Otto Henze

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Otto Henze (born March 19, 1908 in Spaichingen ; † May 4, 1991 in Überlingen ) was a German forest scientist and ornithologist . He is an important figure in bird protection and has had a decisive influence on the development of nesting boxes .

Life

Otto Henze was the son of the future forester Dr. Alfred Henze and spent his youth in a forester's house on the edge of the Swabian Alb . His father, an expert in forest protection , gave him the first instructions on how to observe nature. He was particularly interested in the bird world . After finishing high school in Stuttgart , Otto Henze studied forest sciences at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and finally went to Munich . There he worked for Professor Dr. Karl Escherich at the Institute for Applied Zoology and received his doctorate from him in 1934 with the study on the effect of flowing air on the development of lepidoptera . At the same time, he had also completed his legal clerkship , which he completed in 1935 with the Great State Forestry Examination .

Then he was able to devote himself entirely to his ornithological inclination when in 1936 he was commissioned to set up and manage the new bird sanctuary in Stuttgart-Hohenheim. In 1939 the Bavarian State Forest Administration appointed him to succeed the forestry master Dr. hc Karl Haenel as the new head of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen bird sanctuary . After his military service in World War II , he returned to this position and also suggested the construction of the bird sanctuary, which was built in 1949 under his supervision.

In the end, however, the state forest administration brought him back to the Institute for Applied Zoology at the Forest Research Institute so that he could convey his knowledge of forest bird protection to forest students and schoolchildren there. He was a popular and recognized teacher. For his scientific studies he taught in ten forestry offices with 25 forest districts experimental plots , which he largely supervised alone. Until his death in 1991, forester Dr. Otto Henze experiments mainly in the forests of Upper Swabia .

Services

In the life and work of Otto Henze, forester, ornithologist, hunter , conservationist and scientist formed a happy relationship. They prevented one-sided and narrowed perspectives and made him a pioneer of biological-ecological forest protection, as which he impressively demonstrated in forestry as early as 1943 with his atlas-sized work Bird Protection against Insect Damage. With more than 60 publications, he also worked on such important forest zoologists as Gustav Wellenstein or Fritz Schwerdtfeger .

Henze was one of the groundbreaking personalities for practical bird protection. He had a decisive influence on the development of nesting boxes . By means of long-term tests , he was able to demonstrate the advantages of nesting boxes made of durable wood - concrete in terms of weather resistance and resilience. In addition, his knowledge that nest boxes must be spacious and have a forecourt to protect against nest predators and for more convenient feeding by the adult birds was incorporated into the construction of artificial nesting aids and has been taken into account by the well-known nest box manufacturers since then. The bibliographical, but nevertheless absolutely practical basis for this is his control book for bird nest boxes in agriculture and forestry , which he published for the first time in 1936. In the course of the next few decades he brought out this work again and again in updated, sometimes heavily modified editions and with varying titles. Posthumously in 2004 a version updated by Johannes Gepp appeared under the title Bird Nest Boxes and Natural Caves in Garden & Forest. Identification book nests & clutches . In addition to all matters relating to the nesting boxes, a not inconsiderable part of this work is devoted to the winter feeding of birds, which is often criticized in public . Dr. Henze pointed to the great importance of winter feeding for the permanent settlement of certain small bird species in the forest and garden. According to this, winter feeding and nesting boxes are part of an overall concept that aims at the locally concentrated settlement of certain species of birds, so-called working birds, in order to counteract the spread of forest-damaging caterpillars in spring and thus permanently avoid problematic use of insecticides . The winter feeding of garden birds, symbolized primarily by the popular birdhouses , is in favor of Dr. Henze strongly against a background of no longer than naturally be regarded civilization - and cultural landscape by the people below, economic is managed and regulated aspects.

The book Gefiederte Freunde in Garten und Wald , published for the first time in 1964 together with the qualified forester Günther Zimmermann, made him well-known far beyond the closer forest and ornithological specialist circles . Observe, recognize, protect . It developed into a bestseller among the identification books and had three further editions by 1975 as well as translations into French , Dutch , Czech and Serbo-Croatian . In doing so, he succeeded in making the subject of “bird protection” popular among a wide range of readers.

Fonts (selection)

  • On the effect of flowing air on the development of lepidoptera , dissertation, Munich 1934 (printed in: Zeitschrift für angewandte Entomologie 21, Berlin 1934)
  • Control book for bird nest boxes in agriculture and forestry. With instructions, 30 photographs, pre-printed forms and registration areas , Berlin 1936 (2nd edition under the title control book for bird nest boxes in forestry , Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1949)
  • Bird protection against insect damage in forestry , Munich 1943
  • together with Günther Zimmermann [drawings]: Feathered friends in the garden and forest. Observing, recognizing, protecting , Munich 1964 (4th edition under the title: Feathered Friends. Observing, recognizing and protecting birds in the garden and forest , Munich, Bern and Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-405-11265-6 )
  • Control book for bird nest boxes in forest and garden , 4th edition, Überlingen am Bodensee 1983
  • The right bird nesting boxes in the forest and garden. About the way of life and importance of all its residents. A non-fiction and control book , 5th, expanded and revised edition, Konstanz 1991 ( ISBN 3-87799-101-7 )
  • together with Johannes Gepp: Bird nest boxes and natural caves in the garden and forest. Identification book Nester & Gelege , Leopold Stocker Verlag , Graz and Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-7020-0992-2 .

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Henze, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German forester and ornithologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Spaichingen
DATE OF DEATH May 4th 1991
Place of death Überlingen