Steve Grinley
Newburyport’s Bird Watcher
By Kathleen Downey
Steve Grinley
“Birding is not just about seeing birds. It’s about being outside, experiencing the environment”–Steve Grinley.
Since 1995, Steve Grinley’s perch has been his shop, Bird Watcher’s Supply and Gift, on Newburyport’s Route 1 traffic circle. After being caught in corporate downsizing, the former marketing professional says he “decided to go for it” by starting his own business. With a lifelong passion for birds and for nature, he already knew the theme of his new enterprise.
Grinley has been captivated by birds since the sixth grade. “My teacher, Mr. Beach, took our class on a field trip to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge,” Grinley recalls. “It was the peak of migration. I can still remember all the warblers coming through.” The experience proved to be a formative event in Grinley’s life.
By the time he was a teenager, Grinley says that “birding” was a pretty well-woven character trait. As a high school student, Grinley would set his alarm clock for 3:00 a.m., take a trolley from his home in Newton, and revisit Mt. Auburn Cemetery to do a bit of “birding” before the school day began.
Grinley’s mother, who was very supportive of her son’s pastime from the outset, bought Grinley his first pair of binoculars. And Mr. Beach gave Grinley his first field guide. With these accoutrements, Grinley was well on his way to becoming an avid birder.
“I was 16 in the mid 1960s when I went on a five-week, cross-country birding tour,” Grinley remembers. A woman from the Brookline Bird Club drove the small band of birding enthusiasts (which included two poodles, recalls Grinley) in a VW bus. “Instead of flower children, we were bird children,” Grinley jokes.
Grinley kept a list of all the birds he sighted during his memorable cross-country sojourn. “Oh yes, birding lists are common amongst birders,” Grinley shares. “We share a modest competition with one another—and a great camaraderie.” Grinley states that he “absolutely” has a “life list” of the birds he’s seen and the birds he hopes to see.
However, Grinley says that the biggest thrill for him is not seeing any one bird in particular. Rather, he says, “It’s about being in the moment.”
“Seeing a ‘new bird,’ especially in foreign lands, is always fun, of course,” says Grinley, who visited Thailand last year. He was grateful to his native guide who was able to identify, by birdsong, the various unfamiliar birds, prior to Grinley coming upon them. “I’ve also been birding in East Africa,” Grinley shares.
In the U.S., Grinley has been birding in eastern Arizona, Texas, Florida, and also Alaska. “But some of the best birding is right here in Massachusetts!” he exclaims. “And I know all the nooks and crannies,” he adds.
Some of the nooks and crannies are in Grinley’s backyard. “Of course, the Parker River Wildlife Refuge is a great place for birding,” says Grinley. As a student, he often visited the refuge. His familiarity and love for the area influenced his decision to locate his store in the Port.
Grinley cites the Hellcat trail as one of his favored refuge spots. “And there’s the Artichoke reservoir in West Newbury and the Salisbury State reservation campground in the winter months . . . and even the industrial park.” Grinley recalls the vast bird life and other wildlife in the city’s common pasture before the industrial park was developed. But sometimes, he says, the most remarkable bird sightings are in urban environments.
Several years ago, Grinley was alerted that he should drive into downtown Boston to catch sight of a rare bird to the area. He was left awe-struck. “A Boreal owl was roosting on a building on Commonwealth Avenue,” Grinley remembers.
Grinley shares his passion for birds through his weekly “Words on Birds” column published in The Daily News. “There’s always something to write about with birds,” Grinley asserts. If he does get stuck for a topic, however, “I just go birding . . . and an idea will come to me,” he says. A bird who alights on a tree branch, for example, easily serves as Grinley’s inspiration.
“I enjoy writing about my passion,” Grinley states. He then laughs and says, “My eighth-grade English teacher, Mr. St. Pierre, would be proud of me.”
But it’s Mr. Beach, who introduced Grinley to the world of birds, whom Grinley credits with being the biggest influence in his life.
“One day Mr. Beach asked the class to think about what we might like to be when we grew up,” Grinley says. “He asked me if I thought I’d like to be a teacher. I answered him, ‘Absolutely not.’” Mr. Beach challenged the young Grinley. “He told me, ‘Why don’t you just wait and see what happens?’” Grinley reflects on his sixth-grade conversation with his mentor.
In a sense, Grinley admits, he became a teacher after all. “I teach people to be aware of nature and the environmental world. I show them how to look at the world from a natural side,”—rather than through an economics lens, he explains. An environmental viewpoint is important, Grinley says, when trying to preserve open space for nature and wildlife.
“The number 1 cause of the demise in bird populations is habitat destruction,” Grinley asserts. So he’s thrilled, Grinley says, that more land is being dedicated locally as open space through the Essex County Greenbelt, a group that Grinley supports. He’s also a member of The Trustees of the Reservations. “I encourage others to support these two groups and the important work that they do,” says Grinley.
Birding is interwoven with Grinley’s environmentally themed teaching. “I like that I can help people get close to birds . . . to help them connect with nature,” he states. He pauses a moment, then offers an allegory. “Sitting quietly on a marsh trail at 5:00 in the morning, before the sun comes up . . . you see and hear all kinds of things.” It is in this morning stillness, Grinley says, that nature announces Herself.
Grinley leads local birding excursions throughout the year. Contact Grinley at his store to sign up for one of these events.
Kathleen Downey is the Features Editor for Newburyport Today. If you are a townie or a citizen who would like to be profiled (or to suggest someone to profile), please email: Kathleen@Newburyport-Today.com.
