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Volunteers LaRue Rodgers and Robert Piersol

Following the Trail of The Quail

Paper issues of The Quail don’t fly into readers’ hands—they arrive thanks to LaRue Rodgers and her husband, Robert Piersol. After it’s printed, they label and distribute each issue, while enjoying the happy companionship of their white terrier, Toto.

The number of mailed Quails has decreased as more readers are opting to enjoy reading the electronic version (in vibrant color!), sparing LCAS the expense of printing while cutting down on the amount of paper used. Still, LaRue notes, the number of mailed copies “has not gone down significantly—it’s definitely more than 1,000.”

When the mailing labels and newsletters are ready, LaRue picks them up at InstaPrint. Back at home, it takes the couple two or more hours to affix the labels. They then bring the trays of labeled Quails to the post office. From her home, LCAS president Maeve Sowles fills out the electronic order form.

The Quails that are not mailed are distributed to various spots in Eugene and Springfield. This is the part Toto likes best, because he loves to ride along as LaRue and Robert take copies to Down to Earth, UO’s Museum of Natural & Cultural History, Gray’s Garden Center, Sundance, Wild Birds Unlimited, and the Eugene and Springfield Public Libraries. Eugene’s downtown library is the most popular pick-up spot, so the team typically goes there twice or more each month.

LaRue started her Quail volunteering in 2014. Back then, a small group of women who called themselves “the Quail Mailers” enjoyed tea and sweets after their monthly task was done. LaRue remembers them all fondly and says that Janet Jernberg’s homemade apple pie “was the best ever.” (See the November 2020 Quail to read “Remembering Janet Jernberg.”)

When Covid hit, LaRue’s partner Robert became “a big player,” in her words, and the two of them have been handling it on their own ever since, without fail or fanfare.

Although she’s always been fond of birds, LaRue didn’t get serious about birding until she retired from working for 20 years as a nurse. She started looking for birds and went to some birding festivals. Memorable sightings include a Resplendent Quetzal in Costa Rica, a flock of White-winged Crossbills foraging for grit in the firepit of her campsite in Montana, and an American Bittern (typically a secretive bird) that she encountered at Summer Lake. She recalls it standing “in the middle of the road, stretching its neck and head toward the noonday sun.” These days, LaRue prefers seeing the birds that live near where she does, rather than going to look for them elsewhere.

We’re grateful for LaRue’s significant and long-time contribution to LCAS, and hope that her story will inspire more Quail readers to seek out ways to get involved in helping us spread the word about birds and the world we share with them.

by Cecelia Hagen

Lane County Audubon

P.O. Box 5086
Eugene, OR 97405

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