I started out looking at bugs and raising cabbage butterflies as a kid. At 10 years old I got hooked on birding and have been an avid birder ever since. I work for the Wetlands Initiative, a Chicago-based wetland restoration nonprofit, and am lucky to get many opportunities to spend time in the field watching wildlife at our restoration sites (currently the Dixon Waterfowl Refuge at Hennepin & Hopper Lakes, Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, and the Calumet region). I live in Downers Grove and have a large yard that we are transforming into a pollinator sanctuary with native plantings.