Semi-retired engineer. I have been birding since High School (1961, Presque Isle HS, Maine) when our Biology teacher, a PhD from Cornell (Glen D. Chamberlain), set our final exam to identify 60 birds from his collection of stuffed birds that he kept in the Biology Lab. This was prior to the Internet and he showed me his 40 year, hand written, records of the arrival of Robins in Aroostook, County. I received extra points for sighting the first Robin in the Spring of 1961, which he etered into his records.

Now we have iNaturalist. How things have changed! I was given a birding camera for Christmas by my wife (Pat) and I am still birding and now trying to learn how to use this Canon PowerShot SX50 HS.

I have tried to take birding photos for many years, but I could not get a normal camera to zoom in close enough for a decent photograph. The new birding cameras are astounding. Wow! I think I am hooked on bird photography now. I know the world does not need more birding photos, but I enjoy it anyway.

My wife and I are members of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT, Parker County, Texas) , Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT, Weatherford, Texas), Audubon (Fort Worth, Texas)and Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT, Fort Worth Texas). We love being outdoors and I am especially fond of the woods which became an interest to me when I was a teenager living in Northern Maine. Past President of Ellis County Nature Society.