GREAT QUESTION! I am the founder and CEO of Bird Mentor, a business devoted to teaching advanced skills to thousands of beginning birders around the world through numerous courses and events. I have been actively involved in the birding and nature skills community for 25 years, working with casual birders, educators, and industry leaders.
After years of working with a diverse range of students an unexpected pattern emerged. I found that many of my students felt excluded from the birding world because they didn’t believe they fit the traditional birder mold and therefore didn’t identify themselves as birders. When in reality, these people were as devoted to learning about birds as any traditional birder I knew.
To give these students and the hundreds of thousands of people silently believing they too don’t belong an opportunity to see what the varied faces of birding look like, I am creating a unique event this winter called, FOR THE LOVE OF BIRDS FESTIVAL.
