[cobirds] Duane Nelson Receives RMBO's prestigious Rich Levad Award

Duane Nelson has been a pillar of the Colorado birding community for decades and a friend, teacher and guide to many 

of us. Karen Levad, the widow of famed RMBO field biologist Rich Levad, presented the Rich Levad Award to Duane at the Rocky

Mountain Bird Observatory's annual Barbecue for the Birds on a sunny day, Saturday, August 25, at the Old Stone House near Barr Lake. 

"This award recognizes persons who have provided distinguished service to the ornithological community, made scholarly contributions

to the field of ornithology and/or have enthused others about conserving birds and their habitats through sharing their personal knowledge

and experience throughout the Rocky Mountain Region."

Karen was beaming, Duane was both humble and proud, and the crowd of over 200 applauded vigorously. Duane's daughter,

Linnea, and many of  his birding buddies were present, including a blast from the past in the person of David

Martin, who birded with Duane and maintained the Rare Bird Alert "back in the day" when it was called "The Tape."

Among Duane Nelson's many achievements over the decades included his discovery of and tireless work at the Dinosaur Ridge Hawkwatch Site

in the early 1990's. He was chair of the CFO's Bird Record Committee, received the DFO's Ptarmigan Award, and has been a major contributor to both 

Colorado's Breeding Bird Atlas I and Atlas II.

In fact Duane's "life's work" over the past 22 years to study, manage and conserve Colorado's Piping Plovers and Least Terns closely parallels the work 

of Rich Levad himself, who for decades studied and taught us about the Black Swift, "The Coolest Bird." Duane has personally led hundreds, even thousands of interested birders to

view and admire the plovers and terns. As one qualified observer said it, "It is fair to say that without his dedicated efforts we would not have breeding Piping Plovers 

and Least Terns anywhere in Colorado."

I could go on, but want to close with Duane's personal recollection of his friend and colleague, Rich Levad. "Rich Levad was a birding luminary to me. The 

last time I spent time with him we did Black Rail surveys for RMBO in Bent County together. RIch could no longer drive, and his son that for us, but Rich

was alive with excitement about the rails and their habitat. I treasured his friendship and passion for making the world a better place."

Heartfelt congratulations, Duane Nelson!

 

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