The last of James W. Eike's field notebooks, this one captures his bird observations during the last three months of his life, November 1982 to January 1983. Always dedicated to documenting the birds in his area, Eike kept a daily list of the various birds mostly around his home on Newman Road in Fairfax, Virginia. It includes a clipping about the lunar eclipse that happened on December 29, 1982. Especially noteworthy, his wife Claire resumed his work about a month after his passing and included a note which begins "My dearly beloved, I'll keep trying to get a good list..." The observations often note the number and sex of the birds as well as weather information. ** Thank you to the volunteers who helped transcribe his field notes. **
The last of James W. Eike's field notebooks, this one captures his bird observations during the last three months of his life, November 1982 to January 1983. Always dedicated to documenting the birds in his area, Eike kept a daily list of the various birds mostly around his home on Newman Road in Fairfax, Virginia. It includes a clipping about the lunar eclipse that happened on December 29, 1982. Especially noteworthy, his wife Claire resumed his work about a month after his passing and included a note which begins "My dearly beloved, I'll keep trying to get a good list..." The observations often note the number and sex of the birds as well as weather information. ** Thank you to the volunteers who helped transcribe his field notes. **
James W. Eike was not a professional ornithologist. He was a U.S. civil servant, working in several different federal organizations over the course of his career. But his passion for birds and bird watching filled his days. Over the course of fifty years, he rarely missed a day recording the birds he saw in northern Virginia and the surrounding areas. His notes include weather conditions and events that stood out to him, such as family or local events.
A native of Woodbridge, Virginia, Eike joined the Virginia Society of Ornithology (VSO) in 1933, in the year between his graduation from Georgetown University and the beginning of his career as a federal civil servant. Eike was an active member and officer of the VSO for the rest of his life, participating in numerous field trips and bird counts sponsored by the VSO and the Audubon Naturalist Society in addition to his daily bird watching.
