Bald Eagles, Ron Joseph with black bear cub. (circa 2009)

Author Ron Joseph will be speaking at the Rangeley Public Library on Wednesday, September 11th, starting at 6:00 PM. He will share stories from his book Bald Eagles, Bear Cubs & Hermit Bill: Memoirs of a Wildlife Biologist. In his book, Ron shares stories of growing up in rural Maine, working as a wildlife biologist, and meeting Mainers like retired dairy farmers Ruth and Martin French of Dover-Foxcroft who repurposed their barn’s empty cow stalls into a wildlife rehabilitation center.

The book includes humorous stories such as the one about the time he had to count piles of deer dung on designated mile-long lines and encountered a woman who bluntly asked him, “So you went to college for that?”

Many of the book’s stories have previously been published in Down East, Maine Boats Homes and Harbors, Bangor Daily News, Moosehead Messenger, PenBay Pilot, and elsewhere.

Ronald Joseph was born in Waterville, Maine. Spending childhood summers on his maternal grandparents’ nearby dairy farm, he became fascinated with songbirds, often spending hours perched on stacks of hay bales in a post-and-beam barn watching swallows dart in and out to feed their nestlings. Ron’s mother encouraged his love of birds by giving him a copy of Peterson’s Field Guide to Eastern Birds. The Book’s colored plates and range maps revealed a fascinating world of birds just outside his front door. His farm chores, from milking cows to collecting chicken eggs, were often interrupted by sprints through the barnyard to identify indigo buntings, chestnut-sided warblers, brown thrashers, and dozens of other songbirds.

His first bull moose sighting would also leave a deep impression: chased by his grandparents’ border collie Bonnie, the moose ran between the farmhouse and barn, ducked beneath a clothesline, and escaped across a hayfield with a bra attached to his antler. Birdwatching, though, became Ron’s passion, inspiring him to pursue a B.S. degree in wildlife conservation and an M.S. in zoology. In 1978, he began a 33-year career, first as a state wildlife biologist, and later as a federal biologist specializing in the restoration of eagles, peregrines, and other endangered species in Maine.

Now retired, Ron volunteers for the Kennebec Land Trust, participates in the Maine Bird Atlas, a statewide citizen science project evaluating songbird populations trends, and leads Maine birding trips.

Copies of Ron’s book will be available for purchase at the program.

Please stop by the library or call (207)864-5529 to sign up for this free program.