More Than Birds by Val Shushkewich

Author:Val Shushkewich
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: 2012-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

Percy A. Taverner (left) with Allan C. Brooks.

Canadian Museum of Nature, Neg. No. 56275.

Prior to this time, the great bird nurseries in eastern Canada were being destroyed. Bird Rocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence had formerly been the nesting site of as many as one hundred thousand breeding pairs of Northern Gannets, the largest Northern Gannet colony in the world. By 1916, only about 450 pairs remained due to the unbridled clubbing to death of gannets.[9] Also at the time, there was unjustified discrimination against some sea birds. The federal government fisheries department was demanding that the Percé Rock cormorant colony be exterminated, as it was a threat to fish stocks. Taverner and Gordon C. Hewitt, who was the dominion entomologist in the Department of Agriculture and a strong proponent for conservation, advised the Minister of Marine and Fisheries to rescind the order.[10] The minister granted a stay of execution, which allowed Taverner time for a field trip to Percé Rock to evaluate the alleged threat. He found no sign of seabird depredations on the local fishery, but did find ample evidence that local fishermen were wantonly destroying eggs and slaughtering young and adult seabirds in great numbers.

Horrified by what he had seen, Taverner made a report to the federal Commission for Conservation, calling for Percé Rock, Bonaventure Island, and Bird Rocks to be made bird sanctuaries.[11] He supported his recommendations by publishing a study of the stomach contents of the Double-crested Cormorants nesting on Percé.[12] He also made a study of the Northern Gannets nesting on Bonaventure, which contained a strong plea that the island be preserved permanently as a national resource.[13] Taverner succeeded in his cause, and in 1919 all these sites were designated as bird sanctuaries.

Taverner published nearly three hundred articles and books until his retirement in 1942. The ornithological topics he wrote about include distribution in Canada, systematics, taxonomy, nomenclature, vernacular names, migration, banding, conservation, economic aspects, effects of pesticides on birds, behaviour, and numerous book reviews.[14] He was a member and active participant in the affairs of the major North American ornithological societies. In 1926, he accepted the responsibility of hosting the first Canadian meeting of the American Ornithologists’ Union in Ottawa. There his book Birds of Western Canada, which had just been published, was distributed free to attendees.[15] In addition to his official functions, he encouraged naturalists and ornithologists in the pursuit of their interests, giving many of them sound advice suited to their individual circumstances.

Aside from his ornithological passion, Taverner was “very fond of music and enjoyed the musical evenings at his house…. He liked the old-time songs and his memory of them was truly astounding. He knew the words of all of them…. Rock gardening, photography, and book-binding were his principal hobbies … for years he made his own Christmas cards, some being drawings carrying an original idea and others photographs, usually of birds.”[16]

In summary, Percy Algernon Taverner was the foremost Canadian ornithologist of the first half of the twentieth century.

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