Farida Wiley stands in front of the marsh birds exhibit in her habitat, the American Museum of Natural History. In her hands is the tool of her trade, binoculars.

It is late March. The songs of birds are heard in the early morning. To the initiated and perceptive, the sounds are distinctive: a black and white warbler, two red-winged blackbirds, a killdeer and a cat bird. For most of us, the sounds are reminiscent of our youth and recollections of the rites of spring. For 94 year old Farida Wiley, those sounds meant another season of bird watching and teaching thousands of New York City dwellers about nature and its fascinating complexity. This is her story.

Born on her parent's percheron horse farm in Orange Township in 1889, she quickly developed a fascination with birds. Her girlhood friends such as the McCrackens wanted to play, but serious minded Farida busied herself with making regular reports on bird sightings to the U.S. Biological Survey. The tragic death of both parents when she was young coupled with the marriage and move to New York of her sister Bessie left her with little alternative but to follow Bessie to the big city. A bird watcher and nature lover in New York City?

Bessie helped her get a job at the prestigious American Museum of Natural History teaching blind children. The year was 1919. The rest, as they say, is history. Miss Wiley [as she was referred to by everyone] continued for the next 64 years to make glad the heart of not only children but of the taciturn New Yorkers as well. She was foremost an ornithologist, and Central Park was her haven. For nearly half a century she led daily 7 a.m. bird walks in the park.

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