When retired International Paper scientist Warren Mumford and his wife Mary moved to Harwich four years ago, an interest in birds brought him to Wellfleet Bay where he asked then-volunteer coordinator Diane Silverstein what volunteer work was available. Her reply: “Front desk!”
Warren watches assistant bander Elora Grahame safely remove a Tufted Titmouse from a mist net.
The front desk may sound like an inevitable spot for a new volunteer, but as anyone who’s done the job soon discovers, it can be extremely busy, especially during the summer. It can also subject you to a barrage of questions. But as Warren sees it, it’s a job that provides great training and exposes volunteers to all aspects of the sanctuary—natural history education, exhibit hall and trail questions, a knowledge of public programs, and exposure to people from all over the world, some of them rather distinguished.
“For instance, the author Jared Diamond, who wrote the (Pulitzer Prize-winning) book Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, came in one day,” Warren says. “He lives in L.A. but comes to the Cape every year. He’s a big birder.”
At the other end of the spectrum, he recalls, was the visitor who expressed disappointment that the wildlife garden wasn’t in bloom in early spring.
Learning the correct hold for this Carolina Wren.
Warren’s front desk post led to his becoming a trail naturalist. This spring he became a volunteer at the bird banding station where he says he’s enjoyed hanging out with master bander James Junda and banding assistant, Elora Grahame, and getting a chance to expand his understanding of birds.
“You don’t just see birds up close. You get to know their physiology and habits. I enjoy checking the (mist) nets and hearing about the research James and Elora have done,” he says.
Warren, who also scours Chatham’s Morris Island to look for dead seabirds as part of a long-range seabird ecology study, says he’s not the kind of birder who drives from hotspot to hotspot to locate special birds. “I just like to combine birding with exercise” he says. “Looking for birds makes a walk much more interesting.”
And Warren knows a lot about walks. He aspires to become a member of the Adirondack 46ers, a club for people who’ve climbed all 46 high peaks of those mountains. To date he’s hiked an amazing thirty-three!
Warren surveying the flatter terrain of the bird box field.