Hailing from an island in the Chesapeake Bay, the rich waterfowling tradition of this region has had a profound effect on Walt Rhodes.

He’d lay in bed at night listening to Canada geese roosting on the creek by his house, dreaming of past hunts and hunts to come on the Eastern Shore. Running his muskrat trapline as teenager, he would frequently carry his 20-gauge shotgun along, a gun that he still owns today, and maybe jump shoot a black duck from the tidal marsh. The passion for the outdoors eventually led to a bachelor’s degree in forestry and wildlife and master’s degree in wildlife management from Virginia Tech, where his master’s research investigated habitat use of canvasbacks wintering on Chesapeake Bay.

He took a detour with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources as head of their Alligator Program but remained working on waterfowl as an observer conducting aerial winter surveys. This led to him obtaining his pilot’s license and becoming a pilot-biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There, some of his many duties include conducting migratory-bird surveys across North America, leading a waterfowl banding crew in Canada, and serving as a checker at many annual wingbees. He also was an award-winning freelance outdoors writer and photographer for nearly 20 years.

He can normally be found in the fall hunting ducks in the Pacific Flyway and occasionally rekindling the memories of that little boy with hunts back on the Chesapeake Bay.