Birds of Wisconsin

I grew up in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and I never had much of an education. Most of what I know came from first-hand experience. As a kid my feet were always wet from trompin the marshes. The birds were there, building their nests, laying their eggs and raising their young. My first bird skin was done with a little knife my dad and I had made from an old file. I hung around every one I knew who could tell me about the birds and their habitat. When I realized that the number of eggs was gradually diminishing I wondered what was going on? So my life s course was pretty well determined by the time I was fourteen. . . . Ornithology, taxidermy, conservation it was all there in just about everything I did. That s what I built on during my years at the Museum. That s the foundation for every picture I painted. Owen J. Gromme (1896-1991) as remembered by his daughter, Anne Marie Gromme. "