Barbara Snow (ornithologist)

Barbara Kathleen Snow (born Whitaker; 21 February 1921 in

, formed a close team, becoming among the most influential British ornithologists of the 20th century.

Career and personal life

In 1958 Barbara, who had been the Warden of

.

Here David Snow began his studies of the

manakins

, all associated with plants. This work extended over many years in Central and South America and led to important discoveries on the co-adaption between the birds and plants, providing food for the birds while ensuring the fertilising of the plants' flowers and dispersal of their seeds - "an early breakthrough in the integration of behaviour and ecology."

They focussed for some time on the fascinating and very complex courtship dances of the

lek

displays by male manakins. He described these in several classic papers, while also working with Barbara on other tropical birds.

In 1963, David was invited to become director of the new Charles Darwin Station on the Galápagos Islands. He completed the first real working field station there and set up regular surveying routines. He may have stayed longer, but as he now had a young family to raise, in 1964 he returned to England, following Barbara who had gone ahead to have their second son.

They spent the rest of their careers in Britain. David was appointed Director of Research at the

for some years and published the valuable two-volume work, Birds of the Western Palaearctic.

At their home and in the neighbouring countryside they continued their studies - particularly of fruit-eating birds "resulting in Birds and Berries, of which Barbara was deservedly the senior author as she had done a good deal more of the field work than I had."

Barbara was survived by David who died two years later. They were survived by their two sons.^[1][2]

"Again, her remarkably acute observation, coupled with endless patience and, perhaps more importantly, delight in the birds around her, from Flightless Cormorants to hummingbirds, enabled her to discover much that could only be discovered by sitting and watching."^[3]

Works

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (March 2011)

• Snow, D.W. & Snow, B.K. (1966). "The breeding season of the
  Madeiran Storm-petrel
  (Oceanodromo castro) in the Galapagos." Ibis 108(2):283-284.
• Snow, D.W. & Snow, B.K. (1967). "The breeding cycle of the Swallow-tailed Gull (Creagrus furcatus)." Ibis 109(1):14-24
• Snow, B.K. & Snow, D.W. (1968). "Behavior of the Swallow-tailed Gull of the Galapagos." Condor 70(3):
• Snow, B.K. & Snow, D.W. (1969). "Observations on the Lava Gull (Larus fuliginosus)." Ibis 111(1):30-35
• Snow, B.K. & Snow, D.W. (1971). "The feeding ecology of tanagers and honeycreepers in Trinidad." The Auk 88(2)
• Snow, B.K. & Snow, D.W. (1974). "Breeding of the Green-bellied Hummingbird." The Auk 91(3)
• Snow, B.K. & Snow, D.W. (1979). "The Ochre-bellied Flycatcher and the Evolution of Lek Behavior." Condor 81(3)
• Snow, B.K. & Snow, D.W. (1984). "Long-term defence of fruit by Mistle Thrushes Turdus viscivorus. Ibis 126(1):39-49
• Snow, B.K. & Snow, D.W. (1985). "Display and related behavior of male Pin-tailed Manakins." Wilson Bulletin 97(3):
• Snow, D.W. (1987). The Blackbird, Shire Natural History
  ISBN 0-85263-854-X
• Snow, B.K. & Snow, D.W. (1988). Birds and berries: a study of an ecological interaction. Poyser, London
  ISBN 0-85661-049-6

Awards

In 1972, Barbara and David were joint recipients of the

Footnotes

References

• Snow, David (2008a). "Obituary: Barbara Snow, 1921–2007" (PDF).
  doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.2008.00821.x. Archived from the original
  (PDF) on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
• Snow, David (2008b). Birds in our Life. William Sessions limited, York.
  ISBN 978-1-85072-381-3
  .
• Frank D. Steinheimer: David Snow (1924–2009), Vogelwarte, Band 47, Heft 2, 2009, S. pp. 144–145.
• The Daily Telegraph obituary [1]

Further reading

• Rudder, Joy (2009). The old house and the dream: The story of The Asa Wright Nature Centre. Prospect Press, Maraval, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
  ISBN 976-95082-1-7
  . Especially pp. 47–49.
• Article on Barbara Snow on the German Wikipedia at: http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Barbara_Kathleen_Snow&action=edit
• Snow, D, W. (2008). Birds in Our Life. William Sessions Limited.
  ISBN 978-1-85072-381-3
  (pbk) An autobiography.
• "David Snow: unrivalled doyen of British ornithology." Sunday Times, February 28, 2009.[2]