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Broley, Charles Lavelle
Charles Lavelle Broley, banker, ornithologist (b at Gorrie, Ont 7 Dec 1879; d at Delta, Ont 4 May 1959). A banker in Winnipeg, he was also active in ornithology and conservation. In 1939 he "retired" to winters in Florida and summers in Ontario.
In Florida he began a raptor-banding study, in his first 8 years banding 814 bald eagles and ultimately banding more than 1200. Recoveries showed that eagles dispersed northwards after nesting prior to southern migration; Broley's was the first study to demonstrate this phenomenon with large numbers. Declining hatching success during his study resulted in one of the first alerts to science of the dangers of insecticides.
Broley was honoured for his work by a life membership in the Natural History Society of Manitoba. He also encouraged the early career of wildlife artist Terence SHORTT. Broley was to assume membership in a special conservation committee on bald eagles when he died fighting a brushfire.
