Growing up, I was always curious about nature and the little creatures that inhabit it. I loved to find woolly bears, snails, and grasshoppers. I paid close attention to the details of how they looked and how they interacted with their environments. I also loved to watch for birds at our bird feeders. Around the age of eight, I created my own field guide for birds, not really knowing what a field guide was. I remember drawing the different bird species that I would regularly spot outside the window, including robins, orioles, cardinals, and bluebirds (illustrated to the right). Anytime I saw a bird, I would run and grab my booklet to see if the birds matched my drawings. Today, I am an active birder, and I enjoy keeping a field sketchbook of the birds and other wildlife I encounter. Maybe someday I will create a new field guide to use while birding.