Wesley E. Lanyon

Wesley Edwin "Bud" Lanyon (1926–2017) was an American ornithologist.

Biography Lanyon grew up near Hanover, New Hampshire, where Dartmouth College is located. When he was 13 years old, he met Richard L. Weaver, a naturalist who mentored him in ornithology. After graduation from Hanover High School (where he was president of his senior class), Lanyon served from 1944 to 1946 as a radio operator in the U.S. Navy. In 1950 he graduated from Cornell University, where Donald Griffin, Arthur Augustus Allen, and Peter Paul Kellogg stimulated his interest in recording bird songs. In the summer of 1947 Lanyon met Vernia "Vickie" Elizabeth Hall (1925–2004) when he worked for National Capital Parks in Washington, D.C. There they married in 1951 on January 29 (which was her birthday). In 1950 he became a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he graduated in 1955 with a PhD. His doctoral dissertation, supervised by John T. Emlen,

He was president of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) from 1976 to 1978 and was awarded the AOU's Brewster Medal in 1968. He was the author or coauthor of 102 publications. Scott Lanyon was from 2014 to 2016 the last president of the AOU, which was merged in 2016 into the American Ornithological Society. The elder Lanyon and his son were the only father and son pair among the AOU presidents.

The American Ornithological Society established the Wesley Lanyon award in his honor. The species Pogonotriccus lanyoni is named in his honor.

Kalbfleisch Field Research Station Augusta S. Kalbfleisch (1876–1956) and her husband lived at Blyenbeck Farm on Long Island for many years. She enjoyed bird-watching and made her farm attractive to wildlife. Her husband died in 1948. As long ago as 1937 the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) indicated that the museum's board of directors wanted to use Blyenbeck Farm as a bird and wildlife sanctuary. For that purpose, her last will and testament bequeathed to the AMNH the farm, together with an endowment fund of $200,000. Wesley E. Lanyon was the first and only director of the AMNH's Kalbfleish Field Research Station.

Selected publications