Originally hailing from New Jersey, Grace has always had a fascination with wildlife and the outdoors. She went on her first birdwatching trip at the age of 15 to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, quickly caught the birding bug, and has been bird-crazy ever since. She graduated from the University of Vermont in 2023 with a B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology, where she served as an active board member of the UVM Birding Club throughout her undergraduate years and led both on- and off-campus birdwatching trips.
Since graduation, she has worked as a seasonal avian field biologist, with the opportunity to study and work with a variety of birds across the United States, fostering a deep appreciation for the diversity of birds and habitats throughout the country. Her fieldwork has largely focused on monitoring raptors and endangered species, and she is an avid hawkwatcher. Guiding birding walks and leading education programs on bird identification and ecology have also been central parts of her work, strengthening her passion for sharing the world of birds with others.
Between field jobs, she splits her time between New Jersey and the Upper Texas Coast, where she previously spent just under a year monitoring overwintering and beach-nesting shorebirds and fell in love with the diverse regions and species found across the state. She has a particular soft spot for the oak-juniper forests of the Edwards Plateau and the Lower Rio Grande Valley’s subtropical woodlands and their colorful jays and orioles.
In the rare moments when she is not birding, she enjoys embroidering and listening to music.
