Jane Lothian
Fay and Peter Vale. Photograph by Laura de la Flor.
Peter Vale contributed much to Massachusetts birding and bird conservation. He began birding in the 1970s with Fay, his wife of over 50 years. Active members of the Brookline Bird Club, Peter and Fay were a common sight on Plum Island in a series of Subaru Outbacks over the decades. They rarely missed a BBC Newburyport New Year’s Day trip, and often detoured beforehand into Boston to see a Lesser Black-backed Gull for their first bird of the year. The Vales were among the first BBC trip leaders to use Family Radio Service (FRS) radios, sharing sightings when splitting large groups in Mount Auburn Cemetery and Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary. As Fay’s mobility waned, they perfected “Big Sit” trips at the base of Washington Tower in Mount Auburn Cemetery or at Point of Pines in Revere.
Fay compiled Massbird sightings for Bird Observer for decades, while Peter transported her and read in a corner during meetings. In time, Peter volunteered for his own project. He uploaded over 30 years of Bird Observer sightings into eBird. Peter was amply qualified for the challenge, having designed an enhanced full-text retrieval system for Lotus Development. However, many records were handwritten, and much data needed modification before loading. For example, many Bird Observer abbreviations required translation, such as changing “GMNWR” to Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, or “Rockport HP” to Halibut Point.
An experienced field birder, Peter participated in the Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas and the Audubon Christmas Bird Count. After Fay’s death in 2020, Peter took over as coordinator for the Melrose CBC count sector. As a member of their team, I observed that Fay and Peter always made it a point to invite novice birders, young birders, and families, many of whom became skilled regulars.
Fay and Peter assisted at the Massachusetts Audubon Plum Island Bird Banding Station at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. According to station coordinator Ben Flemer,
Peter was a solid and dependable extractor and bander at the station from very early on … While he was quiet by nature, we really enjoyed sharing the banding experience with visiting groups, especially kids coming on family visit days. I remember one day I handed him a Ruby-throated Hummingbird to show some young kids. He was seated in a chair as the kids got closer and closer until I thought they would start crawling into his lap.
Fellow bander Melissa Vokey, Joppa Flat’s office manager until last year, got to help out at the station one day in May of 2022 when over 200 birds were banded. She recalled,
being at the station a year ago, with Peter, methodically recording as he banded scores and then hundreds of birds, both of us employing as few words as possible while the numbers accumulated apace. Rare experience for him, unique one for me … I won’t ever forget it … For me, he’ll always be there, on the stool, stoically measuring one wing cord after another, from COYE to MAWA to BAWW, over and over, because that’s what he did.