected aparta bit (fromsoci- andsold plant specimens. He alsobegan sending ety),which probably articlesnorth. In 1934,Bird-Lore magazine, the • madeit easierfor me precursortoAudubon, published "Familiar Birds tospend all those years in TheirWinter Homes," by Alexander Skutch. alone." The refusal to The naturalisttrekked through Costa Rica, willingly causethe Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. In 1940, deathor injury of a fel- whenthe United States Department ofAgriculture low creature also be- wantedto investigatethe possibility of rubber cul- camea centralplank tivationin SouthAmerica, Skutch joined the ex- on which Skutch has peditionas chief botanist and explored the western builta fascinatingand Amazonaboard a Peruvian gunboat. controversialpersonal Usuallyhe had no agenda except the one set by philosophy. the bird in his view at the moment. Much of what S kutch went to Skutchrecorded in hisdetailed journals was new A Speclded JohnHopkins University in pursuitof a degreein to science. The birds of Mesoamerica were little Tanager at the Skutch fatal in botany.A graduateschool field trip took him to knownat thetime. There were no fieldguides Costa Rica. Jamaica.It was his first time in thetropics. He was otherthan Bertha Bement Sturgis' Field Book of hooked.Before long, he was on a UnitedFruit Birdsof the Panama Canal Zone (1928) and James Companysteamer bound for Panama with a fel- Bond'sBirds of the West Indies, which was pub- lowshipto study the banana plant. lishedeight years later. Uponarrival in PanamaCity, Skutch drank in In orderto identifybirds, Skutch took impec- thesensory vapors of thefecund land. Later he cablenotes, and then--sometimes years later in a wrote:"As I lookback across the years, I thinkit museumor library--hecombed the literature and was here that I first succumbed to the fascination sortedstuffed specimens to puta nameto the of LatinAmerica, its romantic scenery, its tragic wordpictures he had drawn. Even in thelargest history,its vast variety of animaland vegetable libraries, references to tropical birds were scant. life;I believeit was here that I beganto fallunder Skutch'sbest ally at thetime was Robert Ridgway's thatCirce's spell which at various difficult periods encyclopedicbut pictureless The Birds of North in thefollowing years I tried in vainto exorcise." andMiddle America (1901-1919). He stayedin a companycamp beside the Therewas an easierway, of course;Skutch ChanguinolaLagoon on Panama'sCaribbean couldhave simply shot his anonymous quarry and Coast.The plant life attacked both his senses and sent the skins to a museum for identification. But hisconfidence. He recalls:"An overwhdming pro- hisevolving philosophy, which relates to ahimsa, fusionof strange plants and animals, for which I "an ancient Indian ethic of universal harmless- lackedfield guides, induced a stateof pleasant ness,"prevented him from resorting to birdshot. excitementnot unmixed with despair. Had any- The rewardfor thispatience was an intimate onechallenged my right to holdthe doctorate in familiaritywith the birds. AmericanBirds, Spring 1993 romthe beginning, Skutch hasbeen able to winteringhabits)." Greenberg, director of the makehis observations in a literarystyle that is SmithsonianMigratory Bird Center,studies bothuseful to thescientist and popular with a ncotropicalmigrants in Mexico. broadspectrum ofreaders. On thatPeruvian gun- Thoughthe trendhas been to studylarge boat,he wrote: "The gem of all the leathered crea- groupsor populations,Greenberg says, "Skutch's turesthat I met herewas a Yellow-billedJacamar, observations--sometimes of an individual bird or a slender,long-tailed, alert bird, about the size of family--havethe ring of truth;some have been an oriole,with a long,sharp beak. All hisupper fundamental." plumagewas the most intense metallic green, with Skutchplaces his exploits midway on thecon- reflectionsof violetand gold. Below, he was a tinuumbetween the great pioneering naturalists deep,rich chestnut, and his outer tail feathers suchas Audubon, Wilson, and ThomasBelt ( The were cinnamon. Doubtlesshis nest, like that of Naturalistin Nicaragua,1888) and today's special- otherjacamars, was hidden away in a burrowin ized,conference-going scientists. While he came somesteep bank, or in a hard,black termitary." wellafter the pioneers, he chose a terraincognita, With thesedescriptive powers and his now leg- tropicalAmerica, where the trailswere poorly endaryobservational skills, Skutch eventually markedand the wildlife virtually unknown. He compiledthe three-volume œ/• Histories ofCentral remainedindependent and unbcholdcn.And AmericanBirds, published by the Cooper Skutch conductedhis studieswithout mist nets, OrnithologicalSociety, from 1954 to 1969. legbands, radio telemetry, teams of assistantsor Costa I•cun coun- These life histories are the bedrock of Meso- tryside near the computerizeddata bases. Even his binoculars were home of Alexander americanornithology, but some biologists under- of thelow-end variety normally seen slung around Skutch and his the necksof fans at stock-carraces. wife Pamela. Much valuethem because they are written with flair, an land has been con- absenceof jargon,no fear ofanthropomorphism, Skutchis tall and thin, with a faintlyaristocratic vetted from forest andan obvious personal attachment tothe subjects. bearing. Almost 90, he still walks the trails look- to fan land. Now,with migratory songbirds in decline, sci- ingfor birds, graciously receives unexpected visi- entistsare racing to understandtheir ecological tors, and seems to be increasing hiswriting output. needs,especially in the tropics. One of thosesci- Havingjust published Origins of Nature} Beauty, entists,Russell Greenberg, says, "For a whole he is nowcorrecting the galley-proofsof A rangeof birds,Skutch is still all we have (on their Naturalistin CostaRica•in Spanish.He didthe Volume 47, Number translationof his 1971 classic years ago and finally Sfinchezsays of theman he considers a mentor. foundan eager publisher. "Skutchis unique, a classicnaturalist in themod- ernera. He isan Audubon for this region." Whiletraipsing around the tropics and prob- !beenhile hiselucidated opinions inare writing,strongly Skutch held andventures have ingthe lives of birds,Skutch began asking classic themquietly in conversation--aretiring evange- surveyquestions. For example, seasonal changes in list. He knows that some are controversial and colorationare rare among the resident birds of thathis presentation of data, which blends