Holly Grant

Expertise

Nesting Birds • Nest Boxes • Feeder Birds • Bird Feeding Strategies • Graphic Design

I help keep NestWatch running smoothly. This involves almost everything! I provide support for data entry on our website and our mobile app, manage social media pages, co-manage our email inboxes and phone lines, prepare participant data files for bulk import to the database, use graphic design for nest box plans and the NestWatch Digest, manage our shipping, create content for our website and eNews, and help where I can with ongoing research projects. I enjoy all of the behind-the-scenes work and helping our NestWatch participants have pleasant and rewarding experiences with the project.

I’ve always been interested in the natural world and conservation, but I credit my passion for wildlife to the experiences I had in college and the years directly afterward. I had some of my best learning experiences while taking mandatory classes at a remote field station in the Adirondack Mountains, and while doing fieldwork both in eastern New York for Karner Blue butterflies and in Minnesota for Golden-winged Warblers and American Woodcock. Now, I’m able to help facilitate the same kind of hands-on learning experiences with people of all ages through their participation in our participatory science projects, and stretch my own creative muscles to help accomplish that goal.

Education

B.S., Conservation Biology, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Spark Bird

While my mom always had bird feeders on our deck, I remember the first bird that really got me interested in ornithology. I was in the Adirondack Mountains attending a 3-week field biology class, and on “birds” day, the first bird we saw was a Common Yellowthroat. I remember being amazed when I learned that this bright little bird was so common in our region, and that there were many more birds that lived here than just those that visited our feeders! By the end of the day, I was hooked. I returned home and suddenly started seeing several more birds than I had ever realized were living there before. Now, with good effort (and lots of traveling) my life list is growing at a steady rate!

Publications