Thank You Bob Mayer!

For more than 20 years Bob Mayer, a lifetime member of the BBC, has led field trips at Arnold Arboretum and nearby locations. Bob let us know that he is going to stop leading walks on a regular basis due to age and not hearing the birds as well. Since he started leading walks in 2004, Bob estimates that he has led around 200 walks, mostly in the Arboretum but also in other locations such as Olmsted Park/Leverett Pond, and the Boston Nature Center.

Bob is so appreciated as a leader in the Arboretum area that when we asked other leaders to offer a field trip there they said “that’s Bob’s place” until we explained that he was retiring as a leader. Some of the people who are leading trips in the area can remember walks led by Bob as among their early birding experiences and that he is in some way a part of how they became birders and birding leaders. (Bob has asked to stay on our field trip leaders email list and, if we are lucky, will surprise us with a spontaneous field trip.)

Here are a photos taken by Stephen Baird showing Bob leading one of his earlier walks. We love to see how everyone is having a good time!

Bob has contributed to birding in many other ways over the years.

He created a blog with some wonderful pages and images of birds.

During Covid, he hosted a virtual walk with the Brookline Greenspace Alliance .

Over the years he has also helped with Christmas Bird Count, the Breeding Bird Atlas, and contributed multiple articles to Bird Observer. He has also helped rescue an injured Great Horned Owl with Andrew Joslin, and worked with Brendan Keegan on the NestWatch program.

Bob has also been a volunteer docent and field guide for elementary school students at the Arboretum for many years. He is retiring from that as well. In recognition and appreciation, his fellow volunteers recently threw a surprise party and gave him a nice photo book celebrating his time at the Arboretum.

We want to thank Bob for his years of trip leadership and support for birds and birding. Inspired by his friends at the Arboretum, we created a pair of picture mugs as a thank you gift. Here he is with these holding the mugs along with recognition from the BBC.