A veteran traveller with an aptitude for languages, Margaret Nice, researcher-scientist-author, amassed considerable knowledge of many of the birds of the world. Significantly, her most important paper was published in Germany, far from her birthplace of Amherst, Massachusetts. The paper dealing with the Song Sparrow appeared in two parts in the Journal fur Ornithologie.

Through the years, Dr. Nice, a Past President of the Wilson Ornithological Society, and a Life Fellow of the American Ornithologist's Union, was elected to Honorary Memberships in the ornithological societies of most of the countries she visited. These included Britain, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands. She was a much-admired corresponding member of the Hungarian Institute of Ornithology. In Toronto, Canada, The Margaret Nice Ornithological Club was formed in her honor.

Though widely known as "The Song Sparrow Lady," she was more than the ultimate authority on the Song Sparrow and probably the most famous woman ornithologist in the world. A trained zoologist, active environmentalist and prodigious letter writer, she was also a loving wife and mother.