Empty Den
The naturalist who has had the greatest influence on me is Dr. Alexander Skutch. He was born near Baltimore, and he spent most of his life in Costa Rica. Like Henry David Thoreau, he built a house in a secluded woodland, but instead of remaining for thirty months as Thoreau did at Walden Pond, Dr. Skutch stayed for more than sixty years. He died in May, 2004, a week shy of his 100th birthday. During the late 1930s, he worked in the national museum in Costa Rica, but he did not enjoy being indoors looking at lifeless specimens. So he built a house in the woods and spent the rest of his life observing and writing about bird behavior. In 2018, I visited his home in Costa Rica. He named it Los Cusingos, and it is now a museum dedicated to his life and work.
Empty Den
The naturalist who has had the greatest influence on me is Dr. Alexander Skutch. He was born near Baltimore, and he spent most of his life in Costa Rica. Like Henry David Thoreau, he built a house in a secluded woodland, but instead of remaining for thirty months as Thoreau did at Walden Pond, Dr. Skutch stayed for more than sixty years. He died in May, 2004, a week shy of his 100th birthday. During the late 1930s, he worked in the national museum in Costa Rica, but he did not enjoy being indoors looking at lifeless specimens. So he built a house in the woods and spent the rest of his life observing and writing about bird behavior. In 2018, I visited his home in Costa Rica. He named it Los Cusingos, and it is now a museum dedicated to his life and work.