In June of 2000, the Webster Groves Nature Study Society dedicated a bird fountain in memory of the late Richard A. Anderson. The fountain is located in Forest Park in Saint Louis, near the trailhead on the John F. Kennedy Memorial Forest (red dot on map). The circumstances surrounding the fountain are described in the following letter.
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Webster Groves
Nature Study Society
P.O. Box 190065 Saint Louis, Missouri 63119-6065 24
June 2000
Anabeth CalkinsManager, Forest Park 5600 Clayton Avenue St. Louis, MO 63110 Dear Ms. Calkins: We are pleased to inform you of the completion of the Richard A. Anderson Memorial Bird Fountain, which the Webster Groves Nature Study Society dedicated on this date. Dick Anderson (1931-1996) first birded in Forest Park as a teenager and at the time of his death was one of the most active, knowledgeable, and respected birders in the St. Louis area. More than just a bird watcher, he was an amateur ornithologist - a student of bird identification, distribution, and migration. He was an ardent record keeper and the person the rest of us consulted when we had questions about anything ornithological. Dick served as president of our organization and as a member of the Missouri Bird Records Committee. He wrote the first modern checklist of the birds of the St. Louis area and coauthored the Checklist of Missouri Birds. Dick was also the coauthor of two books, A Guide to Finding Birds in the St. Louis Area (1968) and Birds of the St. Louis Area - Where and When to Find Them (1995). During the several years that I was privileged to help him prepare the latter book, he was wheelchair-bound from a traffic accident he suffered in 1988. Nevertheless, his knowledge, enthusiasm, and leadership were the driving forces for completion of the book, which was published shortly before he died. The fountain was funded and built by Dick's friends of the Webster Groves Nature Study Society as a tribute to him. The fountain is located in the Kennedy Forest, south of the new trailhead and west of the Zoo on the edge of an isolated patch of woods. It was designed to look like it has always been there, a rustic rock from which water bubbles as an attractant to birds. In the two months the fountain has been operating, we have observed a dozen species of birds using it. We hope the fountain will provide a pleasant site for the enjoyment of birds by patrons of Forest Park. Sincerely yours, Randy Korotev treasurer and Dick's friend |
