Parents: Nathaniel and Cornelia Patterson (Van Rensselaer) Thayer.
Husband of Evelyn Duncan (Forbes) Thayer. Married: June 22, 1886, Clinton, MA.
Graduated from Harvard University in 1885. He was an amateur ornithologist. He became interested in ornithology in the mid 1890s, building up a collection which he housed in a museum in the main street of Lancaster.
He used his wealth to sponsor various natural history expeditions and in 1906 he sent Wilmot W. Brown to Guadalupe Island in Mexico. Here, Brown discovered that the natural vegetation was being destroyed by thousands of goats, to the detriment of the native wildlife. The native Guadalupe Storm-petrel was being predated by introduced cats, as was the Guadalupe Flicker. Both birds became extinct shortly afterwards. Thayer and Outram Bangs wrote an article in ''The Condor'' to draw attention to the situation.
In 1913 Thayer and other Harvard graduates sponsored an expedition to Alaska and Siberia, with Joseph S. Dixon and Winthrop Sprague Brooks as zoological collectors. A gull collected by Brooks on this trip was named ''Larus thayeri'' in Thayer's honour.
John Eliot Thayer became ill in 1928, and donated his collection of 28,000 skins and 15,000 eggs and nests to Harvard University. These included the first clutches ever collected of Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Surfbird. After Thayer's death Harvard received his collection of 3,500 mounted birds.
He and his brother Bayard Thayer were twins.
Husband of Evelyn Duncan (Forbes) Thayer. Married: June 22, 1886, Clinton, MA.
Graduated from Harvard University in 1885. He was an amateur ornithologist. He became interested in ornithology in the mid 1890s, building up a collection which he housed in a museum in the main street of Lancaster.
He used his wealth to sponsor various natural history expeditions and in 1906 he sent Wilmot W. Brown to Guadalupe Island in Mexico. Here, Brown discovered that the natural vegetation was being destroyed by thousands of goats, to the detriment of the native wildlife. The native Guadalupe Storm-petrel was being predated by introduced cats, as was the Guadalupe Flicker. Both birds became extinct shortly afterwards. Thayer and Outram Bangs wrote an article in ''The Condor'' to draw attention to the situation.
In 1913 Thayer and other Harvard graduates sponsored an expedition to Alaska and Siberia, with Joseph S. Dixon and Winthrop Sprague Brooks as zoological collectors. A gull collected by Brooks on this trip was named ''Larus thayeri'' in Thayer's honour.
John Eliot Thayer became ill in 1928, and donated his collection of 28,000 skins and 15,000 eggs and nests to Harvard University. These included the first clutches ever collected of Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Surfbird. After Thayer's death Harvard received his collection of 3,500 mounted birds.
He and his brother Bayard Thayer were twins.
Parents: Nathaniel and Cornelia Patterson (Van Rensselaer) Thayer.
Husband of Evelyn Duncan (Forbes) Thayer. Married: June 22, 1886, Clinton, MA.
Graduated from Harvard University in 1885. He was an amateur ornithologist. He became interested in ornithology in the mid 1890s, building up a collection which he housed in a museum in the main street of Lancaster.
He used his wealth to sponsor various natural history expeditions and in 1906 he sent Wilmot W. Brown to Guadalupe Island in Mexico. Here, Brown discovered that the natural vegetation was being destroyed by thousands of goats, to the detriment of the native wildlife. The native Guadalupe Storm-petrel was being predated by introduced cats, as was the Guadalupe Flicker. Both birds became extinct shortly afterwards. Thayer and Outram Bangs wrote an article in ''The Condor'' to draw attention to the situation.
In 1913 Thayer and other Harvard graduates sponsored an expedition to Alaska and Siberia, with Joseph S. Dixon and Winthrop Sprague Brooks as zoological collectors. A gull collected by Brooks on this trip was named ''Larus thayeri'' in Thayer's honour.
John Eliot Thayer became ill in 1928, and donated his collection of 28,000 skins and 15,000 eggs and nests to Harvard University. These included the first clutches ever collected of Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Surfbird. After Thayer's death Harvard received his collection of 3,500 mounted birds.
He and his brother Bayard Thayer were twins.
Husband of Evelyn Duncan (Forbes) Thayer. Married: June 22, 1886, Clinton, MA.
Graduated from Harvard University in 1885. He was an amateur ornithologist. He became interested in ornithology in the mid 1890s, building up a collection which he housed in a museum in the main street of Lancaster.
He used his wealth to sponsor various natural history expeditions and in 1906 he sent Wilmot W. Brown to Guadalupe Island in Mexico. Here, Brown discovered that the natural vegetation was being destroyed by thousands of goats, to the detriment of the native wildlife. The native Guadalupe Storm-petrel was being predated by introduced cats, as was the Guadalupe Flicker. Both birds became extinct shortly afterwards. Thayer and Outram Bangs wrote an article in ''The Condor'' to draw attention to the situation.
In 1913 Thayer and other Harvard graduates sponsored an expedition to Alaska and Siberia, with Joseph S. Dixon and Winthrop Sprague Brooks as zoological collectors. A gull collected by Brooks on this trip was named ''Larus thayeri'' in Thayer's honour.
John Eliot Thayer became ill in 1928, and donated his collection of 28,000 skins and 15,000 eggs and nests to Harvard University. These included the first clutches ever collected of Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Surfbird. After Thayer's death Harvard received his collection of 3,500 mounted birds.
He and his brother Bayard Thayer were twins.
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"God gives all men all earth to love,
but since man's heart is small,
ordains for each
one spot shall prove beloved over all."
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