Louise de Kiriline Lawrence

Louise de Kiriline Lawrence (née Flach; January 30, 1894 – April 27, 1992) was a naturalist, author, and nurse. She was a frequent contributor to the National Audubon Society magazine Audubon.

Early life Louise de Kiriline Lawrence was born Louise Flach on January 30, 1894, in Svensksund, Vikbolandet, Sweden, to Hillevid Neergaard and Sixten Flach. Her father Sixten was a trained naturalist. including work with European Student Relief.

In 1927 de Kiriline Lawrence emigrated to Canada and continued to work as a nurse, joining the outpost service of the Canadian Red Cross Society. and lived in a cabin in Northern Ontario. She met Leonard Lawrence, a carpenter, and married him in 1939. She published nearly twenty scientific papers in The Auk, The Wilson Bulletin, and The Canadian Field-Naturalist and more than 40 articles for Audubon and other popular magazines. De Kiriline Lawrence carried out the majority of her scientific work on her property, located outside of North Bay, Ontario.

Working from the most northerly bird banding station in Ontario, de Kiriline Lawrence made significant contributions to the knowledge of the northern limits of many North American species, chief among them red crossbill, Loxia curvirostra. Her observations and collecting constitute the earliest nest records for this species, as well as an early record of the L. c. bendirei subspecies for Ontario.

Later life and death Louise de Kiriline Lawrence died on April 27, 1992, in North Bay, Ontario.

Legacy and recognition In 1954, de Kiriline Lawrence became the first Canadian woman to be named an Elective Member of the American Ornithologists' Union. She received an honorary LL.D. from Laurentian University in 1970. In 2014, the Nipissing Naturalists Club established an annual Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Nature Festival. In 2016, the Club, in partnership with Ontario Heritage Trust, placed a plaque in honor of Louise de Kiriline Lawrence, in Nipissing District. Laurentian University awards five yearly scholarships named for de Kiriline Lawrence.

Works

Illustrated by Thoreau MacDonald. Reissued by Natural Heritage Books, 1988.

Illustrated by Glen Loates. Reissued by McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1968 and by Natural Heritage Books, 1987. Reissued by Natural Heritage Books, 1986. Published in Toronto by McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1977. Reissued by Natural Heritage Books, 1987. Illustrated by Aletha Karstad. Reissued by Natural Heritage Books, 1989.

Awards The Burroughs Medal, 1969, for The Lovely and the Wild The Sir Charles G. D. Roberts Special Award, 1969, for The Lovely and the Wild Francis H. Kortright Outdoor Writing Award, 1980, for To Whom the Wilderness Speaks Doris Huestis Speirs Award, for outstanding lifetime contributions to Canadian ornithology, from the Society of Canadian Ornithologists, 1991