William Joseph Lambart Sladen (1920–2017)

William (Bill) Sladen passed away on 29 May 2017, at his home in Warrenton, Virginia, USA, at the age of 96, from cerebrovascular disease. He was internationally known as an outstanding wildlife researcher and waterfowl conservationist. He was born in Newport, Wales, on 19 December 1920, but grew up in outer-London Surrey where he developed his interests in natural history. His parents Hugh Sladen and Catherine Tucker were both career officers in the Salvation Army and his maternal great-grandparents, William and Catherine Booth, founded the Salvation Army in London, England, in 1865. Dr Sladen studied for his medical degree during World War II and was awarded a bachelor of medicine and a bachelor of science in 1946 from London University. His professional career in biology began in 1947 when, as a medical officer, biologist, and photographer with the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (now British Antarctic Survey), he travelled to Antarctica. At one stage he was one of three people based at Hope Bay; others of the party had left the base to undertake different research. While Sladen was out studying penguins the camp caught fire, killing both his colleagues. Sladen had to survive on his own by fabricating a shelter and eating penguins for 2 weeks until the rest of the party returned. That experience had a profound effect on Dr Sladen and subsequent to the tragedy he kept field supplies in sledge boxes and insisted that supplies be dispersed so they wouldn't be vulnerable in one location. On returning to the UK he joined the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, University of Oxford, where, supervised by David Lack, he worked up his penguin research, successfully submitting it for a doctorate (Sladen 1954. Biology of the Pygoscelid Penguins. D.Phil Thesis, University of Oxford. (two vols)). While in Oxford, in the summer of 1953, he linked up with Peter Scott at the Wildfowl Trust, joining him on his second expedition to central Iceland to catch and ring Pink-footed Geese Anser brachyrhynchus at a breeding ground that had only been discovered on the first expedition. This link set in motion what was to become his lifelong enthusiasm for geese and swans. In 1956, Dr Sladen received a Rockefeller Foundation post-doctoral fellowship, which brought him to Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Hygiene and Public Health (now Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He taught comparative behaviour and ecology to graduate students, while also maintaining an active role in field research. During his tenure at JHU, he headed the field ecology program, which included extensive studies of waterfowl in Chesapeake Bay. Numerous graduate students conducted their research with waterfowl in Chesapeake Bay under his tutelage. Most of his research was funded by the National Science Foundation. Dr Sladen earned his U.S. citizenship in 1962. In 1964, Dr Sladen discovered residues of DDT in Adelie Penguins Pygoscelis adeliae and seals in Antarctic. This was the first documented case to demonstrate global pollution of this persistent organo-chorine pesticide in birds and mammals. During his research he filmed the penguins extensively as part of his scientific study, but he also used the footage to reach a wide audience to advance conservation education. In 1971, his film ‘Penguin City’, narrated by Charles Kuralt, was aired by CBS. The film documented the day-to-day lives of Adelie Penguins for the public, who at that time knew very little of the wildlife in Antarctica. His long-term ornithological research, involving the banding of some 50 000 penguins and 60 000 albatrosses, was the first of its kind. His pioneering banding and radiotelemetry techniques for bird studies took him to far-flung places such as Antarctica, Lapland, Alaska, Chile, and Iceland. In 1975, he was the first westerner to visit Siberia's Wrangel Island to study Snow Geese Chen caerulescens. In the 1970s, he defined the 8000-mile roundtrip migration route of the Tundra Swan Cygnus columbianus as a part of a team advising the Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration on bird hazards to aircraft. He was a strong advocate of long-term research and travelled frequently between sites in the Arctic and Antarctica to conduct the research for his different ongoing projects. His enthusiasm for banding sometimes got him in trouble with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) Bird Banding Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, USA. Administrators of the Laboratory were unimpressed with his idea to band both legs of the captured birds as a means to lessen the chance of lost data if one of the bands should fall off. In addition, his enthusiasm for banding the maximum number of birds did not always leave time for the best organization. His thick paper files of banding records were sometimes not as well organized as preferred, which led to some errors and frustration on the part of the clerks dealing with the submitted reports. Dr Sladen was well aware of the advantages of colour marking large birds that migrated long distances, especially if they were white, like the swans, Snow Geese, and Canvasbacks Aythya valisineria. He pioneered work with various dyes, neck collars, and other markers for identification by biologists and the public. When the USFWS began a large (US$200 000) study of Chesapeake Bay canvasbacks in 1972, there was a desire to mark ducks at six banding sites. Five colours of dyes were readily available, but the sixth colour (yellow from picric acid) was being used under a banding permit by Dr Sladen. We really wanted that colour and knowing that Dr Sladen was envious of our funding, we offered him $10 000 for the exclusive use of picric acid. After some negotiation,the deal was finalized to the benefit of both parties. Dr Sladen maintained an interest in work in Antarctica throughout his life, but gradually his interests in wildfowl – and especially swans – came to predominate. In the mid-1970s, he created the Wildfowl Trust of North America located at the Horsehead Wetlands Center in Grasonville, Maryland, USA. He had the ambitious goal to establish a collection of all the indigenous waterfowl of North America. This program was modelled on the very successful waterfowl sanctuary at Slimbridge, England, created by his good friend, Peter Scott. Dr. Sladen always maintained a high standard for native wildlife. He opposed the introduction of farm-game Mallards Anas platyrhynchos that were being released by the state of Maryland in the 1970s–1980s. He was for many years of his life opposed to the proliferation of Mute Swans Cygnus olor in Chesapeake Bay. However, because he was opposed to killing swans, he pressured managers to consider more humane techniques, such as same-sex pairing on private ponds, a technique he continued to promote for Mute Swans throughout his life. In recognizing his long and productive career dealing with the conservation and research of wildlife resources of the Chesapeake Bay, especially swans, the proceedings of the Mute Swan Symposium conducted in 2001 in Maryland was dedicated to Dr William Sladen, ‘a long-time expert and researcher of polar birds (especially penguins, swans, and geese), amateur botanist, photographer, and filmmaker’. Dr Sladen was a major advocate for management of waterfowl in the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed for over 50 years. In the 1980s, Dr. Sladen collaborated with the Canadian sculptor, Mr Bill Lishman in an experiment to train Canada Geese Branta canadensis to fly behind ultralight aircraft, hoping the technique might be used to teach safer migration routes to Trumpeter Swans Cygnus buccinator and other endangered waterfowl. In 1993, the first successful experiment was conducted when a flight of 18 Canada Geese, which were imprinted on two ultralight aircraft, left Canada and landed 4 days later at the Airlie Conference Center in Virginia. The experiment led to the Hollywood film ‘Fly Away Home’. The technique of using an ultralight to assist in avian migration is still being used successfully with Whooping Cranes Grus americana by Operation Migration (http://operationmigration.org/) in cooperation with the USFWS and the U.S. Geological Survey. Dr Sladen and his team also tested new and innovative methods with experiments to test ‘passive migration’ by carrying geese below a gas balloon over a migration route. His expertise in raising funds was exhibited with his ‘Adopt a Swan’ program, where patrons could contribute to his program and get regular updates on the location of ‘their’ swan during migration. Adopt a Crane and other similar programs have been based on Dr Sladen's model. In 1990, Dr Sladen retired from his very productive teaching career at Johns Hopkins University. With great enthusiasm, he then created and became director of the Environmental Studies at Airlie's Swan Research Program (SRP) in Fauquier County, Virginia. This 914-acre field station was used to continue his passion for research and education of issues dealing with swan conservation. SRP maintained a collection of over 160 swans (nine taxa, including breeding Trumpeter Swans). Dr Sladen was involved with all aspects of the propagation and interpretation of the swans in the collection that existed on the Airlie property and adjacent property of friends with mutual interests in nature. In addition to publishing over 120 scientific papers, he also made television films to illustrate his research, which have been shown on all major USA networks, NOVA, and the BBC. His awards include Member of the British Empire, the Polar Medal (UK), and the 1991 Explorer's Medal (Explorer's Club, NY) for research in the polar regions. Two Antarctic mountains (Mount Sladen and Sladen Summit) are named in his honour. Dr Sladen was a member of the American Ornithological Union from 1956 and was awarded elective member status in 1964 and a fellow member in 1974. He also was a longtime member of the Association of Field Ornithologists and the Waterbird Society. Dr Sladen was a popular lecturer and leader on small study voyages to the Polar Regions. His last trip to Antarctica was in December 2000 as a guest lecturer on the Kapitan Khlebnikov, qualifying him as a seven-decade Antarctican. Dr Sladen spent the last years of his life in Warrenton, Virginia, with his wife, Jocelyn, at their personal 550-acre field station of Environmental Studies at Airlie, which they have managed for the benefit of native flora and fauna. Dr Sladen is survived by his wife, Jocelyn Arundel Sladen, and by two children from his first wife Brenda Macpherson, Catherine Adélie (like the penguin) Sladen and Hugh Sladen, and by two grandchildren. Dr Sladen wrote in National Geographic in 1975 that he never second-guessed himself as to why he left a medical career to pursue his passion with wildlife. To his puzzled friends he said, ‘Wouldn't they perhaps trade whatever they are doing to witness the spectacle of 300 000 Adélie Penguins in Antarctica, to round up thousands of Pink-footed Geese in Iceland, to sit among harems of Fur Seals on the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, or to take inspiration from the Wandering Albatross as it soars majestically above the southern oceans?’ These words encapsulate the life of Dr Sladen and why, in spite of some well-known idiosyncrasies, he was admired and respected by the avian community. Those of us who knew him remember his indefatigable energy for research and his compassion for wildlife. These traits, which he probably received from his parents and grandparents in England, provided a career of exemplary performance that greatly benefitted the wildlife of this planet.

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