Take Flight Birding and Nature Adventures

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Sharing the Wonder and Excitement of Birding and Nature in the Southwest

Personalized small group birding and nature experiences in New Mexico and Southeast Arizona, designed for YOU, half a day to a week in length. Focus is on fun field adventures and on learning about the local birds and ecology. In addition to the usual birding tour focus on finding the birds you want to see, I can teach you how to identify the local birds by sounds only (birding by ear), how to use the practice of mindfulness to make you a better birder (mindful birding), and how to hone your birding sills over time.

I’ve been birding and leading birding field trips for over 45 years, starting out with the Tahoma Audubon Society in 1972. At age 8, I was blown away by the majesty and beauty of a Pileated Woodpecker in the backyard. Ever since, I’ve been fascinated by birds. Four years later, a field trip with a wildlife biologist hooked me as a birder. During an Audubon field trip at age 12, I became captivated by their songs and sounds, and I quickly became a self-taught expert in ‘birding by ear’. My passion for birds is in my blood, so to speak, and I bring this enthusiasm and curiosity to my tours and to getting to know my clients as well.

The first half of my life I worked as a biologist - in field ornithology, vegetation ecology, and conservation. I specialized in ornithology at The Evergreen State College, and a decade later got a Masters in Ecosystems Analysis from the University of Washington. I also have extensive teaching experience at the college level, in government agencies, and with Audubon Master Birders (birding by ear classes), as well as guiding wilderness experiences.

In my mid-forties I felt a calling to work more with people and I moved to New Mexico and got a Masters in Counseling, and birded extensively in the area, learning the birds of the Southwest more intimately. I lived and worked in Santa Fe for 8 years before moving to Southeast Arizona in 2015. I established Take Flight in that area and led many a tour during 2017 and 2018 in the Sky Islands of Arizona. More recently, the migratory winds brought me back where the Rocky Mountains meet the Southwestern deserts and the edge of the Great Plains, in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area.

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