Fred C. Zwickel, 1926–2018

Fred Zwickel banding a Sooty Grouse with his faithful English pointer Katie looking on. The ornithological world has lost one of its most dedicated grouse biologists, Fred C. Zwickel, who died on December 10, 2018, at the age of 91. Fred was best known for his 6 decades of work on Sooty and Dusky Grouse (both formerly known as Blue Grouse). He spent much of that time working on population ecology on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, but also on Hardwicke Island, British Columbia, the Methow Valley in Washington State, and numerous other locations throughout the range of both species. Fred was a true believer in the experimental method and was a tireless and thorough field worker. He pioneered large-scale field experiments to test hypotheses about the role of spacing behavior in population regulation. He and his students also studied breeding biology, behavior, movement, and geographical distribution. Fred was born in Seattle, Washington, on December 18, 1926. As a child he was a keen fisherman and loved to watch animals, spending lots of time in nature. At 16 he joined the U.S. Navy, serving for the last two and a half years of World War II. After the war, he used the G.I. bill to fund his B.Sc. degree in Wildlife Management at Washington State University, finishing in 1950. He then was hired by the Department of Game for the State of Washington where he developed his interest in forest grouse (Sooty, Dusky, Spruce, and Ruffed Grouse). He used the data he collected to complete his M.Sc degree at Washington State University in 1958 under the supervision of Irvin O. Buss. He continued working for the Department of Game until 1961. Between 1961 and 1965 Fred successfully completed his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia working on the population ecology of Sooty Grouse on Vancouver Island under the supervision of James F. Bendell. He then travelled to Scotland for an international postdoctoral fellowship, working at the Nature Conservancy Unit of Grouse and Moorland Ecology. Through his work with Irvin Buss at Washington State, Fred met David Boag, another grouse biologist who later held a faculty position in the Department of Zoology at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. In 1967, David encouraged Fred to apply for a faculty opening in Zoology at the University. Fred received the appointment, and he and his graduate and post-doctoral students subsequently worked continuously on Sooty and Dusky Grouse populations, mostly on Vancouver Island, until his retirement in 1985. He and his students published 95 peer-reviewed papers. He also co-authored the Birds of North America species account for Dusky and Sooty Grouse with his long-term collaborator Jim Bendell. His primary diversions from grouse were sabbaticals to Hokkaido, Japan to study pikas, and to Papua New Guinea to study skinks. At Alberta, Fred supervised 10 graduate students (4 Ph.D.) and 1 post-doc during his career, many of whom went on to become leaders in their fields in government, NGOs, and academia. Fred was renowned for the liberal use of his red pen on the naïve manuscripts of his graduate students. Students emerging from Fred’s tutelage knew how to write well and how to think critically. He loved a good argument and, with his colleagues David Boag and Jan Murie, he organized Wednesday evening seminars that were lively academic events where students presented their study proposals and results and were expected to defend their ideas. His ready laugh often reverberated down the halls of the Zoology department. Fred was awarded a Frances F. Roberts Award from the Cooper Ornithological Society in 1965 and became an Elective Member of the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) in 1974. In 2013 he received the Steve Cannings Award from the B.C. Field Ornithologists for his decades of work on Blue Grouse. After retiring from the University of Alberta, Fred and his wife Ruth moved to Cortes Island, one of the Canadian Gulf Islands. Retirement did not end Fred’s grouse research. He continued fieldwork, data analysis, and writing for another 3 decades—often with the help of field assistants, volunteers, and collaborators. Fred worked with his former supervisor and colleague, Jim Bendell, to publish a book entitled Blue Grouse: Their Biology and Natural History (NRC Research Press, 2004), for which they received the Wildlife Society Publication award in 2005. Following publication of this book, Fred participated in a collaborative project with George Barrowclough and Michael Schroeder to examine morphological, behavioral, and genetic variation across the range of Sooty, Dusky, and Spruce Grouse. Although the results have yet to be published, Fred’s curiosity and scientific drive are apparent throughout the process. Fred’s last year in the field was 2013 at the age of 86. Fred is survived by his wife Ruth Zwickel, chef and baker extraordinaire at the grouse field camps, his children Jeff (Sharon), Heidi (Mike), and Wendy, and 4 grandchildren, Ryan, Peter, Sierra, and Ben. Memorials Editor: Ted Anderson, ted020@centurytel.net

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