Date: 3/11/26 10:49 pm From: Liam Taylor via CTBirds <ctbirds...> Subject: [CT Birds] Remembering Jim Hunter
I am so sorry to learn that Jim Hunter has passed away.
The story my mother tells is that, when we first moved from the city, she looked outside to see my older brother playing in the gravel driveway, because he was scared to play in the grass. She whisked us off to the nearby nature center in Westport. This was such good luck - the three of us kids would go on to spend our young lives learning from Jim.
Jim taught me how to listen for a bird song, and feed a vulture, and dust off a Passenger Pigeon, and catch a frog, and say the word *trichoptera*. He taught me that it is cool and good and right to know things. He was the first person I ever saw ask a real question about biology. Jim at the chalkboard: *what does it mean*, for example,* to say that something is alive?* A moment ago I said that Jim had passed away. I know about humans and animals and the earth and our place in it; I wonder if he'd prefer me to say he's dead. I know he would have liked me asking the question.
I've had a miraculous number of miraculously good teachers in my life. The one I emulate the most is Jim Hunter. In 2024, I dedicated my PhD thesis to Jim and Grit. My family and I will miss him terribly.
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