51. Ivan Richardson, UT

Our son Ivan (age 7) has developed this passion for birds. When he was 5 years old he attended the St. George Winter Bird Festival and fell in love with the variety of species of birds that migrate through the southwestern states during the winter season. Since then he has joined the Red Cliffs Audubon Society as their youngest member and attends many of their monthly meetings and fieldtrips. Since the age of 5 he visits the local library weekly and with his own library card and bag he checks out books on birds and will study them for hours. He can now identify by sight over 100 different species and by sound almost 20 species of birds. Ivan also loves to draw birds. I have included a picture of one of the birds he's drawn this past year. For his 6th Birthday of all the places he could go, he wanted to go to the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City to see the Sun Conures. Boy did that make his B-Day wish come true. He now has his own camera and will take pictures when he is out observing birds. His enthusiasm is contagious. I have never been into birding and because of Ivan, I find my self studying some of his books just to keep up with him and when we go out on our fieldtrips the more I learn the funner it has become. This shared interest has really brought us closer together as a father and son. -- Tom Richardson

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