May vs. Nettie,

The Great Adirondack Bird Competition

This story involves the rivalry between my Aunt May and her arch-birding-competitor, Nettie James. This is a long and involved, but very funny story. First some background information. My aunt, Avis May Craig was born in 1882 in Pittsfield, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. She was the oldest of three children and her mother (my Great Grandmother) was Myra Jane White also of Pittsfield. Aunt May had this giant Bible that traced the White lineage back to the Mayflower's Peregrine White. I have noticed over the years that almost every White in Massachusetts has this same lineage in their own giant Bible, so I don't know if these claims are really true, but she swore they were accurate. Anyway soon after her birth, her family moved to Mayfield in Fulton County, New York. Soon afterward my grandfather, Frank was born and then the youngest Harry.

She began birding at a young age and my grandfather and her wandered the Adirondacks making many notes and interesting expeditions. She was a very tall and slender woman, and according to my grandfather she could keep up with the best of them in the forest. She and my grandfather use to always fight because she was dead set against hunting. And of course my grandfather according to his claims was Buffalo Bill's best friend and hunting partner in these parts (actually I finally learned that my grandfather was once in a hunting party of 30 people hunting with Bill Cody in Maine and thus the stories have flowed ever since from him and no doubtless from the other 29). She once secretly buried, WITH FULL CHRISTIAN RITES, 11 ruffed grouse and 2 woodcock, which my grandfather and his mates intended to eat, later that night. They were never seen again!

She married Day Herrick when she was 25 (yes that's right May and Day). May was President of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and Day used to sell apple jack and switchel, which he made and stored in the basement. But they got on famously. Uncle Day saw that the entire extended family made it through the Depression (according to my grandfather from liquor sales and other sundry activities).

Around 1900, along with some women in Gloversville, Johnstown, Amsterdam, St Johnsville and Canajoharie she founded an informal birding group for Fulton and Montgomery Counties. They eventually affiliated themselves with groups/friends in Albany, Pittsfield and Boston. They began to go on outings all over the southern Adirondacks. Her favourite birds were Red Crossbills, Canada Jays and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (see picture above). She and Day had a nice cabin in the deeper Adirondacks in Hamilton County. The entire cabin was surrounded by innovative bird feeders most made by my grandfather, who was the family carpenter.

After the WWI, (my grandfather was in France where he took care of the mule teams--he always said that growing up with May gave him deep insights into dealing with mules!). Day got one of Mayfield's first motor cars opening up the entire Northeast to May's birding aspirations. Day hated birds but loved my aunt, so she always got her way!! I have photo albums full of May and Day off on another birding trip in their fancy cars (Day liked his cars as much as his switchel). She kept quite detailed accounts of all her trips, and they are very fascinating to go over.

Now May was one of these birders who not only knew every bird by sight but could imitate any bird noise or song quite perfectly. Of course, this made her quite famous at parties. My grandfather always told the story of the fishing trip where May decided to make night heron noises one evening and ended up scaring my grandmother to death. She was renown in many parts for standing on the street making outlandish noises, twitters and such. But never in my life have I ever met anybody who could imitate as good as she could--she could put a mockingbird to shame. Now its about this time in the 1920's that the James family moved to Mayfield. Aunt May had always been the supreme birder in those parts and wasn't one to tolerate competition. But alas Nettie James would begin a rivalry which would become unequalled in the annals of birding history. My introduction to Nettie was some 45 years later when, while walking down the road, My aunt grasped my shoulder in a most strong fashion and said to my ear in her prim way-- 'That's her, that's the woman who cheats on her bird list.' Now my aunt was a tolerant woman, but she had an 11th commandment: 'Thou shalt not cheat on thy birdlist'. Especially when the alleged cheating results in breaking the myriad records that my aunt first set.

Now Nettie had several strikes against her from the beginning. Not only did she allegedly cheat on her bird lists, but she was a Committee Woman for the Republican Party and, oh God no the worst of all, a Methodist. In Mayfield there are two churches Presbyterian and Methodist, and you were either one or the other. No Balkan conflict was ever as ruthless as the annual Mayfield picnic and sack-race, softball competition pitting Methodist against Presbyterian. My aunt also had the proud distinction (or so she said) of being the only Democrat in all of the Adirondacks. She would joke that the most endangered species in Fulton County, New York as the Red-Blooded Democrat, driven out by the Blue-blooded Republicans. She claimed her vote made up a full 1/2 of all votes received by McGovern in Mayfield in 1972.

Now it seemed that Nettie set off the first salvo by claiming in 1924 that she saw a Rose Breasted Grosbeak on February 10, a full three weeks before my aunt's first arrival record set in 1912. Since this was one of my aunt's favourite birds, this hit particularly hard. Poor May looked long and hard for that early grosbeak and never saw it. Thus the die was cast.

Nettie then began to see more rose-breasted grosbeaks and other such rare and untimely birds as the years went on. In the winter of 29, Nettie supposedly saw Fulton County's first Northern Hawk Owl, a species which my Aunt May had never seen. My aunt dragged my Uncle up to Quebec the following year because she couldn't stand the thought that Nettie saw something she hadn't. Two weeks in Quebec and she finally found a Hawk Owl outside of Shawinigan, Quebec. Uncle Day went on and on about getting bitten by every mosquito in Canada looking for that God forsaken bird.

Anyway sometime during these events, my aunt started lecturing on the morals of the 11th Commandment (not cheating on bird lists) at every bird club meeting (She always joked that the Methodists had conspired to remove this one from Moses's original version). On and on it went through the years! Needless to say Rose-breasted Grosbeaks began coming earlier and earlier every year!

I had my own experience with this rivalry in 1973. I had never seen a Yellow-breasted Chat (the Adirondacks are a bit north of mainstream chat territory but occurred, according to my aunt, on odd occasions). I asked at a meeting if anybody had seen any in their trips south (Catskills etc.). Nobody had seen one until Nettie piped up that she had three in her garden only yesterday. My aunt couldn't take it any more. In a sarcastic voice that all could hear, she said--'Oh great, next month she is going to have New York State's first ostrich sighting'. My aunt who was usually fairly reserved in meetings took everybody by surprise and nobody knew whether to laugh or not. Anyway I fell off my chair and there were several loud snickers. When the group did a field trip to the Natural History Museum in New York City later that year, my aunt told me to guard the ostrich in case it disappeared and later reappeared in a photograph in Nettie's garden.

My aunt always got her own revenge. Harry, her youngest brother, had gotten into Fulton County politics and was considered a local bigwig. May always invited Harry's wife Eleanor to the monthly birding meetings. Now Eleanor made the best pie filling that you ever tasted, but her pie crust was somewhere between lead and cement. My grandfather used to say it took a 100 hp chainsaw just to cut it. My aunt always insisted that Eleanor bring her lovely pie to the meetings. My aunt used to hack out a particularly large piece for Nettie and say, 'There Nettie, have a nice piece of Eleanor's pie.' Nettie could hardly refuse with Eleanor standing there. May always took great relish in watching Nettie try to make it through a piece (No easy task).

So, such are the things that birding watching is made of, and the joys of small town birding a long time ago.