here is a natural bond of affinity between those who have gone to the fields in March to hear the tinkle of the Horned Larks on the frozen ground; or in the hope of seeing a meadowlark in the snowy stubble; or a group of early bluebirds on fence or wire. There is a deep understanding among those who have heard the mystical nuptial flight song of the woodcock at an April dusk; who have been surprised by the babbling rapture of the ruby-crown’s mating song in the budding woods of early May; who have listened with moist eyes to the robins singing in the rain, with its nostalgic memories of childhood; or who have waited in a reverent and breathless silence, while the Wood Thrush chimed his bells in a June twilight.

– Fred Pattee

(Excerpt from the letter dated February 3, 1940, written by Fred Pattee to the Evanston North Shore Bird Club after the death of his wife, Bertha, the club’s founder and president from 1919-1939; from a Birder’s Guide to the Chicago Region authored by club members Lynne Carpenter and Joel Greenberg)