 Ted
Chandik is a south San Francisco Bay birder who was active throughout the
entire time of our period of review (1965-1989). He appears as an observer
in both regions of Caifornia in Audubon Field Notes in fall 1964,
and by winter 1965-66 he had become a Regional Editor for northern Califonria.
In all he served as a northern California Regional Editor for twenty seasons
— the third highest length of service in this capacity during our review
period. Ted was also active in the founding of California Field Ornithologists,
and served as member of the California Bird Records Committee for the first
7 years of its existence.
Like Gene Cardiff in southern California, Ted spent almost the entire era we have under review as a public-sponsored naturalist. While Cardiff headed the San Bernardino County Natural History Museum, Ted worked as the primary naturalist at Palo Alto Bayland Refuge on the shores of San Francisco Bay. The Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center opened in 1969, built atop 50 pilings driven into the salt marsh of the City of Palo Alto, and Ted would work there for 24 years. His job was as a teacher and interpreter of nature — not a museum collector. Ted led countless public walks through the Baylands reserve during his tenure, and became a primary expert on coastal salt marsh. The Palo Alto baylands became famous of their resident Clapper Rails; their Black Rails that could be seen at high tides in winter; and such regular vagrants as Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow. Ted's talks and walks would mentor several generations of young birdwatchers. Although Ted had the 8th highest California list when rankings were first published in 1969, Ted was not driven to chase high State lists or vagrants at desert oases, but he was a regular at soth San Francisco and Monterey Bay area CBCs, and on Monterey Bay boat trips. His interest included world birding, and he was among those who joined Van Remsen in 1975 for a whirlwind tour of Colombia. He and his wife Zoe have since traveled extensively for birds. Photo (above) aboard a boat on Monterey Bay, 26 Jan 1974 © Van Remsen. For another interesting photo of Ted from 1971, see Alan Baldridge's page |
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