Harald of Loudon

Harald Georg Gideon Freiherr von Loudon (born March 30 ^{. Jul} / 11. April  1876 ^greg. In Keysen , Governorate of Livonia ; † 1. January 1959 in Berlin ) was a German ornithologist Livonian origin.

Life

Harald von Loudon came from the German-Baltic noble family von Loudon . After attending the state high school in Birkenruh, Harald von Loudon managed the Lisden family estate near Wolmar . He became enthusiastic about ornithology at an early age, did private studies at the Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg and put on a collection of bird skins , which grew to 20,000 exhibits by 1914. He published his field ornithological findings on the bird world of the Baltic Sea provinces , especially the Matzalwieck , in various specialist journals. In 1895/96 he traveled to the Caucasus and Turkestan , where he made the acquaintance of Gustav Radde and Nikolai Alexejewitsch Sarudnys . The Latvian ornithologist Nikolaus Heinrich von Transehe, who later became famous, accompanied him on another Caucasian expedition . Four other expeditions took him to Trans-Caspia (that is, to the Asian side of the Caspian Sea ), Bukhara and Ferghana, among others . The ornithological research results appeared between 1902 and 1913 in various journals, including the Journal for Ornithology . 1905 described it with Zarudny the subspecies P. m. turcestanicus the great tit . From 1907 Loudon was a member of the German Ornithological Society . As the first in Livonia alongside Ferdinand Erdmann Stoll (1874–1966), he ringed birds and used the rings from the Rossitten ornithological station .

Until 1914 he was one of the leading ornithologists in the Baltic States , after the First World War he had to emigrate from Loudon to Berlin. His extensive collection of bellows was largely destroyed and his activities as an ornithologist almost came to a standstill. His commitment was now to the activities of the German-Baltic country team . He spent his last years in poor health and in poor economic circumstances. Based on his notes, he published the last work in 1950, a description of the bird world in the Lenkoran lowlands under the title Lenkoran im Winter .

literature

• Ludwig Gebhardt: Die Ornithologen Mitteleuropas , Summary of Volumes 1-4, Aula-Verlag, Wiebelsheim 2006, ISBN 3-89104-680-4 , Vol. 1, p. 223 and Vol. 2, p. 175

Web links

• Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Harald von Loudon. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital