Claudia Wilds Library at Black Hill

Howard Youth (hmyouth@erols.com)
Mon, 28 Sep 1998 11:16:23 -0400 (EDT)


Dear Ospreyers,

Below is the text of a press release MCC-MOS has distributed regarding the
collection of Claudia Wilds' books that is now housed at the Black Hill Reg.
Park Visitor Center. Please note that summer hours are listed; you should
call for fall hours before you plan to visit.

Note also that a good portion of Claudia's shorebird, gull, and seabird
books are now part of the library at the Audubon Naturalist Society's
Woodend headquarters in Bethesda. The staff has requested that you call
before you plan to stop by. The phone is 301-652-9188 X3019.

Most of Claudia's books that deal with waterfowl, birds of the world,
general birds and birding, and species profiles can be found and read at
Black Hill. Books cannot be checked out, and they cannot be taken (believe
it or not, the park staff have seen several people, apprently birders,
walking off with books!). The press release is below. Claudia was a
wonderful mentor to many area birders and has left us a generous gift in her
library. Hopefully many of us will put her books to good use.

Howard Youth
hmyouth@erols.com
Rockville, MD

Montgomery County Chapter of the				
Maryland Ornithological Society				


PRESS RELEASE

Birdwatcher's Library Opens at Montgomery County Park

	The Montgomery County Chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society
(MCC-MOS) announces the opening of a bird-related library at Black Hill
Regional Park in upper Montgomery County. Claudia Wilds, one of the
Washington area's best-known bird authorities, left her entire book
collection to the MCC-MOS, which has installed most of the library at the
park, where it is available for free public use. The organization, with the
permission of the Black Hill Regional Park staff, installed the
non-circulating reference library on June 9, a year after Wilds' death.

	The library is now open at the park's visitor center, where park naturalist
Denise Gibbs reports that it has already been heavily used, especially on
weekends. The collection of 365 books is housed in oak bookcases donated by
MCC-MOS. Reference materials include field guides, site guides, species
accounts, and books about birds of the world. 

	The library is dedicated to its former owner, Claudia Wilds. Wilds, an
expert on Washington area birds and the world's shorebirds, gulls, and
terns, left her mark on the local birding community in many ways. She served
on the boards of the Maryland Ornithological Society and Virginia Society
for Ornithology (VSO), was president of MCC-MOS, and from 1973 to 1990 was
the voice of the "Voice of the Naturalist," a local rare bird tape weekly
issued by the Audubon Naturalist Society (ANS). Wilds was a consultant for
the popular National Geographic Society Field Guide to the Birds of North
America, an assistant-to-the-editor of the national magazine of the American
Birding Association Birding, a contributor to the National Audubon Society's
three-volume Master Guide to Birding, and author of Finding Birds in the
National Capital Area. She regularly led field trips for the MCC-MOS, ANS,
and VSO, and influenced thousands of birdwatchers. Born in Hyannis,
Massachusetts in 1931, Wilds had been a Washington area resident since 1958.
On June 8, 1997, she died, after a year-long battle with cancer. At the time
of her death, Wilds was working on a book detailing the natural history and
identification of the world's terns and skimmers.

	Wild's library is housed at the Black Hill Regional Park Visitor Center,
located at 20926 Lake Ridge Drive in Boyds, Maryland. The visitor center and
library are open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week. (Fall hours will
differ; call for details.) Admission is free. For more information, call
(301) 972-3476.

###
 
Howard Youth
Rockville, MD
hmyouth@erols.com