Date: 10/13/25 6:12 am From: Jon Woolf <jsw...> Subject: Re: [NHBirds] The passing of Don Stokes
Lousy, rotten news. I will miss him.
I can confirm he was a regular at the Pack Monadnock hawkwatch for
several years -- the first few years I went there, that would be
2005-10, he and Lillian were often there on the occasions that I was
able to get there.
-- Jon Woolf
Manchester, NH
On 10/12/2025 7:03 PM, 'Steve Mirick' via NHBirds wrote:
> It is with great sadness that I post the passing of Don Stokes. Don
> and Lillian lived in SW New Hampshire in latter years and for a while
> and I believe were somewhat regular on Pack Monadnock. I can not add
> to the fantastic tribute given to him by his wife Lillian.
>
> Steve Mirick
> Bradford, MA
>
>
>> 10/7/25 - On a beautiful October day, after a
>> harvest-full-moon-Great-Horned-Owls-calling night, my beloved
>> husband, Don, age 78, died, then a Raven flew over my head. After
>> a long 9-year decline, Don died of Lewy Body Dementia in a
>> dementia facility he had been in for three plus years. I was with
>> him in the afternoon, and even though he was unconscious, I think
>> he heard me when I asked for two things: that he wait to die
>> until my daughter got there (she did, and my son had visited in
>> the morning) and that he send me a Raven, his favorite bird,
>> after he died. After I had visited him, I had to run an errand,
>> and my daughter, who was with him, then called to say he was
>> gone. I drove back, and when I pulled into the parking lot and
>> got out of the car, a Raven swooped down, flew low right over my
>> head, and landed briefly on a nearby building, and then was gone.
>> Rest in peace, Don, may you fly with the Ravens.
>>
>> You all know him as a loving, kind, humorous, gifted teacher and
>> deeply spiritually connected to nature. In place of a formal
>> obit, let me tell you some things about Don you may or may not know.
>>
>> Don was born in Philadelphia into a Quaker family and went to
>> Germantown Friends School, then Swarthmore College, majoring in
>> Comparative Religions. He was a talented musician who could sing,
>> play the piano, and was an excellent tabla hand drum player. He
>> even spent time in Calcutta, India, studying with a tabla guru there.
>>
>> After college, Don moved to Berkeley, California, and in the
>> hills kept careful and beautiful journals of the nature he
>> encountered. He soon realized he was seeing things that little
>> was known about. That planted the seed that later led him to
>> begin writing about nature. After returning to Massachusetts, he
>> taught at the Warehouse Cooperative School, where he met Bill
>> Phillips, an editor at Little, Brown and Company/Hachette, whose
>> daughter attended the school. Bill accepted Don's first book,
>> Nature in Winter, and went on to become Don's editor for many years.
>>
>> Don then began teaching at the Massachusetts Audubon Society and
>> was in the process of writing a bird behavior guide when he met
>> Lillian (already an avid hawk-watcher who came from a background
>> in animal behavior and psychiatric social work), who took his
>> course on Bird Behavior. As they say, the rest is history. Don
>> and Lillian got married and over more than 30 years produced 35
>> Stokes Guides, including 3 volumes on bird behavior (instrumental
>> in introducing a holistic approach to birds), backyard books such
>> as the Bird Feeder, Hummingbird, and Bluebird books, beginner's
>> guides, and the national The Stokes Field Guide to Birds of North
>> America. Stokes' books have sold over 6 million copies. Don and
>> Lillian produced and hosted the first PBS national television
>> series on birds, Birdwatch with Don and Lillian Stokes, as well
>> as Stokes Birds at Home, which 40 million viewers saw. They gave
>> keynote talks and taught at birding festivals and Audubon
>> societies across the country for many years. They were Duck Stamp
>> Judges and received a Partners in Flight National Conservation
>> Award. Don belonged to many nature and conservation
>> organizations, including the Nuttall Ornithological Club.
>>
>> Befitting his beautiful, spiritual side, Don was a student of
>> Haiku poetry, writing it for many years. Here is a fitting example.
>>
>> Entering the wilds
>>
>> Equipped to look at nature –
>>
>> Wait! I am nature.
>>
>> Don will be buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in MA (a famous birding
>> hotspot) on Goldfinch Path (how fitting!!). There will be a
>> private family Celebration of Life as per his wishes. If you
>> would like to do something in remembrance of Don, send a
>> contribution to the nature, birding, or conservation organization
>> of your choice. Thank you.
>>
>> Lillian Stokes
>>
>>
>
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