Frank's nephew forwarded this to me for posting on MDOsprey


 
 Members of Maryland birding community,

It is with great sadness that I post that Frank Powers of Glen Echo,
MD passed away on August 7, 2006.  

Mild-mannered and thoughtful, Frank was an avid reader of and
occasional poster to MDOsprey.  Those that birded with him will
remember someone always keen to learn more about all aspects of
birds, including the culture of those of us who watch and/or list
them.  I was fortunate to bird with him in a few of his favorite
haunts, stretching from the eastern shore of Virginia to the Canaan
Valley in West Virginia, and I always admired his patience,
thoughtfulness, skill, and his bottomless interest in and respect
for the natural world.  He never stopped asking questions about the
birds we were seeing or hearing, interested in their distribution,
abundance, identification, and behaviors; he never stopped sharing
observations he made during his birding trips.  Although I never
accompanied him along the C&O Canal in his neighborhood I have a
good idea of what it's like based on the regular bird lists he would
forward.     

After hearing the news I sat outside a motel near Lexington Park, MD
as daylight faded and watched hundreds of blackbirds (grackles,
mostly) flying overhead, streaming south to a presumed roost. Nearby
a mockingbird stood on the lawn, seeming to watch this river of
birds with me as it continued to flow above us.  The mockingbird,
aware but not distracted, began to dance about the lawn,
periodically freezing in place, slowly flicking its wings open and
closed.  After several patient efforts the bird lunged forward,
grabbed an insect that had flushed, and flew off to a low branch
across the lawn to where a second mockingbird waited.  The parent
passed the item to its offspring, which crouched low and fluttered
its wings. Both birds flew off, one following the other, across the
field. 

It is watching acts like this that I will always remember my times
with Frank, birding and non-birding.  Tenacious, patient, skillful,
sharing, attentive, and in the moment.  No bird was too common to
ignore, mockingbirds and blackbirds were as much part of the
experience as the Red-shouldered Hawks, Bald Eagles, and
Prothonotary Warblers he liked to study and photograph.  My
interactions with Frank deepened my appreciation of each bird, its
personality, its individualism, its interaction with its
environment.  Whether I'm birding or not, I aspire to continue to be
in the moment, attentive to the subtle nuances of each situation and
the greater whole, continuing to share selflessly as much as I can.


"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life
of the candle will not be dimmed. Happiness never decreases by being
shared."

Mike Powers (Frank's nephew)
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Ithaca, NY