Braydon was born and raised in Montana, where his fascination with wildlife began early. By age eight, he was already keeping a notebook of his daily wildlife observations—a habit that foreshadowed a future deeply rooted in field biology. Trips to South Africa in 2018 and Australia in 2019 expanded his curiosity, and birds gradually moved to the center of his outdoor interests.
In April 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Braydon discovered eBird, a moment that opened a floodgate of learning and set him firmly on the path of ornithology. Since then, he has traveled to six continents in pursuit of birdlife and now serves as an eBird reviewer for the state of Montana.
Braydon is currently a full-time Wildlife Biology student at the University of Montana. He has volunteered with the Owl Research Institute banding Northern Saw-whet Owls, searching for Great Gray Owl nests, and conducting winter raptor surveys across the region. Most recently, he completed his second field season with Montana Audubon as the primary Black Swift survey technician.
He is particularly intrigued by the avifauna spanning Montana’s diverse landscapes—from the sweeping Great Plains in the east to the rugged Rocky Mountain specialties of the west. One of his favorite aspects of birding in Montana is the relative lack of documented information on bird distribution and population density, a gap he hopes to help fill through fieldwork, research, and guiding.
