Holly Merker has been in awe of birds and the wonders of the natural world since childhood. She shares her passion by connecting others to nature in her work as a professional birding guide and nature-based wellness specialist, award-winning author, and public speaker. Combining professional backgrounds in bird identification, art therapy, certification in nature and forest therapy and wellness counseling, and mindfulness practice, she works as a global advocate for Mindful Birding. With dedication to bird conservation, Holly has been the eBird state coordinator/data reviewer for Pennsylvania since 2005 and was a two-term voting member and Chairperson of the Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee. She considers herself a migration junkie and lives her life around the seasonal journeys of birds. Holly believes strongly that birding holds a key to wellbeing, co-authoring two books on this subject, and founding the Mindful Birding Network and co-hosting the Mindful Birding Podcast.

Whitney LanFranco's passion for nature began in her childhood while growing up on a ranch in rural Central Texas, where she spent her time learning the names of wildflowers and observing bacteria under her microscope. While earning her degree in zoology from Texas A&M University, she discovered that her true passion was birds. She completed an ecological study abroad in South Africa before working as an aviculturist at the San Antonio Zoo.

Realizing that her greatest joy came from educating others and sharing her passion, she transitioned into bird guiding and ecotourism, beginning her new career as a guide at King Ranch in South Texas. This experience opened many doors and led to numerous adventures in exotic locations.

In 2020, she joined the optics industry and now wears two hats: she is a guide for Sabrewing Nature Tours and is the optics retailer at birding festivals around the country.

Drew Weber has been birding since he was a kid, but it took a serious turn in college with summer bird banding jobs, which led to several summers of bird surveys honing his sound identification skills, and winters tracking radio tagged saw-whet owls from dusk to dawn. His passion for combining birding and technology led him to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where he leads the mobile engineering teams for Merlin and eBird and manages web projects for eBird and the Macaulay Library. Drew enjoys the challenge of connecting the birding community with engineering teams to develop tools that introduce millions to birding and serve dedicated birders alike. His favorite project has been the development of Sound ID in Merlin, and its potential for monitoring birds in remote places.

My name is Kaelyn Stewart and I am a rising sophomore at Cornell University studying animal science on the Pre-Vet track. My birding journey started two years ago when I attended the Mountains to Sea Birding for Teens camp on Hog Island and fell in love with everything birding and conservation. I've always been a lover of animals and nature growing up watching Wild Kratts and Dogs 101, but once I learned nature journaling, I fell in love with the Earth in a way I never had before. I began journaling everywhere I went and practicing mindfulness which led me to becoming the first nature journaling leader for Southern Maryland Audubon. I love showing others (especially young black youth) that they do not have to be an expert artist to appreciate the world around them. In my day to day, I work with livestock (mainly horses) as a barn assistant, equine therapy administrator, and a researcher for pregnant mares. I also love dancing, hiking, fishing, and going to the beach. I value my work greatly and I'm very excited to come back to Hog Island and share the beauty of the outdoors and nature journaling with others.