Special to the Sun
The Harvard Travellers Club is pleased to conclude its 2022-2023 season with a presentation from world birder, Noah Strycker. In 2015, he set a record for a worldwide Big Year of birding, seeing 6,042 of the world’s estimated 10,365 bird species at the time (58.3%), becoming the first person to record half of the world’s birds in a single year. His journey spanned 41 countries and all seven continents. After dinner at the Harvard Club Back Bay, Strycker will give a presentation on this incredible adventure plus his many other travels including trips to the polar regions where he has travelled more than 50 times as well as Amazonian Ecuador, Costa Rica, Panama, the Australian Kimberley, the Farallon Islands, Hawaii, Michigan, Florida, and Maine.
Strycker is the author of many publications about birds, including Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, A Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World. Other publications include Birds of the Photo Ark(2018), Among Penguins (2011), The Thing With Feathers (2014), and Birding Basics (2022).
This presentation will mark the final meeting of the Harvard Travellers Club’s 120th year since its founding in 1902. The club traces its roots to Harvard’s eminent geographer, Professor William Morris Davis, who in association with Copley Amory, Archibald Cary Coolidge, Roland B. Dixon and Hames J. Kidder, invited Harvard colleagues to meet in an effort to promote and discuss “intelligent travel and exploration”. The Club continues to accept new applicants.
While the Golden Age of geographical exploration during which the club was founded is long since passed, the spirit behind the founding of the Club remains intact. Today, members continue to commit themselves to intelligent travel and continue to be curious about other landscapes, cultures and scientific discoveries. Definitely unchanged is members’ enjoyment in learning of one another’s travels.
In 1913 the club began to meet at the Harvard Club on Commonwealth Avenue – a tradition which continues to this day. The club currently meets eight times a year for cocktails, dinner, and a lecture. This season kicked off with a lecture by explorer, author, and television personality Captain Sean Meagher on sailing in the Arctic.
Other recent highlights included fascinating presentation by James Shedd and Geoffrey Clark on recreating the Greely Arctic Expedition of 1881-84, Brian Buma on the search for the southernmost tree in the world, and Tim Cope on a trip from Mongolia to Hungary on horseback. Last November the club celebrated its 900th meeting with a gala dinner of one hundred members and guests and a lecture by renowned Shackleton expert Robert K. Headland.
“Our members join together to share stories of distant places, rugged climbs, boating expeditions, foreign cultures and traditions”, says Council member and North Shore resident Peter Creighton. “Member presence and participation propels this club forward and I love learning about other members’ adventures”.
To that end the club is welcoming potential new members and interested parties to consider attending the dinner in May to meet the membership committee. Membership in the Harvard Travellers Club is open to persons who have a background or interest in world travel.
Visit http://www.harvardtravellersclub.org for more information, and contact [email protected] if you are interested in attending the dinner and Strycker lecture.