Spokane Audubon has lost a revered elder. Jan Reynolds died in fall 2025. She and her husband Ed were among early members of the society, including service on the board where Ed served as secretary. Jan’s contributions to Spokane Audubon and our birding community leave a wonderful legacy.
Jan, a talented artist, created the Spokane Audubon Northern Pygmy-owl logo. Her stunning drawings of birds revealed the artist’s careful eye for exquisite detail. She never missed a field mark or habitat feature.
Years ago, Jan, Ed, and I were birding in Northern California where I was hoping for my first view of a Rufous-crowned Sparrow. Jan and Ed spent free time exploring the West in their camper and Jan’s familiarity with the birds of the region was vast. I’d studied up on the attractive little bird, its localized ranges, and unusually wren-like song. It was the warble we detected first and there it was, declaring its territory atop a manzanita shrub in the Chaparral of the California Coast Range. Taking in good views of the cooperative bird, Jan and Ed shared my excitement, which Jan later commemorated with a scrumptious drawing that hangs framed on my wall.
Jan was kind, gentle, generous, and had insatiable curiosity about the natural world. She was a life-long learner and much of her insight was self-taught. Her knowledge of wildlife and habitats was enormous. She shared her wisdom with all who were interested and she certainly sharpened my skills, teaching me bird songs and calls, field marks, and behaviors when we birded together. Her love for animals stood out until her final days when she had an opportunity to visit with some pythons brought to the senior residential center to enlighten the locals, most of whom departed when the snakes arrived.
For several years after I joined Spokane Audubon, Jan provided the annual December program about birds we might expect to find on the Christmas Bird Count. It was on a Christmas Bird Count during the early ‘90s that Ed and Jan reported the first Eastern Washington sighting of a Bewick’s Wren by Painted Rocks along the Little Spokane.
As I remember Jan Reynolds, I will always be grateful for her tremendous contributions to Spokane Audubon Society and our birding community.
