Edward S. Brinkley Nature Preserve
The following was written by Roberta Kellam, petitioning the Northampton County Board of Supervisors to rename the preserve in honor of Edward S. Brinkley, an esteemed Northampton County resident who passed away suddenly in 2020. The preserve was renamed in his honor on April 13, 2021.
Edward S. ("Ned'') Brinkley, who passed away suddenly in November 2020, was a beloved member of the Northampton County community since he moved to the Shore in 2000. He was born in 1965 and adopted by Clifton Stan worth and Catherine MacDonald Lee Brinkley of Norfolk, Virginia. He graduated from Maury High School as Salutatorian in 1983 and then completed two Bachelors of Arts degrees in Germanic Language and Literatures, and Comparative Literatures at the University of Virginia in 1987, graduating Summa Cum Laude as an Echols Scholar, Jefferson Scholar and member of Phi Beta Kappa.
From 1987 to 1993, he attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, where he earned both Masters of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Comparative Literature and Film, and also taught Field Ornithology. During the next 6 years, while working as an Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Film at the University of Virginia, Ned also pursued his second career leading birding tours for Field Guides, one of the pioneering ecotourism companies.
In addition to being a published scholar, Ned was a prolific researcher and writer in his amateur
ornithological career, authoring dozens of scientific articles with original research and serving as Editor of the North American Birds journal for 16 years. In this role, Ned reported and analyzed bird sighting data from the entire North American continent, as well as authored the quarterly column, "The Changing Seasons. " In 2007, he wrote the "National Wildlife Federation's Field Guide to Birds of North America, " a comprehensive guide to identifying 750 bird species in North America. He also co-authored "Virginia's Birdlife: An Annotated Checklist, " Fourth Edition (2007), which provided detailed descriptions of 466 species of birds found in Virginia. Ned's skill and talent for synthesizing vast amounts of research into a readable format made him widely sought after by numerous publishers, and he is cited as a contributor in many of the leading bird books of today.
Ned's profession enabled him to live anywhere that he wanted; he chose Northampton County so that he could fully immerse himself in the unique environment of the Eastern Shore in order to study the incredible phenomenon of migratory birds here that many of us take for granted. Ned found himself immersed as much in our community as he was in the study of birds, living in Cape Charles for many years while he worked at a number of jobs, including operating the Sterling House Bed and Breakfast,managing the Hotel Cape Charles, and overseeing production at New Ravenna. Most of the time, Ned worked these jobs concurrently with his bird tour leading, ornithological writing, and his own field research.
What sets Ned apart from others with a distinguished education and internationally renowned expertise was his love and generosity in sharing his gifts with others. He was a natural teacher and mentor, never failing to respond with kindness to emails and phone calls from anyone; from beginning birders to those at his level. He alone has been the reservoir of all knowledge on Eastern Shore avifauna for the past 20 years, and the full extent of his body of research is only becoming apparent after his passing. He has seen the most bird species in Northampton County of anyone on record (nearly 4001). He was planning to write a book, yet left that work unfinished in his untimely passing. Nevertheless, his decades of birding on the Eastern Shore and his global circle of birding friends allowed him to be the most notable voice promoting the Eastern Shore of Virginia as a premier birding destination It is our hope that renaming the Northampton County Nature Preserve to honor Ned would help to raise global awareness of the Eastern Shore of Virginia's birding life and allow his friends to carry on his birding outreach, research and education.
The current Northampton County Nature Preserve is located on the Northampton Landfill property, which is not only a popular spot for local birders, but draws people from across Virginia and beyond. Much of the birding lore associated with the landfill relates to the pond, which attracts a plethora of migratory birds, as well as various vagrants - including some truly extraordinary species, such as the Gray Heron that was photographed in November 2020, only the second record of this European species for the Lower 48. Ned himself put the landfill pond on the birder's map, amassing a number of first sightings as well as recording rarities such as Lucy's Warbler, a Southwestern species never previously recorded in Virginia, and only recorded a handful of times east of the Mississippi!
It was through Ned's encouragement that the Eastern Shore of Virginia Birding and Wildlife Programs, Inc., became involved in promoting the use of the landfill property as an official birding spot. He was involved in helping to design the observation platform signage, reviewing the photography blind plans and locating the best spots for placing the blinds. There is much work to be done and on behalf of the Board of Eastern Shore of Virginia Birding and Wildlife Programs, we ask that this project be continued in Ned's honor, by naming the preserve after him.