Reese Lukei, CCB Research Associate| News from CCB

Fall 2010News from the Center for Conservation Biology

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CCB Research Associate, Reese Lukei

Self-portrait of Reese Lukei holding a red-tailed hawk

Some time ago, Reese F. Lukei, Jr. retired to “travel and see the world” and “do things he enjoys.” His current busy schedule of speaking engagements and volunteer projects attests to doing the things he enjoys; he is certainly living it up in retirement. If you live in Hampton Roads, you may have heard his name (pronounced Luke with an I (eye)) on local television reports as a regular consultant on the bald eagles at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, or on the osprey, eagles and peregrines that he monitors around Hampton Roads.

Of course, Reese has always balanced a myriad of activities to follow his many passions. He had the opportunity to retire early from his career as an Certified Public Accountant and is an accomplished musician playing French horn in the Navy, waldhorn for Colonial Williamsburg, and Methodist Church choir director. Reese first volunteered for the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 1974 to fulfill his lifelong passion for the outdoors that has continued for wildlife causes in Virginia ever since. In 1990 he organized a volunteer work crew at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge known simply as "The Crew" that has worked hundreds of hours annually, on-call to complete maintenance and construction projects at National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) from Florida to New York such as boardwalks, kiosks, fishing piers and pole barns.

Reese holds Azalea, fledgling bald eagle from the NBG nest, before she is fitted for a satellite transmitter as part of the CCB's EagleTrak program.

May 2009, Norfolk Botanical Garden

Reese says he draws the organizational skills and creativity he needs to coordinate his busy retirement lifestyle from his accounting career, military service, and musical background, and he relishes the opportunities he receives by volunteering with wildlife.

When it was founded by Drs. Bryan Watts and Mitchell Byrd in 1991, Reese was named as one of the initial Research Associates at the Center for Conservation Biology. Reese was already a long friend and colleague of Dr. Mitchell’s Byrd from his many efforts on raptor banding and monitoring. Reese began his involvement with raptors in the early 70’s when he was helping Tom Nichols to trap, band, and build hacking towers for peregrine falcons as part of The Peregrine Fund’s research and recovery efforts for the species. He has been hooked on raptors ever since, a fact Reese’s wife of 52 years, Melinda, affectionately explains by saying, “has an incurable disease when it comes to raptors;” Reese’s description of his affinity with this taxonomic group is more matter-of-fact: “I only have to know 13 species!” In autumn 1982, he and Tom Nichols trapped two peregrines simultaneously (this is unusual in and of itself) at Back Bay NWR, and to boot, one had been banded by Tom earlier the same year in Greenland. Later it was learned that a second peregrine from that Greenland nest was trapped on the Mississippi migration flyway, proving that birds from the same nest can take different migration routes. Notably, Reese Lukei has trapped the only known leucistic (white) merlin, while banding raptors at Wise Point on the Eastern Shore of Virginia for CCB. He estimates he’s trapped about 2,000 merlin, which he reports as challenging to remove from nets because of their propensity to nip and bite fingers.

Reese holds eagle chick, banded ND, for an eager crowd at Norfolk Botanical Garden

May 2010

Reese is also an avid hiker who has hiked in all 50 states, more than 49 countries, including the North Pole and Antarctica, and was the primary force in creating the American Discovery Trail (ADT). Reese was the National Coordinator for the ADT from 1991 to 2003 and still serves as its treasurer. Reese still enjoys visiting new project sites to gather the details for trail maps. The Trail links local trail improvement efforts, connecting more than 200 existing trails, totaling over 6800 miles of hiking/biking trails through 15 states. The American Discovery Trail is unusual among hiking routes, in that it goes from rural landscapes then directly through major metropolitan cities, such as St Louis, Kansas City, Denver and San Francisco, as a way to encourage urbanites to participate in hiking.

His passion for the outdoors finds outlets in his local community, as well. Reese is a founding member of Virginia Beach’s Open Space Committee (2001) and its Biking and Trails Committee (2004). Reese's most self-rewarding effort was leading a neighborhood project to to establish the Little Neck Bike Trail two decades ago. The idea for the bike trail came after a close encounter he and his granddaughter had with a passing car while biking in that area.

CCB's Reese Lukei and Bryan Watts hold two of three banded eagle chicks from the NBG nest, May 2010, Norfolk Botanical Garden

Reese's community efforts can be noticed all over the tidewater region. As CCB Director Bryan Watt's said, “Reese has been an incredible force for good” in the Hampton Roads community, for wildlife, and for any effort he becomes involved in. You can follow some of Reese's works through two news blogs he writes for CCB that document the activity the Norfolk Botanical Garden eagle pair and the whereabouts of their satellite tracked progeny Azalea and Camellia. Visit Eagle Nest blog and EagleTrak blog for the recent scoop.


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