Kyle Schanta is an avid birder, horticulturist and gardener from Detroit, Michigan. As a child, spying on Ruby-throated Hummingbirds through flower-lined cabin windows sparked his love for birds. A horticulturist and gardener by trade, Kyle manages private green spaces and runs his own bird-centric gardening and design company. He and a partner also operate a neighborhood bird and pollinator-centered Michigan native plant nursery in inner-city Detroit.
Kyle serves on the Board of Directors of Detroit Bird Alliance (formerly Detroit Audubon) where he is a dedicated volunteer at workdays, helps lead bird walks and their Winter Waterfowl Count, and writes for their Flyway member publication. He was awarded their 2022 Conservation Award for his surveying, planting and stewardship of their first Detroit Bird City native grassland restoration project at Detroit's Callahan Park, which created acres of important stopover and breeding bird habitat for some of our declining grassland bird species. He is also a board member of Arboretum Detroit, an inner-city non-profit tree nursery and urban eco-restoration organization which maintain and return empty city lots into native wildlife habitat.
Kyle is a dedicated Safe Passage Great Lakes volunteer as well, scouring the downtown streets most mornings of migration for window-struck migrants, recording data and educating the private and public on the importance of bird-safe window treatments and lights-out campaigns.
Kyle holds a bachelor's degree in history from Wayne State University and a Rain Garden and Master Gardener certification from Michigan State University. Also an accomplished musician, Kyle has toured extensively in multiple outfits across the United States, Canada and Europe. When not guiding or gardening, you can find him birding and exploring the waters and forests of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
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