Tony Greenfield has been awarded the Governor General’s Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers (formally the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award). The medal recognizes “exceptional volunteer achievements of Canadians,” according to the Governor General website.
“It was a complete thunderbolt,” Greenfield said. “I knew absolutely nothing about it. It turns out a number of my acquaintances did know about it, but everybody kept their lips zipped.”
Greenfield was nominated by Sunshine Coast ElderCollege, where he has volunteered as an instructor for 13 years. The Sunshine Coast Natural History Society, of which he is a founding member and serves as president, supported the nomination.
A founding member of the B.C. Field Ornithologists, Greenfield has served as a director of the Sunshine Coast Community Forest, as well as president of the Society for the Protection of Sargeant Bay. The Natural History Society also acts as custodian of the Sechelt Marsh, which has resulted in a significant increase in its resident bird population.
Bird enthusiasts on the Sunshine Coast may know Greenfield for his work organizing the annual bird count and creation of a resident-gathered 39-year scientific database.
“He’s Mr. Birding on the Sunshine Coast, and I think he’s probably done more for wildlife and habitat preservation on the Sunshine Coast than just about anybody else,” said Keith Maxwell, former chair of the ElderCollege.
Maxwell has nominated two others for the award in the past. “For me it makes sense to do that when you find somebody who is exceptional, and I think Tony was exceptional.”
Greenfield’s fascination with natural history and birds blossomed in his childhood. After graduating from the University of Liverpool with a degree in Geography, he spent a year travelling around the world. It was during those travels that his “canoe washed up on the Sunshine Coast.”
“I hit the Sunshine Coast and it was like hitting a brick wall. Why do I need to go any further than this?”
Now, at 70, he says the Sunshine Coast has been one of the most important elements in his life. “I fell in love with it the first day I was here and it’s all been organic since then.”
Outside of his volunteer work, Greenfield runs his tour business, Whiskeyjack Nature Tours. Before that he operated a contract tree planting business. He has contributed to books on birding and is author of Waterfalls of British Columbia: A Guide to BC’s 100 Best Falls.
“He is a consummate naturalist. He’s an excellent birder and he teaches well – he’s somebody who’s willing to share his knowledge, and I think that’s something that people appreciate,” said Rand Rudland, vice president of the Sunshine Coast Natural History Society and president of the Sargeant Bay Society.
Aside from his work as a naturalist, Greenfield has also penned more than 250 columns for Coast Reporter, and he attributes his “mugshot” in the paper to his nickname and notoriety. “I get people coming up to me on the ferry and poking me in the chest and saying, ‘Oh, you’re Mr. Birding!’”
While no award ceremony has been scheduled yet, Greenfield says people are starting to call in to congratulate him. “To be honest, I’ve been a little embarrassed. I just feel all the things I’ve been involved with have all been team efforts.”
His advice for new volunteers: “Absolutely follow your passion… If you’re passionate, I think the lines between volunteering and living and working kind of blur into one sort of big picture.”
