My fondest memory of Todd was during a mid-spring day (I forget which year) when I attended a walk he was leading at Waddell Creek. Olive Sided Flycatchers had just returned for the summer and were singing up a storm on the high cliffs above us. It's a pretty distinctive song, and everyone could hear it and understand its mnemonic (quick-THREE-beers); but Todd stopped the group to tell us about what we were NOT hearing--the urgent pip-pip-pip call, and another call that I think I have never heard to this day. This, then, served as a springboard for a foray into bird names and why seemingly invisible traits (like the olive sides, or the red belly of the woodpecker) make it into bird names but other, more visible traits, do not. And so on. I was utterly charmed by the asides. It was an illustration of how bird identification could (and should) serve as a springboard for a whole host of other queries which make our lives richer. It was birding in its most expansive--and most human--sense. I have never experienced a bird walk like that again--ever.
Shantanu Phukan
