Photo by Wendy Mellon
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Rick Mellon -
Photo by Wendy Mellon |
| I’ve always been interested in birds and it seems like I’ve always been a DVOC’er. Actually, I wanted to join while I was still in the womb, but back then they wouldn’t let women in the door, so I couldn’t demonstrate my ear-birding skills. Eventually Alan Brady sponsored me and they let me in the club. My life hasn’t been the same. It wasn’t long before I could tell a Canvasback from a Redhead from a blonde and a brunette. I learned the syncopated cadence of the Canada Warbler and the #&*%@! cadence of the limerick. Former President Les Thomas gave me my first job, working as a naturalist at Silver Lake Nature Center, while Al Kronschnable taught me how to unwind after a long day on the trails. Guys like Les and Ed Manners taught me those bird perches had names – like Red Maple and Silky Dogwood. So I decided to learn the plants and got a summer job at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve while attending Penn State where I followed in the DVOC tradition and majored in partying, although my degree was in biology. After college, I worked at Bowman’s Hill and discovered if you want to understand where plants grow and why, you better learn the soils. And to understand the soils, you better learn the geology. The other thing I learned was that I could starve just as easily leading nature tours as being a naturalist at a nature center, so I started Mellon Nature Tours, which survived on DVOC clientele. I then moved into full time ecological consulting (Mellon Biological Services) which is my present position. Although I still love birds, my passion is a holistic understanding of ecosystems, their habitats and all the individual parts, coupled with a good party. Many thanks DVOC. |
Photo by Wendy Mellon