History of RIARC

Following the death of Harry S. Hathaway in 1946, the work of collecting, evaluating, and preserving evidence supporting reports of rare birds in Rhode Island was taken up by the Rhode Island Ornithological Club. Contemporary Rhode Island birders are linked to the RIOC’s early figures, including Roland C. Clement, Henry E. Childs, Sr., William B. Dean, William H. Drury, Jr., Harold Gibbs, Alvah W. Sanborn, Charles Wood, and Carlos Wright, by a trio of talented and dedicated naturalists: Douglas L. Kraus, born 1912 and active 1924 until his death in 2000; David L. Emerson, born 1924 and active 1939, or earlier, until his death in 2004; and Richard Bowen, born 1922 and active 1939, or earlier, until his death in 2009. With the passage of half a century or more, it is hardly surprising that many figures from the early RIOC years lost contact with the birding community, moved away from Rhode Island, or died, but these three men remained among Rhode Island’s most active, productive, and congenial field workers through the 1990s. Emerson also made notable contributions to the permanent record of Rhode Island ornithology by painstakingly tracking bird records and updating Rhode Island’s Field Checklist over many decades. Junior to those mentioned above, but equally talented and dedicated, Richard L. Ferren connects past with present. Working closely with many of those named above, Ferren has literally written the book on Rhode Island birds, a project undertaken as early as 1956 and published in 2024.

Recognizing the need for continuity as the RIOC era waned, the Rhode Island Avian Records Committee was formed in 2008. Our mission is to evaluate documentation for unusual occurrences of birds in Rhode Island and its adjacent ocean waters, through application of consistent, rigorous, and impartial procedures, toward the greater goal of preserving an accurate and reliable historical record of Rhode Island’s birds.