I am a retired Natural Resource Specialist, formerly with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Oregon and the U.S. Forest Service in Pennsylvania. I began my career in natural resources surveying for Northern Spotted Owls in northwest Oregon. Over the next 26 years, my duties and responsibilities included non-game wildlife, botany, riparian resources, fisheries, rangeland management and special management areas. In addition to Northern Spotted Owls, coordinated and participated in field studies for terrestrial salamanders, terrestrial mollusks, Harlequin Ducks, Fox Sparrows, Olive-sided Flycatchers and Willow Flycatchers, and I operated a MAPS bird banding station for 6 years. I have been a recreational birder for over 45 years, and have trained other natural resource specialists in bird identification by sight and sound. I am now a resident of the North Carolina High Country in Watauga County.