David Hussell 1934 - 2015

[Fern Davies]

David John Trevis Hussell, a Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union since 1991, died suddenly on 10 April 2015. David helped found the Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) in 1960 and served as its first Executive Director from 1974 -1982, developing most of the program areas carried on today by Bird Studies Canada (BSC), itself a creation of LPBO.  He continued to be involved in LPBO and BSC research activities throughout his subsequent employment as Research Scientist for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and throughout retirement. 

 

 

 

David Hussell examines an American Three-toed Woodpecker

 

In each of the past 8 years he did summer field work in Iqaluit, Nunavut.  David published research papers on a wide variety of species and topics and was still preparing new papers at the time of his death.  He received numerous awards recognizing his work, including life-time achievement awards from the Society of Canadian Ornithologists, the Hawk Migration Association of North America and the Linnaean Society of New York.  He is perhaps best known for foundational work on using counts of migrating birds as a means of tracking population change in Canada’s remote boreal forest.  Always curious about how the natural world works, he inspired similar interests in numerous student volunteers who are now also professional biologists.