Heather Corey
(she/they)
Software Engineer
I’m an iOS Engineer for the Merlin Bird ID app. As a lifelong bird enthusiast, it’s truly a privilege to be able to contribute to this project!
The path that led me to work for the Cornell Lab includes a number of years as a bank teller, before learning how to write code through LaunchCode, a non-profit organization based in St. Louis, Missouri, my hometown. That opened up the opportunity to work as iOS Engineer for a large corporation for six years. It was a wonderful company, and while I was passionate about my work there, selling products isn’t necessarily something I’m passionate about.
A year or so before I came to work at the Cornell Lab, someone asked me what my dream job would be. I told her I’d love to work on “Merlin, this bird identification app that I love.” Lo and behold, I ended up seeing a pop-up dialog that the Lab was seeking software engineers!
Favorite Birds
My favorites birds are mostly backyard birds in my hometown: Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Northern Mockingbird (my grandmother’s favorite), Northern Cardinal, White-throated Sparrow, Carolina Chickadee, and American Crow. I’m also very fond of the Blue-Capped Waxbill. There were a pair in the aviary at the bank where I worked. Observing the birds in the aviary was my favorite thing about working at that bank!
Inspiration
My grandparents are likely the reason I love birds so much. My grandmother, Lorraine, had a frequent visitor in the form of a mockingbird, whom my grandmother called, “Mocky.” Mocky would come to eat the raisins that Grandma put on the porch near the window so we could watch. There were likely many generations of “Mocky,” as over the years, according to Grandma, Mocky would bring its young to learn where the raisins were. We’d sit and watch through the window, though Grandma could go right out next to them and they wouldn’t fly away!
Another of my favorite memories is when I was three years old, just before my grandfather passed away. Each day, he would open up the big wooden bin in the garage for me to scoop bird seed with an old Tropicana juice can, and we’d go around the yard filling up all the feeders in the yard. Birds will always be inextricably linked to memories of my grandfather, and I’ll treasure them forever.
