Steenblik's passion for birds began two years later after becoming a Boy Scout and has continued for seven decades. Scout leader Turk Evans took his troop out every week to help the boys earn bird-study merit badges but Steenblik's avian interest went far beyond the scouting requirement.

Steenblik recalled his early days of bird-watching in Rose Park with fondness. There was little commercial and residential development then and he delighted in roaming the wide-open fields and walking the banks of the Jordan River looking for birds.

His family-owned dairy farm was a magnet for winged creatures. Steenblik loved spending spring days in the barn watching the elegant barn swallows build their mud nests.

The meadowlarks' rich warbling song echoed through their farmlands. "Mother thought their notes sounded like they were singing 'Salt Lake City is a pretty little place,' " he joked.

The river on the family farm's west side provided Steenblik with an opportunity to see many ducks, gulls, killdeer and pheasants. Steenblik remembers the first time he saw a Northern Shoveler.

"I couldn't believe how beautiful it was," he said. "I laid down on the bank of the river and watched it for 30 minutes."

Steenblik became so enamored with birds that he participated in his first Christmas Bird Count, an annual Audubon Society citizen science project, in 1939. The event is a one-day census of early winter bird populations with the primary objective being to monitor the status and distribution of bird populations across the Western Hemisphere.

Steenblik's father supported his son's bird-watching "habit" and surprised him with Audubon's Birds of America for Christmas 1941. It remains one of his most treasured books.

A neighbor also recognized Steenblik's budding interest in birds and lent him some binoculars.

"They were a big pair of field glasses he got in the Navy. They were heavy, but you could see everything," Steenblik said. "They served me well until I was able to save $29 to buy a pair of my own."

Many years have passed since his first Christmas Bird Count and remarkably, the 82-year-old Steenblik has participated in every count except one since 1939. The exception was in 1945 while away in U.S. Marine Corps boot camp in South Carolina.

Most of his counts have occurred in the Rose Park area where he has lived virtually his entire life. He has seen a tremendous decline in the bird population due to habitat loss. He recalled a count in the 1970s when he logged 75 bald eagles. "Last year, I only saw one," he said.

Although many of his old stomping grounds are long gone, Steenblik still bird-watches wherever and whenever he can. Recently, he logged 200 miles on his car in one month while looking for birds.

"And I go bird-watching every Sunday right after I get out of church," he said. "It's a wonderful hobby."