Nathaniel Sharp encountered his spark bird, a Great Blue Heron, on the Delaware Bayshore at 11 years old and has been hooked on birding ever since. Growing up and getting his birding start in the Philadelphia area, he then attended the University of Vermont, where he received a BA in Wildlife Biology and began work as a point count technician for the Maine Bird Atlas shortly after graduating. With the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, he has assisted long term monitoring and banding of Bicknell's Thrush, Blackpoll Warbler, and other montane species, conducted statewide monitoring of native bees and butterflies, and led birding walks, naturalist outings, and workshops on eBird, iNaturalist, and community science. Nathaniel has enjoyed working as an instructor at Hog Island Audubon Family Camp the past few summers, and is especially passionate about welcoming and mentoring the next generation of birders and ecologists.
Bridget VerVaet
Bridget VerVaet is an environmental educator working at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. She primarily works with school and youth groups, along with teaching the occasionally adult education program or leading member bird walks. Originally from South Bend, Indiana, she has lived in Maine year-round since 2019 and has grown to absolutely treasure spring migration in Maine (but she loves a bird that you can find any time of year as well!).
Before moving to Maine, she studied biology at Indiana University Bloomington where she took an ornithology class that put a verb to what she already liked to do: birding. Up until then, it was all just bird watching sans binoculars – which was good too! In her free time, Bridget loves to be outdoors soaking up nature, crafting (especially crochet and other textile arts), cooking, dancing, or reading.
Chris West
Chris West is the assistant regional wildlife biologist for Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife out of the Jonesboro office. Chris began birding when she was a teenager growing up in New Hampshire’s White Mountains National Forest. Since the early 1990s she has lived in Maine and worked on many different bird surveys throughout the state. She has also spent time on the West Coast volunteering on bird projects, and almost a year on the Gulf of Mexico assessing colonial waterbirds for oil following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Her home is in Orland where she lives near her son, and with her dog, on the eastern channel of the Penobscot River.