Dr. Edwin McGowan Guest Lectures on Migration Arts

Dr. Edwin McGowan, Science Director of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, spent the day with his brother, Associate Professor Tony McGowan and students in EN433: Senior Seminar--a course this year committed to "Migration Arts." A local expert on biological diversity in the Hudson Valley, Dr. McGowan has for many years been involved in the monitoring of animal and bird populations in our region. The day began in West Point's new Special Collections space in Bartlett Hall's renovated West Point Room. Dr. McGowan spoke on the history of migration in the Hudson Valley, before leading cadets in guided close-reading of the late 19th and early 20th century field notes of Wirt Robinson, a West Point graduate, a Harvard and West Point professor, and a renowned "shotgun ornithologist." The class then moved to the Bear Mountain Trailside Zoo and Museum, where cadets examined the history of human and animal migration in the Hudson Valley. Unfortunately, rain washed-out our planned participation in the broad-wing hawk migration count from the top of Bear Mountain.