Bob Welch Honored by the WSO
By Kari Esbensen
A slide showing photos of Bob beside the Waupaca Biological Field Station sign and holding two Red-bellied Woodpeckers! Photo by Judith Huf.
Our friend, Bob Welch posthumously received the Bronze Pigeon Award from the Wisconsin Society of Ornithology at their annual conference in Two Rivers on May 11.
Bob's nominator was Rita Flores Wiskowski and the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin. Here's what Rita had to say about him:
"Bob Welch was a champion of those under-served in the conservation space and became a valued ally to the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin. He welcomed us warmly into the Waupaca Area Biological Field Station. He gave many of us the first opportunities in our lifetime to take part in bird banding, hold a live bird and learn about the importance of this community science endeavor. His life and career were dedicated to conservation, but just as much as he loved this cause, he loved people."
Bob's collaboration with the BIPOC Birding Club was one of the last and profoundly important things he did, and I believe, just as meaningful to him as to them. Rita, her co-collaborators, Dexter Patterson and Jeff Galligan (and now Sean Radcliffe), along with their ever-growing group of enthusiastic, positive, curious, fun and smart members are changing lives. They're changing the lives of people of color who for many generations have not felt safe or welcome in outdoor spaces or importantly, in rural America. They're changing the lives of people of color and their allies by connecting them with nature and exercise and positive social engagement. They're changing the lives of people of color and their allies by forging relationships with other like-minded people who care about birds, the planet, the other creatures with whom we share it and other people. And they're changing the lives of birds by helping new generations of people appreciate them, want to learn more about them, and to care about conservation.
If you haven't had a chance to listen to this interview on Milwaukee Public Radio with BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin last year during Bob's annual Bird Banding Jamboree at the Waupaca Biological Field Station, it's wonderful and so very beautifully captures what the BIPOC Birding Club and Bob forged together.
Thank you ever so much, Rita, Jeff and Dexter for blessing all of us who have come to know you. All of you are equally deserving of an award too.
Cover photo: Virginia Rail by Jeff Galligan
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