Me, Andrea

The Migratory Birder – Nature Lover and Travel Junkie

I am The Migratory Birder. I have always had an interest in nature and animals. For a long time I thought I would have my own nature show like you might see on Animal Planet. But these days I prefer to be the one holding the camera and let nature speak for itself.

My earliest passion for animals was reflected in my love for horses, and over the years my interest in animals grew to include just about all animals. Somewhere in my early twenties, I think as I was volunteering at a wildlife rehabilitation center, I developed a particular interest in learning about birds. But it wasn’t until my late twenties and early thirties that I really began to learn about bird-watching and photography.

Travel has also been a big part of my life ever since I was a child, whether it was going camping for a few days or taking a road trip or a flight to visit relatives or friends in other states – or even other countries – for one holiday or another. As an adult, I have done a lot of solo travel, as I can make my own schedule, go where I please, and see and do and eat what I want when I want.

Some of my past solo trips include a month-long trip to Greece, Italy, and France; a three-week road trip up the East Coast of the USA and down the other side of the Appalachians; a two-week trip to Iceland with a short side trip to London; an eight-day road trip in Alaska; a week-long birding road trip to South Texas during the spring migration season; a five-day trip to Vancouver, Canada; three- or four-day extensions to family trips to Colorado and California; a four-day solo camping trip to South Llano River State Park in Junction, Texas, and most recently, a 3-day solo trip to Iguazu Falls as part of a larger 19-day trip with my parents to Argentina.

Photographer

I became interested in photography somewhere along the way, in my late teens to early twenties. The earliest time I can recall really taking a lot of pictures during a trip was with a point-and-shoot on a trip with my church youth group to Germany. But technique and skill didn’t develop until after I graduated college and had my first DSLR, which I still have eleven years later. My favorite subjects to photograph are animals and landscapes, though the more I’ve traveled the more I have come to enjoy street and architecture photography.