When Andy Ward came to Milton in 1944, the Milton Academy Bird Club had been active for nearly 20 years. The thrill of observing songbirds, hawks, warblers and the shorebirds of New England strengthened friendships that Andy relies on 60 years later. Early encouragement from biology faculty member Pete Morrison drew the group together. He orchestrated weekend birding trips to Newburyport and other areas around Boston. “Bird-watching is widely accepted now, but during our time at Milton, birding was thought to be a little offbeat,” Andy says.
Birders must have several things in common, Andy explains. They have to be patient, enjoy science, appreciate the outdoors and “not be bothered by pesky insects.”
Oliver “Waddy” Wadsworth ’51 and Ted Raymond ’54 continued the birding tradition with Andy for decades. These friends from the Bird Club of the 1950s still enjoy an annual fall outing. During the ’90s, Andy organized trips to Chatham after Labor Day, once the crowds of tourists cleared out. The group would visit South Beach, or venture to Monomoy Island, led by Bob Prescott from the Wellfleet Audubon Sanctuary. In 2002, the group made an expedition to Prince Edward Island and watched part of the maritime fall migration.
Birding’s role in environmental advocacy is widely appreciated now, but was a vanguard activity at the time. Andy’s father, Milton Class of 1926, was a birder. Andy absorbed his father’s passion for science and birding. His father never became a duck hunter like so many of his contemporaries. It was a popular sport and a social hobby, but shooting the birds whose majesty and habits were so compelling to him was unfathomable. Birders want to preserve species’ habitats and their populations. This support and harmony is another thing the friends share, and hope to pass on.
“One of the many things I learned at Milton was to find balance in life,” Andy says. “Waddy and I were in the investment business at one point, but we had various ambitions. I was interested in baseball and pitched at Harvard. I majored in geology and joined the geophysical division of Texas Instruments as a seismologist. I lived in a tent in the Middle East for two and a half years, which allowed me to observe different cultures and working styles. Learning about the world is important—it provides balance and perspective. Birding does the same for me, on a smaller scale.
“Of course, interests change over time, people move away, priorities shift. But Waddy and Ted were there all along. Neither lived far away. Our children and wives became friends. The main focus, however, was definitely birding—getting out, walking, enjoying the fresh air, sharing meals in between. Birding has been a lifelong avocation of mine, and the relationships I developed through it long ago still last today.”
— Erin E. Hoodlet