William Belton, Self-Taught Ornithologist, Dies at 95
Once upon a time, every tweet had an actual bird attached. If that bird happened to live in southern Brazil, a region whose rich avian life was long undocumented, chances are good that it was stalked repeatedly — and its tweets, coos and whistles recorded patiently — by William Belton.
An internationally recognized ornithologist, Mr. Belton was almost single-handedly responsible for the current body of knowledge of the bird life of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost Brazilian state. His field recordings and specimens from the region are today in the collections of major research institutions. His two-volume study of the birds of the area is widely considered seminal.
Mr. Belton’s accomplishments are all the more unusual in that as an ornithologist, he was completely self-taught. An American diplomat who served in high posts in Latin America and elsewhere before embarking, in retirement, on an ornithological career of more than 30 years, Mr. Belton died on Oct. 25 at 95. His death, at his home in Great Cacapon, W.Va., was from congestive heart failure, his son Hugh said.
Among Mr. Belton’s most significant achievements was making more than a thousand field recordings of birds, most in Rio Grande do Sul. Now in the archives of Cornell University, his recordings document the sounds of several hundred different species.
While many others have recorded birds in the field, Mr. Belton’s work was noteworthy for its methodical approach, its comprehensiveness and the sheer length of time he devoted to it, associates said in interviews recently. He first recorded the birds of Rio Grande do Sul in 1971, lugging a heavy reel-to-reel tape recorder and directional microphone. He made his last recordings there in 1993, when he was nearly 80...
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An internationally recognized ornithologist, Mr. Belton was almost single-handedly responsible for the current body of knowledge of the bird life of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost Brazilian state. His field recordings and specimens from the region are today in the collections of major research institutions. His two-volume study of the birds of the area is widely considered seminal.
Mr. Belton’s accomplishments are all the more unusual in that as an ornithologist, he was completely self-taught. An American diplomat who served in high posts in Latin America and elsewhere before embarking, in retirement, on an ornithological career of more than 30 years, Mr. Belton died on Oct. 25 at 95. His death, at his home in Great Cacapon, W.Va., was from congestive heart failure, his son Hugh said.
Among Mr. Belton’s most significant achievements was making more than a thousand field recordings of birds, most in Rio Grande do Sul. Now in the archives of Cornell University, his recordings document the sounds of several hundred different species.
While many others have recorded birds in the field, Mr. Belton’s work was noteworthy for its methodical approach, its comprehensiveness and the sheer length of time he devoted to it, associates said in interviews recently. He first recorded the birds of Rio Grande do Sul in 1971, lugging a heavy reel-to-reel tape recorder and directional microphone. He made his last recordings there in 1993, when he was nearly 80...