Remembering Uncle Dave Menke, who died last night, and thinking of his family. They made a quick stop in New York after our family reunion in Mass. in 2009.

We saw him often when we were growing up and enjoyed the little toy planes he brought us, in addition to games with the frisbee, clambers through the woods and (to a lesser extent as impatient boys) watching birds.

He was a park ranger and wildlife photographer, who grew up in St. Louis and worked in Missouri (Watkins Mill), Nebraska and Iowa (DeSoto Bend), Alaska (Kodiak) and Oregon (Klamath). The local paper (The Herald and News) attributes the picture of great horned owls above to him in a story about the birds migrating through the Klamath basin this week.

Do a google search for Dave Menke and select photos; you'll see a wide selection of beautiful bird photos.

Other memories (many from childhood) include floats at the cabin in the Ozarks, at least one Colorado camping trip, meeting in Nebraska City, listening to Ian and Sylvia and other records at his house at De Soto Bend, getting onto the refuge after it had closed because Dave had the keys, seeing large herds of deer and the snow geese migration, getting into the visitor's center after hours and watching Dave disarm the alarm (and wondering whether he'd get it done in time). In recent years I enjoyed playing with his kids, especially Matthew, with whom I built a large lego model and bonded during family reunions.

Herald and News photo gallery of Dave's bird photos

Herald and News obituary

Herald and News story (short)