Date: 12/31/24 5:53 am From: Walker Golder (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: John Fussell
North Carolina has lost a great person in the bird world. I got to know John in the mid 1980s as part of NC's early waterbird surveys. I consulted him often in the decades thereafter about various areas of the coast. Rest assured, he had been there. He was always glad to chat and would share the unwritten history of the regular birds and the rarities at the site. Birders visiting the coast from other states would often call my office seeking information about where they could see a particular bird. John’s book- A Birder’s Guide to Coastal North Carolina -was (and remains) the source for finding birds on the coast. I always recommended John’s book and occasionally received a call back from folks impressed with the thorough and detailed information. But that’s who I found John to be.
Derb summed it up perfectly. We will all miss him. RIP John Fussell.
Walker Golder
> On Dec 28, 2024, at 8:46 PM, Derb Carter (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> wrote:
>
> North Carolina lost a giant in the birding community with the passing of John Fussell in Morehead City. John was a fixture in NC birding for sixty years starting as a teenager, pursuing hi interest at NC State, then returning to Morehead City. He knew the birds and every birding corner along his beloved NC coast like no one else. In fact, he wrote the book. UNC Press published his Birder's Guide to Coastal North Carolina in 1994 and it remains the definitive guide.
>
> John eagerly volunteered to lead field trips at CBC meetings, Wings Over Water, and other gatherings and many birders in the Carolinas got to know him through these trips. The one thing you could almost be certain of on one of John's trips is you were going to get your feet soaked within the first hour. If the shortest way was dry, John would take the long way through the marsh or tidal flats on the chance of flushing a rail, sparrow, or wren.
>
> John was also well known outside the state as THE guy who could show you your first Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Swainson's Warbler, or Black Rail. His knowledge of NC coastal birds and birding sites was unparalleled.
>
> He also cared deeply about protecting important habitats and as an accomplished naturalist contributed his knowledge and observations to the identification and preservation of lands by state and federal agencies and conservation organizations. In recent years, he frequently visited the massive wetland restoration project at North River Farms documenting the changing bird communities as the wetlands are restored.
>
> John was understated and it was hard to tell when he was excited. In 1982 I found a Masked Duck on a lake in the Croatian Forest. I didn't have a way to document it so called John and he raced over with his camera. After an extended search we relocated it and John got photos, about the most excited I ever saw him. A few years later some of us were birding on Pea Island dikes at the end of a long day when John walked up. We exchanged greetings and started talking about mundane things when John casually mentioned "Oh, I just had a Northern Wheatear in Avon." We, of course, all raced down to see this first documented NC record.
>
> In 1986, John, Ricky Davis, Merrill Lynch, Allen Bryan, and I decided to see how many species we could see in NC in one day, a Big Day. John was working on the Outer Banks at the time and when we made it there in the afternoon he had staked out numerous rarities, like a Black-billed Cuckoo he on a hunch found in a tent caterpillar infested tree. We kept ticking through birds including rails and bittern at night and at midnight had recorded 184 species, a record still standing after nearly four decades. It would never have happened without John.
>
> John was an avid participant in Christmas Bird Counts, including the Morehead City count he started as a teenager and ran for over 60 years. He also participated every year in the Wilmington CBC which will be held next weekend. John always covered undeveloped Masonboro Island. Sun, wind, rain, or snow he would be dropped off on the north end by boat first thing in the morning and walk the eight and a half miles to the south end to be picked up late afternoon. The gulls, terns, shorebirds, and pelicans will be looking for him on Saturday and will miss him. We will all miss him.
>
> Derb Carter
>
> I have attached a profile of John from a few years ago.
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://coastalreview.org/2017/02/19052/__;!!OToaGQ!qhlQ9vu33qq0Fdzpp2p1Yrp50VMLYMDFI5CMXnzWg1ZIil_qCCW4bySQfLkk5cT77F1sEnfe8vdwJW7GYWJAO2z7Cw$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://coastalreview.org/2017/02/19052/__;!!OToaGQ!sNj6d1utyL8cJfHBsh1hsWDohHzryf2jSS7Itco32bOzCCNSPLLBZvRzMNRhq5OyCmHkA3CmMweUzxFdDIVE$>
