H. Thomas “Tom” Bartlett
Master Bird Bander • Naturalist • Educator • Conservationist

One Ornithology class changed everything.

When Tom Bartlett arrived in Tiffin, Ohio, from New Jersey in 1969 to attend Heidelberg College, he had not yet figured out what he wanted to do with his life.

Then he took an ornithology class.

That class introduced Tom to the world of bird banding, and a fascination became a calling. He earned his bird banding permit while still in college and began what would become more than 50 years of field research, teaching, conservation and discovery.

A shared life in the field.

Much of Tom’s ongoing field work has been shared with his wife, Paula Bartlett. For decades, Paula has worked beside Tom during migration seasons, recording field data, assisting at banding stations, teaching Road Scholar participants and helping welcome visitors into the science of bird banding. During spring and fall migration, the two still band birds together almost daily.

The point was never just to count birds.

Tom and Paula have spent a lifetime collecting data, but the real value of that work is what the data can protect.

From Springville Marsh to the Lake Erie islands, their research has helped document the importance of places where birds breed, rest, feed, migrate and survive. The work has supported habitat protection, informed land-use decisions and contributed to a deeper understanding of Ohio’s birds and ecosystems.

A band is small. The story it can tell is enormous.

A tiny numbered band can help answer some very big questions. Where do birds go? How long do they live? Do they return to the same places? Are populations changing? Which habitats do they depend upon to survive?

For decades, Tom has helped answer those questions by safely capturing, studying, banding and releasing birds throughout northwestern Ohio and the Lake Erie islands. Together, those individual encounters create a scientific record that helps researchers understand migration, population health and the ecosystems birds depend upon. . At many of those stations, Paula is part of the working team, recording measurements and band information that become part of the long-term research record.

A lifetime of conservation. An Ohio Legacy.

In 2026, Tom Bartlett was inducted into the Ohio Natural Resources Hall of Fame in recognition of more than 50 years studying, protecting and advocating for Ohio’s birds, wildlife and natural places.

The honor recognizes a body of work that reaches far beyond the extraordinary number of birds he has banded. Tom has been a researcher and field naturalist, a conservation advocate, a science teacher, a mentor, a volunteer and an enthusiastic ambassador for the natural world.The Hall of Fame honor is Tom’s, while much of the continuing fieldwork behind that legacy has been shared with Paula and their banding teams.

More than 50 years in and they are still bird banding.

There are always more birds to study. More questions to ask. More places worth protecting. And more people to bring along for the adventure. In spring and fall, that still means early mornings in the field for Tom and Paula, banding birds side by side.