Date: 10/14/25 3:39 am From: Cynthia Nichols <cnichols...> Subject: Re: [NHBirds] The passing of Don Stokes
Thank you for letting us know Steve.
Don was always so welcoming on Pack and especially kind with young
birders:) I’ll never forget how he would enthusiastically support the kids
when they spotted birds - Ravens,, TVs, or hawks - he cheered them along.
Such a nice person
Cynthia Nichols, MS, BSN, RN
Volunteer & Board Member:
New Hampshire Healthy Climate: nhclimatehealth.org
Certified Climate Change Resilience, Antioch University
(603) 508 - 1594
*Please Text Me *if you're not getting a quick response and need to reach
me - it's a challenge to get to my email these days!!
On Sun, Oct 12, 2025 at 7:03 PM 'Steve Mirick' via NHBirds <
<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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