Riding The Bird Train

About Me

Hello! My name is Rowan. I am a 13 year old young-birder from Richland, Washington. Ever since I was just four-years old, I have been intrigued by the wonders of the natural world, specifically avian life. As a five-year-old, I began birding with my local Audubon Society chapter; LCBAS, and began to keep track of all the birds I saw. A few years later, under the influence of the movie The Big Year starring Jack Black, Owen Wilson, and Steve Martin, I began couting bird species. On January 1, 2016 I began my first "Big Year", and by the close of the year I had seen 208 species, not a bad count for an eight-year-old. Then on January 1, 2017 my list began again. This pattern continued for many years and my lists only grew and grew. In 2019 I discovered the ABA Young Birder of The Year Competition and promptly entered the program. In the 2019 competition, I failed to place in any category, but had loads of fun. Though the next year, I succeeded in placing high in the Illustration Module, Field Notebook Module, and the Photography Module. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the competition was canceled in 2021, but I am looking forward to the return of the program in the coming years. In the meantime, I have been birding a lot. This year I enjoyed new birding aventures in locatiions as far-flung as:

Costa Rica
San Diego, CA
Monterey Bay/Santa Cruz, CA
Denver, CO
Washington State

Besides birding, I am a high level competetive swimmer, I have been taking Latin for the past four years, and enjoy all sorts of outdoor activities. I created this website to document in a blog-style format my birding adventures. I hope to upload an entry once a week, but of course with the way life seems to work these days, I may prove to be less consistent. To find out more about my birding find my eBird account and profile at https://ebird.org/profile/OTgzMDc1/US

Photo Gallery