Alyssa was just four years old when she observed her spark bird: a male American Redstart shining in the springtime sun! Her early ornithological interest fuelled her migration from Minnesota to the University of Arkansas, where she studied songbirds of the tallgrass prairies for her masters thesis.
For the past 19 years, Alyssa has held numerous field gigs from New Mexico to Quebec, where she specializes in bird banding, grassland bird surveys, nest-searching/monitoring, and environmental education. She has also written seasonal reports and natural history articles for Minnesota's and Wisconsin's ornithological societies and delivered countless seminars ranging from sparrow identification to international birding trips. Nothing gets Alyssa quite as excited as showing others her passion for wildlife, although a few things come close: nature photography, traveling, drawing and painting, cooking, and a good sense of humor!
