Western AZ
John Jonas
After many years of birding, it wasn’t until someone asked John Jonas if he could hear “that bird” (which he couldn’t) that he discovered he had high-frequency hearing loss. But it never slowed him down. With more than 18 years of experience, John is a dedicated birder and bird/wildlife photographer with a passion for helping […]
Kale Van Shaar
Kale has had a lifelong interest in wildlife and led his first birding walk at age 15. Armed with his grandpa’s old camcorder—and a questionable Australian accent—he even produced a short documentary about his spark bird, the Great-tailed Grackle. He has worked as an educational naturalist in the boreal forests of Denali State Park, Alaska, […]
Bobby Figarotta
After moving to the West Coast from New Jersey at age 12, Bobby has spent more than a decade exploring California’s wild places and chasing rare birds up and down the state. He loves discovering new habitats and studying how birds interact with California’s diverse ecosystems. Bobby is particularly interested in how common species respond […]
Sammy Cowell
A Southern California native, Sammy has always had an interest in wildlife and birds, compiling yard lists and lifers throughout his younger years. His passion for birding deepened in college after taking an ornithology course in northern Michigan and gaining his first research experience conducting point counts and transects. He spent a summer between undergraduate […]
Chris Saenz
Christopher “Chris” Saenz is a Port Aransas local whose passion for birding began just five years ago—but has grown with remarkable speed. After attending a “Birding on the Boardwalk” program one morning, he took one look at a Whooping Crane and a White-faced Ibis through a spotting scope and was instantly hooked. That single experience […]
John Groskopf
A true Floridian, John was born and has lived in Florida his entire life. While he has always been drawn to birds—his mother says his first word was “bird”—he began seriously birding in late 2017. Since then, he has traveled extensively throughout the peninsula, searching not only for Florida’s birds but also for the unique […]
Patrick Maurice
Patrick Maurice was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Wildlife Science in 2021. He credits his lifelong passion for birds to his mother—also a birder—who introduced him to the outdoors at an early age. One of Patrick’s earliest birding memories is seeing Georgia’s first […]
Ben Guo
Originally from Illinois, Ben has been birding since the age of ten, when a brilliant Rose-breasted Grosbeak appeared outside his living room window one May afternoon. Soon after, he began attending local Audubon walks to build his bird identification skills, eventually setting the Big Year record in his home county. Ben first moved to the […]
Jodhan Fine
Jodhan Fine is a 22-year-old birder and naturalist. Born and raised in Albuquerque, he lived in New Mexico until moving to Los Angeles in 2021, where he immersed himself in California’s rich birdlife. A nature lover since birth and a birder since 2016, Jodhan loves showing people new places and species and gets just as […]
