Charlie’s curiosity about birds began very early while growing up in Bonney Lake, Washington. He began leading birding field trips around the state at age 11, and sharing birds with others only deepened his own learning and enjoyment. Over time, his interests broadened to include mushrooms, tidepool life, butterflies, and other corners of biodiversity—though birds have always remained at the center.
His work on bird research projects has taken him across the continent: to New England, the Intermountain West, and—most extensively—to remote parts of Alaska for more than a decade. Much of this work has been conducted from research vessels, surveying seabirds across the Chukchi and Bering Seas. Seabird surveys also brought him to Antarctica, where he contributed to a Cornell Lab of Ornithology study analyzing pelagic eBird data in the Drake Passage. When not in the field, Charlie serves as the Data Verifier for COASST, a citizen science program monitoring beached seabird patterns along the Pacific Coast.
Beyond pelagic expeditions, Charlie is especially drawn to witnessing active migration—seawatching, morning flights, and the thrill of vagrants. Neah Bay is among his favorite birding destinations, known to him for its extraordinary history of rare birds.
Charlie founded the Neah Bay Christmas Bird Count in 2015. He has been a statewide eBird reviewer since 2007 and currently serves on the Washington Bird Records Committee.
