Robert Sutton recording the songs of Jamaican birds in the field. - Contributed THE MEMORIAL Service for Robert A. L. Sutton will be held on Saturday, August 31, at 4 p.m. at the Mandeville Parish Church. His tragic murder at his home in Marshall's Pen, Mandeville, on July 22 brought to an end the life of a remarkable man and an irreplaceable and distinguished member of Jamaica's environmental community.
In recognition of his life's accomplishments, the regional conservation organisation the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds (SCSCB) has established the Robert Sutton Memorial Fund which will accept US-dollar contributions through the United States National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (USFWF). Jamaican dollar contributions are to be made to charities to be announced shortly.
Robert, the only son of Arthur and Brenda Sutton, spent his entire life at Marshall's Pen, a 300-acre cattle property which he knew as intimately as his own bedroom. He grew up in a household that cherished nature -- his mother was a gifted artist who contributed scientifically precise drawings and paintings of Jamaican plants to many publications including a book "Wildflowers of Jamaica". He developed an interest in birds as a teenager, which he perfected throughout his life to become the foremost Jamaican field ornith-ologist of his time.
His expertise was sought after both locally and internationally by everyone with an interest in Jamaican birds. Together with his wife Ann, he played host to literally hundreds of foreign scientists and birders, at Marshall's Pen and throughout Jamaica. Robert was an ideal guide to the country he loved, quiet to the point of shyness but with a wealth of knowledge of birds, plants and trees which could satisfy the most insistent visitor.
Together with Musgrave Medal recipient Audrey Downer he wrote "Birds of Jamaica -- a Photographic Field Guide" which was published by Cambridge University Press in 1990. This publication has remained an essential tool for the identification of Jamaica's endemic bird life. Jamaica has more endemic birds than any other Caribbean island and almost the highest rate of bird endemism of any oceanic island worldwide.
He made birdsong a particular specialty and in partnership with George Reynard of Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (Cornell University) worked on recording Jamaican bird calls and songs from the early 1960s and published an audio collection called "Bird Songs in Jamaica" in 2000. Audrey Downer remembers Robert said that "Robert could tell what species a bird was by every squeak that it made in some faraway bush".
Long before these achievements Robert was recognised by US Fish and Wildlife Service and licensed as the only Master Bander in Jamaica, authorised to place identification bands on migrant birds wintering here -- a task requiring exceptional skill and perseverance. Robert has carried out these responsibilities for almost 40 years, and compiled a vast amount of data in the process. He was a member of the BirdLife Jamaica (formerly Gosse Bird Club) for about 40 years, and shared his knowledge freely, contributing hundreds of articles and notes to this organisation's publication -- The Broadsheet -- in addition to leading numerous field trips for members and other nature enthusiasts.
Much of this work was done at Marshall's Pen where Robert had observed and identified a possibly national record of well over a hundred species of birds. His love for the property has enabled it to remain largely as undeveloped native forest as a bird sanctuary while functioning as an active cattle farm close to the city of Mandeville.
Robert Sutton is mourned not only by his family, friends and staff at Marshall's Pen, but also by the members of BirdLife Jamaica, other environmental groups, the island Nature Tourism community, and by members of the field ornithologist fraternity worldwide.
Contributed by BirdLife Jamaica
