Roosevelt Pursued Birds as a Naturalist in the Latter 1870s

As a teen, Theodore D. Roosevelt, was in the outdoors watching birds about the expanses of the Adirondack Mountains wildness.

His efforts started when he was 14 in 1874, in the outdoors of the region in New York. A personal interest in natural history meant hiking about the heights to closely observe seasonal birds to denote their seasonal occurrence and little bits of their natural history.

The same focus occurred the subsequent summer season. And, after Roosevelt became a university student, he had a partner in this outdoor effort. They both eventually wrote about their observations. It was published for perpetuity and it a presidential tidbit of history.

Henry David Minot, a fellow student at Harvard University where Roosevelt arrived in 1876, helped compile the written record of bird life they had personally published in 1877. The catalogue was based on observations made in August 1874, August 1875 and from June 22 to July 9, in 1877, according to its text. The focal point was Saint Regis Lake.

The two young biologists hiked around a region of the Adirondack Mountains, in Franklin County, New York. Specimens were collected, though their fate is not apparent in the literature.

Their list of species - updated here to provide a modern common name - included a particular year, with some notes from the original article issued in 1879.

Designated Common Name - Year Seen - Record Notes

American Bittern - 1877 - bittern, Botaurus mugitans; occasional

American Black Duck - 1877 - black duck; breeds, rare

American Crow - 1877 - crow; comparatively uncommon

American Goldfinch - 1877 - goldfinch; common; less so than in the White Mountains

American Robin - 1877 - robin; moderately common

American Three-toed Woodpecker - 1877 - banded-backed woodpecker, Picoides Americanus; much less common than the black-backed woodpecker

American Woodcock - 1877 - woodcock; in July, one was shot

Bald Eagle - 1877 - bald eagle; rare, but seen at least once

Bank Swallow - 1877 - bank swallow; rather rare

Barn Swallow - 1877 - barn swallow

Barred Owl - 1875 - barred owl; one shot in August, 1875; probably not very rare

Belted Kingfisher - 1877 - kingfisher

Black-backed Woodpecker - 1877 - black-backed woodpecker, Picoides arcticus; common; second in numbers to the Hairy only

Black-billed Cuckoo - 1877 - cuckoo, Coccygus erythropthalmus; twice heard

Black-capped Chickadee - 1877 - chickadee, Parus atricapillus; rather scarce in June; abundant in August

Black-throated Blue Warbler - 1877 - black-throated blue warbler; common

Black-throated Green Warbler - 1877 - black-throated green warbler; common

Blackburnian Warbler - 1877 - orange-throated warbler; common

Blue Jay - 1877 - blue jay; moderately common

Blue-headed Vireo - 1877 - solitary vireo; very common

Bobolink - 1874 - bobolink; several seen, August 1874

Boreal Chickadee - 1877 - Hudsonian chickadee; in small flocks at Bay Pond in the early part of August

Broad-winged Hawk - 1874 - broad-winged hawk; one shot August 24th, 1874

Brown Creeper - 1877 - brown creeper; common

Brown-headed Cowbird - 1877 - cow-bird; rare

Canada Goose - 1877 - Canada goose; in some parts quite plentiful

Canada Warbler - 1877 - Canada flycatcher; less common than in the White Mountains

Cedar Waxwing - 1877 - cedar-bird, Ampelis cedrorum; common

Chimney Swift - 1877 - chimney swift; common, and often met with in the wilds

Chipping Sparrow - 1877 - chipping sparrow

Cliff Swallow - 1877 - cliff swallow; seen near Malone

Common Grackle - 1877 - crow blackbird; neither rare nor common

Common Loon - 1877 - loon, Colymbus torquatus; rare, but in 1870 common

Common Nighthawk - 1877 - night hawk

Common Raven - 1874 - raven; pair at Lake Farnsby, August 1874

Common Yellowthroat - 1877 - Maryland yellow-throat; hardly common; very common in the White Mountains

Cooper's Hawk - 1877 - Cooper's hawk

Dark-eyed Junco - 1877 - snow-bird, Junco hyemalis; common

Downy Woodpecker - 1877 - downy woodpecker; once seen in June, and common in August

Eastern Bluebird - 1877 - blue bird; common near Malone

Eastern Kingbird - 1877 - king-bird, Tyrannus Carolinensis; common

Eastern Phoebe - 1877 - pewee, Sayornis fuscus

Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1877 - wood pewee, Contopus virens

Field Sparrow - 1877 - ?field sparrow

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1877 - golden-crowned wren; quite common

Gray Catbird - 1877 - cat-bird; observed near Malone

Gray Jay - 1877 - Canada jay; locally common in the thicker woods

Great Blue Heron - 1877 - great blue heron; rare

Great Crested Flycatcher - 1877 - great crested flycatcher; very rare

Great Horned Owl - 1877 - great horned owl; common in wild parts

Hairy Woodpecker - 1877 - hairy woodpecker; very common

Hermit Thrush - 1877 - hermit thrush; common

Herring Gull - 1877 - herring gull; rare, breeds

Least Flycatcher - 1877 - least flycatcher; strikingly common, and much in tree-tops

Magnolia Warbler - 1877 - Dendroeca maculosa, black and yellow warbler; not common

Mourning Warbler - 1877 - mourning warbler; locally not uncommon

Nashville Warbler - 1877 - Nashville warbler; not common

Northern Flicker - 1877 - golden-winged woodpecker

Northern Goshawk - 1877 - goshawk; found in June

Northern Parula - 1877 - blue yellow-backed warbler; very common

Northern Waterthrush - 1877 - Siurus naevius, water thrush; rare summer resident

Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1877 - olive-sided flycatcher; not uncommon

Osprey - 1877 - fish hawk; rare, but certainly breeds here

Ovenbird - 1877 - golden-crowned thrush; quite common

Passenger Pigeon - 1877 - wild pigeon; undoubtedly to be found here at times

Pileated Woodpecker - 1877 - pileated woodpecker; rare

Pine Siskin - 1874 - siskin; one specimen, August 27, 1874

Purple Finch - 1877 - purple finch; common

Purple Martin - 1877 - purple martin; one seen at Malone

Red Crossbill - 1877 - red crossbill; not rare

Red-breasted Merganser - 1877 - merganser, Mergus serrator; breed, rare

Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1877 - red-bellied nuthatch; common

Red-eyed Vireo - 1877 - red-eyed vireo; very common

Red-tailed Hawk - 1877 - red-tailed buzzard

Red-winged Blackbird - 1877 - red-winged blackbird; by no means abundant

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1877 - hummingbird, Trochilus colubris; rare; lives in the woods

Ruffed Grouse - 1877 - ruffed grouse; not uncommon

Rusty Blackbird - 1877 - rusty blackbird; two or three seen in June

Savannah Sparrow - 1877 - savannah sparrow; apparently rare

Scarlet Tanager - 1877 - scarlet tanager; two pairs found in June near the Upper Saint Regis Lake

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1877 - sharp-shinned hawk

Song Sparrow - 1877 - song sparrow; common; much less so than in the White Mountains

Spotted Sandpiper - 1877 - spotted sandpiper

Swainson's Thrush - 1877 - Swainson's thrush; commonest thrush

Swamp Sparrow - 1877 - swamp sparrow; found in the wet ground covered with shrubs, which borders the stream connecting the Upper Saint Regis and Spitfire Lakes

Tennessee Warbler - 1877 - ?Tennessee warbler

Tree Swallow - 1877 - white-breasted swallow; common, and met with far from any buildings

Vesper Sparrow - 1877 - bay-winged sparrow, Pooecetes gramineus; common

Whip-poor-will - 1877 - whippoorwill; heard early in July

White-throated Sparrow - 1877 - white-throated sparrow; common

Willow Flycatcher - 1877 - Traill's flycatcher; rare

Winter Wren - 1877 - winter wren; moderately common

Wood Duck - 1877 - wood duck; breeds, rare

Yellow Warbler - 1877 - yellow warbler; common near Malone

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 1877 - yellow-bellied flycatcher; rather rare

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1877 - yellow-bellied woodpecker; quite common

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1877 - yellow-rumped warbler; common in August; resident in the White Mountains

This article was the first printed work from among the array of written history that was to be scribed by Roosevelt. With details on nearly 100 species, it conveys a the sense of status for species about 130 years in the past for a particular eastern American county.

Roosevelt continued to have an interest in birds, and according to history, was first in his college class in natural history. Although his focus for a career was personally and directly turned away from science in 1878, he still had a fervent appreciation for the outdoors and natural history.

There was another article published in 1879, based on observations from Oyster Bay, Long Island. Some of the first notations were from 1874, and following years, with less than half from an unattributed date, equitable for the year the article was once again, personally published. These records are given in chronological order.

Common Name - Year Seen - Record Notes

Fish Crow - 1874 - Corvus ossifragus; shot a male December 30, 1874

Red-headed Woodpecker - 1874 - Melanerpes erythrocephalus; during the winter of 1873-1874, when it was not uncommon

Peregrine Falcon - 1875 - Falco communis; a pair in September 1875; worked great havoc among the night herons

Northern Mockingbird - 1876 - Mimus polyglottus; one shot August 15, 1876

Snowy Owl - 1876 - Nyctea scandiaca; common in the autumn of 1876

Willow Flycatcher - 1876 - Empidonax trailli; one shot June 12, 1876

Connecticut Warbler - 1877 - Oporornis agilis; one shot September 25, 1877

Golden-winged Warbler - 1878 - Helminthophaga chrysoptera; shot May 10, 1878; almost certain I have seen it in summer

Savannah Sparrow - 1878 - Passerculus princeps; one shot December 28, 1878; one other seen; = ipswich sparrow = savannah sparrow

Acadian Flycatcher - 1879 - Empidonax acadicus; rather common summer resident

Black-capped Chickadee - 1879 - Parus atricapillus; nests

Blue-winged Warbler - 1879 - Helminthophaga pinus; rather common summer resident, arriving early in May; found a nest on June 10

Northern Parula - 1879 - Parula americana; rather common summer resident

Pine Warbler - 1879 - Dendroica pinus; rather common summer resident; about as common as the aestiva

Swainson's Thrush - 1879 - Turdus Swainsoni; common migrant; usually arrives from the north about September 20, departing about October 10; have found them as late as the middle of November

Veery - 1879 - Turdus fuscescens; rather uncommon migrants; in spring, passes about the middle of May; in autumn, during the last week of August and first week of September

Both lists combined, contain details on 109 species, and are a substanative contribution to information on historic ornithology for the middle to late 1870s. The Franklin county contributions are notable especially for providing the only information for this place prior to 1880. There are other, previous records for the county in which Oyster Bay is located, among the known historic record of bird notes and observations.

In the early 1880s, Roosevelt's interest in natural history, though subsumed, continued him, especially writing a book on hunting, game animals and related outdoor aspects from the wilds of North Dakota, especially.

Once Roosevelt became President - serving the country from 1901 to 1909 - he was especially recognized for actions taken to conserve natural habitats and resources.