I have come late to the news of Victor Emanuel's passing. Like other Colorado birders, I met Victor at the 1990 ABA Convention in Fort Collins. During that convention, we met so many fine world birders. I had the pleasure to lead Chandler Robbins through Wild Basin and to Brainard Lake. Many of us were field trip leaders who led some 300 birders on a silent vigil walk at dusk to see a Boreal Owl near Joe Wright Reservoir. Ron Ryder waited until everyone was seated, then rapped on a dead snag for a Boreal to appear and take measure of the most unusual sight it would ever see. Cameras clicked away for what must have been ten or twelve minutes before the bird ducked back inside the cavity. This was Roger Peterson's lifer Boreal Owl. I'm not sure but I believe that Dr. Peterson may have arrived a day earlier with Victor Emanuel to see the owl.
In July 2021, a longtime friend visited with his family and along with the birds, they were lucky to watch a bull moose saunter through the yard barely twenty feet away. My friend, Dr. Drexel Gordon passed on what they saw to his niece, Jessica. Jessica and Ben Reynolds happened to be birding in Rocky Mountain National Park with Victor, a friend and two boys. Two days later, they visited our cabin in Peaceful Valley and spent the day watching hummingbirds, dippers and more. The day before, I had banded the five nestling dippers using the nest box by the cabin, and they fledged just as Victor and his entourage arrived.
We all sat twenty feet from the nest box and ten feet from the fledglings as the two adult birds moved furiously about to feed all five young. It was rich.
At the time, we had a few thousand hummingbirds but were a week away from the tens of thousands that would soon arrive to consume 9 to11 gallons of sugar water daily. Still, flowers in the little hummingbird meadow were dancing with birds. We banded a few hummingbirds to show various plumage characteristics, and the guests released birds after banding and data collection.
Deb and I were so very impressed with Victor. He said, and it was apparent, that the bird he was watching was like the first bird he ever saw. He never tired of a junco or a chickadee. Victor was sharp as a tack, cited poetry, and told stories of his remarkable travels, the birds and people he met. The tours of Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, or VENT, included art and music trips through Asia. VENT has long been the largest nature tour company in the world.
In the following years, our mountain property became a destination for Victor's Rocky Mountain Tour led by Rick Wright. We are privileged to host and meet so many wonderful people from across the continent and beyond.
Rest in peace, Victor Emanuel. May you sing with the birds for eternity.
Steve Bouricius
