Lawrence H. Walkinshaw
"To love Whooping Cranes, Sandhill Cranes, and Kirtland's Warblers was easy for Larry Walkinshaw. Saving them from extinction engulfed his life." So begins the Introduction to Lowell M. Schake's book, On the Wings of Cranes: Larry Walkinshaw's Life Story.
Walkinshaw's 40-year career as a dentist in Battle Creek was paralleled by an even more impressive and virtually lifelong dedication as a citizen-scientist to providing the necessary knowledge base to help protect the three species from extinction. Born in Calhoun County in 1904, he said he was only five or six years old when first fascinated by birds. Through the years, he researched birds on nearly all continents and came to be recognized as the "greatest bird-nest finder of all time." In 1931, while camping in the northern part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, he discovered a nest of the Kirtland's Warbler, then in 1932 became the first person to band one of the birds. Walkinshaw wrote numerous articles and several books about cranes and the Kirtland's Warbler, including The Sandhill Cranes (1949), The Cranes of the World (1973) and The Kirtland's Warbler: The Natural History of an Endangered Species (1983).
In 1941, Walkinshaw was instrumental in the establishment of the Michigan Audubon Society's 491-acre Baker Sanctuary in Calhoun County. What was once called the "Big Marsh" was a summer nesting spot for sandhill cranes, and coincidentally where as a teenager he had hunted squirrels and rabbits.
Walkinshaw had his first sandhill crane observation in 1921. By the time of his death in 1993, he was recognized as one of the world's foremost authorities on cranes.
To discover more visit these web sites:
Lawrence H. Walkinshaw: Bird Man of the World (Michigan Out-of-Doors, MUCC)
In Memoriam: Lawrence H. Walkinshaw (Stephen A. Nesbitt, Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission, Wildlife Research Laboratory)
