Got started in June 2020 after seeing a house finch around the same time as the saddening video of NYC birder Christian Cooper being racially attacked. The positivity shown by him, Jason Ward and others as part of Black Birders week got me more inspired to see what I could find.

I'm a graduate student in Philadelphia and I've spent a lot of time exploring the area and John Heinz NWR in particular. Might be a little early to call it the career highlight, but seeing a vagrant vermilion flycatcher will be hard to beat and that report introduced me to DVOC and more "serious" birdwatching.