Glen Everett Woolfenden

Glen Everett Woolfenden (1930–2007) was an American ornithologist, known for his long-term study of the Florida scrub jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) population at Archbold Biological Station near Lake Placid, Florida.[1] He established what became "the longest continuous population study of any avian species that does not nest in boxes."[4]

Glen Everett Woolfenden
Born(1930-01-23)January 23, 1930[1]
Elizabeth, New Jersey
DiedJune 19, 2007(2007-06-19) (aged 77)
Venus, Florida
Alma materCornell University
University of Kansas
University of Florida
Known forThe Florida Scrub Jay: Demography of a Cooperative-Breeding Bird (1984)[2]
AwardsBrewster Medal (1985)
Margaret Morse Nice Medal (2001)
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of South Florida
Archbold Biological Station
ThesisOsteology of the waterfowl (1960)[3]
Doctoral advisorPierce Brodkorb

Biography

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Woolfenden moved with his family at age 11 to Westfield, New Jersey and often went birding in what is now the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.[1][5] He attended Westfield High School for three years and then transferred for his final year to Peddie School, where he suffered a number of injuries as a member of the school's football team.[5][6] He attended Cornell University, because of its famous Lab of Ornithology. He graduated in 1953 with a B.S. from Cornell University and in 1956 with an M.A. from the University of Kansas. In Kansas he worked, under the supervision of Harrison (Bud) Tordoff, on the comparative breeding behavior of Ammodramus sparrows. Woolfenden received his Ph.D. in 1960 from the University of Florida — by the time he was 30 years old he had prepared more than 2000 specimens. At the University of South Florida, he was from 1960 to 1961 an instructor, from 1961 to 1965 an assistant professor, from 1965 to 1970 an associate professor, from 1970 to 1988 a full professor,[1] and from 1988 to 1999 a Distinguished Research Professor. He retired in 1999 but continued his field studies as a research associate and head of Archbold Biological Station's Ornithology Laboratory.[4] All over the world, he gave invited lectures with locations including "Queensland, West Berlin, Oxford, Moscow, Tel-Aviv, Johannesburg, Tokyo, and Haines City".[7]

Woolfenden supervised over 30 graduate students and influenced many undergraduate students. In 1972 John W. Fitzpatrick was an undergraduate summer intern at Archbold Biological Station. For the summer of 1972 and beyond, Woolfenden and Fitzpatrick immediately started collaborating on projects involving Florida scrub jays. After graduating in biology with a B.A. in 1974 from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in 1978 from Princeton University, Fitzpatrick became curator of birds at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. Fitzpatrick's position as museum curator gave him scheduling freedom to work in Florida with Woolfenden. The first of their many joint publications appeared in 1977. Their 406-page book The Florida Scrub Jay: Demography of a Cooperative-breeding Bird was published by Princeton University Press in 1984. In a letter to Jack P. Hailman, Ernst Mayr called the book “an instant classic.”[1] In 1985 the American Ornithologists' Union made an award of the Brewster Medal jointly to Woolfenden and Fitzpatrick for their long-term study of Florida scrub jays.[8]

In addition to his research using color-banding of Florida scrub jays, Woolfenden made many important contributions to ornithology in Florida. He was a charter member (in 1972) of the Florida Ornithological Society (FOS), served on the Society's board of directors for several terms, and was the Society's president from 1991 to 1992. He was appointed to the founding editorial board of FOS's journal Florida Field Naturalist and served as editor-in-chief of FOS's Special Publications from 1991 to 2004. Woolfenden and his wife, Janet A. Woolfenden, along with Robert W. Loftin, were the coauthors of a compilation entitled Florida Bird Records in American Birds and Audubon Field Notes (1947-1989): Species Index and County Gazetteer, which became FOS Special Publication No. 4 (1991). With other coauthors, Glen Woolfenden published FOS Special Publication Numbers 6 (in 1992) and 7 (in 2006).[1] He also served on the Wilson Ornithological Society's editorial board and on the Cooper Ornithological Society's board of directors.[7]

Through scores of technical and popular articles, he was the first to show that Florida Scrub-Jays live in cooperative, extended-family groups in which young birds remain in the home territory ard help their parents rear the offspring of subsequent years. He documented the Florida Scrub-Jays' strict dependence on stunted, fire-maintained oak scrub, a habitat unique to Florida and now mostly eliminated through agricultural, residential, and commercial development. Woolfenden' s work established the biological basis for the Florida Scrub-Jay being listed on the federal Endangered Species List, and also helped elevate public awareness of the need to protect remnant tracts of oak scrub habitat.[6]

If ornithology was Glen’s profession, then birding was his life’s recreation. Beginning as a youth in New Jersey, Glen participated in well over a half century of the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Counts (CBC). In Florida, Glen’s first CBC was in 1957, and he often did several counts each season. From 1957 through 2006 he missed only one season, 2005, when he and Jan went on a bird tour of Antarctic waters. Glen compiled the St. Petersburg CBC for 23 years (1962-1984) and the Lake Placid CBC for 11 years (1993-2003). As a CBC compiler he stressed total commitment to finding many species, careful identification of rare species, and careful tabulation of the few species, like some raptors, where duplicate counts were possible.[1]

In March 1958 in Hillsborough County, Florida, he married Janet Adair Ezzelle (b. 1939). Upon his death he was survived by his widow, two daughters, a son, and three grandchildren.[6]

Selected publications

Articles
  • Layne, James N.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1958). "Gray Squirrels Feeding on Insects in Car Radiators". Journal of Mammalogy. 39 (4): 595–596. doi:10.2307/1376810. ISSN 0022-2372.
  • Woolfenden, Glen E. (1959). "An Unusual Concentration of Sorex cinereus". Journal of Mammalogy. 40 (3): 437. doi:10.2307/1376571. JSTOR 1376571.
  • Woolfenden, Glen E. (1959). "A Pleistocene Avifauna from Rock Spring, Florida". The Wilson Bulletin. 71 (2): 183–187. JSTOR 4158745.
  • Woolfenden, Glen E. (1962). "Aggressive Behavior by a Wintering Myrtle Warbler". The Auk. 79 (4): 713–714. doi:10.2307/4082658. JSTOR 4082658.
  • Woolfenden, Glen E.; Meyerriecks, Andrew J. (1963). "Caspian Tern Breeds in Florida". The Auk. 80 (3): 365–366. doi:10.2307/4082894. JSTOR 4082894.
  • Rohwer, Sievert A.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1968). "A Specimen of Leach's Petrel from the Gulf Coast of Florida". The Auk. 85 (2): 319. doi:10.2307/4083593. JSTOR 4083593.
  • Rohwer, Sievert A.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1969). "Breeding Birds of Two Florida Woodlands: Comparisons with Areas North of Florida". The Condor. 71 (1): 38–48. doi:10.2307/1366046. JSTOR 1366046.
  • Mengel, Robert M.; Sharpe, Roger S.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1972). "Wing Clapping in Territorial and Courtship Behavior of the Chuck-Will's-Widow and Poor-Will (Caprimulgidae)". The Auk. 89 (2): 440–444. doi:10.2307/4084219. JSTOR 4084219.
  • White, Susan C.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1973). "Breeding of the Eastern Bluebird in Central Florida". Bird-Banding. 44 (2): 110–123. doi:10.2307/4511945. JSTOR 4511945.
  • Schreiber, Ralph W.; Woolfenden, G. E. (1975). "Prey capture by the brown pelican" (PDF). The Auk. 92 (4): 649–654. doi:10.2307/4084778. JSTOR 4084778.
  • Woolfenden, Glen E.; White, Susan C.; Mumme, Ronald L.; Robertson, William B. (1976). "Aggression among Starving Cattle Egrets". Bird-Banding. 47 (1): 48–53. doi:10.2307/4512191. JSTOR 4512191.
  • Woolfenden, Glen E. (1976). "A Case of Bigamy in the Florida Scrub Jay". The Auk. 93 (3): 443–450. JSTOR 4084947.
  • Woolfenden, Glen E.; Fitzpatrick, John W. (1977). "Dominance in the Florida Scrub Jay". The Condor. 79 (1): 1–12. doi:10.2307/1367524. JSTOR 1367524.
  • Woolfenden, Glen E.; Fitzpatrick, John W. (1978). "The Inheritance of Territory in Group-Breeding Birds". BioScience. 28 (2): 104–108. doi:10.2307/1307423. JSTOR 1307423.
  • Stallcup, Jerre Ann; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1978). "Family status and contributions to breeding by Florida scrub jays". Animal Behaviour. 26: 1144–1156. doi:10.1016/0003-3472(78)90104-5. S2CID 53144305.
  • Fitzpatrick, John W.; Woolfenden, G. E. (1981). "Demography is a cornerstone of sociobiology" (PDF). The Auk. 98 (2): 406–407.
  • Hailman, J. P.; Woolfenden, G. E. (1985). "Nest-defense of the Florida scrub jay and the problem of" incubation" by male passerines". The Wilson Bulletin. 97 (3): 370–372. JSTOR 4162112.
  • Francis, Ann Marie; Hailman, Jack P.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1989). "Mobbing by Florida scrub jays: Behaviour, sexual asymmetry, role of helpers and ontogeny". Animal Behaviour. 38 (5): 795–816. doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(89)80112-5. S2CID 53203436.
  • Degange, Anthony R.; Fitzpatrick, John W.; Layne, James N.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1989). "Acorn Harvesting by Florida Scrub Jays". Ecology. 70 (2): 348–356. doi:10.2307/1937539. JSTOR 1937539.
  • McGowan, Kevin J.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1990). "Contributions to Fledgling Feeding in the Florida Scrub Jay". Journal of Animal Ecology. 59 (2): 691–707. doi:10.2307/4889. JSTOR 4889.
  • Schaub, Ron; Mumme, Ronald L.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1992). "Predation on the eggs and nestlings of Florida Scrub Jays". The Auk. 109 (3): 585–593.
  • Hailman, Jack P.; McGowan, Kevin J.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1994). "Role of Helpers in the Sentinel Behaviour of the Florida Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma c. coerulescens)". Ethology. 97 (1–2): 119–140. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1994.tb01034.x.
  • McDonald, David B.; Fitzpatrick, John W.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1996). "Actuarial Senescence and Demographic Heterogeneity in the Florida Scrub Jay". Ecology. 77 (8): 2373–2381. doi:10.2307/2265739. JSTOR 2265739.
  • Tarvin, Keith A.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1997). "Patterns of Dominance and Aggressive Behavior in Blue Jays at a Feeder". The Condor. 99 (2): 434–444. doi:10.2307/1369950. JSTOR 1369950.
  • McDonald, David B.; Potts, Wayne K.; Fitzpatrick, John W.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1999). "Contrasting genetic structures in sister species of North American scrub-jays". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences. 266 (1424): 1117–1125. doi:10.1098/rspb.1999.0752. PMC 1689959.
  • Quinn, James S.; Woolfenden, Glen E.; Fitzpatrick, John W.; White, Bradley N. (1999). "Multi-locus DNA fingerprinting supports genetic monogamy in Florida scrub-jays". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 45: 1–10. doi:10.1007/s002650050534. S2CID 35148576.
  • Midford, Peter E.; Hailman, Jack P.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (2000). "Social learning of a novel foraging patch in families of free-living Florida scrub-jays". Animal Behaviour. 59 (6): 1199–1207. doi:10.1006/anbe.1999.1419. PMID 10877899. S2CID 39257877.
  • Mumme, Ronald L.; Schoech, Stephan J.; Woolfenden, Glen E.; Fitzpatrick, John W. (2000). "Life and Death in the Fast Lane: Demographic Consequences of Road Mortality in the Florida Scrub‐Jay". Conservation Biology. 14 (2): 501–512. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2000.98370.x.
  • Bowman, Reed; Woolfenden, Glen E. (2001). "Nest success and the timing of nest failure of Florida Scrub-Jays in suburban and wildland habitats". Avian Ecology and Conservation in an Urbanizing World. pp. 383–402. doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-1531-9_18. ISBN 978-1-4613-5600-4.
  • Fleischer, Arthur L.; Bowman, Reed; Woolfenden, Glen E. (2003). "Variation in Foraging Behavior, Diet, and Time of Breeding of Florida Scrub-Jays in Suburban and Wildland Habitats". The Condor. 105 (3): 515–527. doi:10.1093/condor/105.3.515.
  • Bednekoff, Peter A.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (2003). "Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) are Sentinels More when Well-Fed (Even with no Kin Nearby)". Ethology. 109 (11): 895–903. doi:10.1046/j.0179-1613.2003.00926.x.
  • Burger, J.; Bowman, R.; Woolfenden, G.; Gochfeld, M. (2004). "Metal and metalloid concentrations in the eggs of threatened Florida scrub-jays in suburban habitat from south-central Florida". Science of the Total Environment. 328 (1–3): 185–193. Bibcode:2004ScTEn.328..185B. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.01.030. PMID 15207583.
  • Fox, Gordon A.; Kendall, Bruce E.; Fitzpatrick, John W.; Woolfenden, Glen E. (2006). "Consequences of heterogeneity in survival probability in a population of Florida scrub-jays". Journal of Animal Ecology. 75 (4): 921–927. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2006.01110.x. PMID 17009755.
  • Toomey, Matthew B.; Bowman, Reed; Woolfenden, Glen E. (2007). "The Effects of Social Context on the Food-Caching Behavior of Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens)". Ethology. 113 (6): 521–527. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.2007.01366.x.

Books and monographs
  • Woolfenden, G. E.; Rohwer, S. A. (1969). Breeding birds in a Florida suburb. vol. 13, no. 1. Gainesville, Florida: Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences; 83 pages
  • Bancroft, G. Thomas; Woolfenden, Glen E. (1982). "The Molt of Scrub Jays and Blue Jays in Florida". Ornithological Monographs (29): iii–vii, 1–51. doi:10.2307/40166767. JSTOR 40166767.
  • Woolfenden, Glen Everett; Fitzpatrick, John W. (1984). The Florida Scrub Jay: Demography of a Cooperative-breeding Bird. Monographs in Population Biology, No. 20. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-08367-3.
  • Loftin, R. W.; Woolfenden, G. E.; Woolfenden, J. A. (1991). Florida bird records in American Birds and Audubon Field Notes (1947-1989): species index and county gazetteer. Special Publications No. 4. Gainesville, Florida: Florida Ornithological Society.
  • Robertson Jr., William B.; Woolfenden, G. E.; Biggs, C. W. (1992). Florida bird species: an annotated list. Special Publications No. 6. Gainesville, Florida: Florida Ornithological Society.
  • Woolfenden, G. E.; Robertson Jr., W. B.; Cox, James (2006). The Breeding Birds of Florida. Part I: Sources and Post-Settlement Changes & Part II: Trends in Breeding Distributions Based on Florida's Breeding Bird Atlas Project. Special Publications No. 7. Gainesville, Florida: Florida Ornithological Society; pbk, 140 pages

References
  1. Hailman, Jack P.; Lohrer, Fred E.; Bowman, Reed (2008). "In Memoriam. The Florida Ornithology of Glen E. Woolfenden (1930–2007)" (PDF). The Florida Field Naturalist. 36 (1): 8–11.
  2. Tomback, Diana F. (1986). "Review of The Florida Scrub Jay: Demography of a Cooperative Breeding Bird by Glen E. Woolfenden and John W. Fitzpatrick". The Wilson Bulletin. 98 (2): 324–326.
  3. "entry for Woolfenden in Theses and Dissertations Collection". University of Florida Digital Collections.
  4. Hallman, Jack P.; Fitzpatrick, John W.; Bowman, Reed (2008). "Glen Everett Woolfenden, 1930–2007". Ibis. 150: 444–445. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2008.00801.x. (with photograph by Harrison (Bud) Tordoff)
  5. Fitzpatrick, John W. "In Memoriam: Glen Everett Woolfenden, 1930–2007", The Auk, Volume 126, Issue 2, April 1, 2009, Pages 460–462. Accessed December 17, 2020. "Glen was born in 1930 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and fell in love with birds as an 11-year-old after his parents (Lester and Ethyl Woolfenden) moved to Westfield, New Jersey.... Glen attended Westfield High School through junior year and then spent his senior year at Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey."
  6. "Obituary. Glen Everett Woolfenden". Tampa Bay Times. July 3, 2007.
  7. Bowman, Reed (1995). "Glen E. Woolfenden Elected Honorary Member of the Florida Ornithological Society" (PDF). Florida Field Naturalist. 23 (3): 73–74.
  8. "William Brewster Memorial Award, 1985 (to) Glen E. Woolfenden and John W. Fitzpatrick" (PDF). The Auk. 103 (2): 450. 1986.
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