Trevor L. Lloyd-Evans
In June 2021, Trevor Lloyd-Evans stepped down from his role as Manomet’s Vice President of Education and Outreach and transitioned to a new position as Senior Fellow, where he will continue to pursue research interests and lead occasional birding trips for Manomet friends and supporters.
From my first two-year stint at the (then) Manomet Bird Observatory in the 1970’s, I was immensely comfortable with the wide range of scientific work we do and the emphasis on conservation biology. Over the years, our long-term data and the ecological studies they inform have led to an ideal combination of research, conservation science, and education at all levels. Science is not a goal in itself, but at Manomet, it leads to communicating our results directly through teaching, publication, and the current media. This philosophy is supported by unified staff, boards, and members, so “Why not Manomet?”
Manomet is a science-based organization that allows us to engage any audience with the facts about conservation biology. Our bird research uses changes in migration ecology to showcase birds as sensitive indicators of environmental change that alert us to both local and international conservation and climate change effects. We communicate these concepts through direct programs at the banding lab, lectures, publications, web sites and especially through providing curriculum and field techniques to teachers at middle and high school levels. A sustainable world requires that people understand the results of our actions, good and bad, plus everyone appreciates birds.
An initial Honours B.Sc. in Zoology from the University of Wales was supplemented by graduate courses in ecology from Boston University. Training in ornithology and field biology at Bird Observatories and the British Trust for Ornithology was supplemented in the USA by banding and census techniques and practical teaching at the undergraduate level at Manomet. Fieldwork from the Arctic to the New World tropics, Europe and Africa has broadened all aspects of my background.
Birds and the places they take you to, plus the people you meet along the way provide an endless fascination and endless learning opportunities. I still have the privilege of working with dedicated banders and interns, being directly involved in teaching, and continuing to learn about and appreciate birds.