MEET CAROLYN BYERS!
Director of Education, with the organization since September 2014
Carolyn in her natural habitat–tallgrass prairie in Wisconsin's Driftless area (photo courtesy of Carolyn).
I’m Carolyn Byers (she/her/hers), and I’ve been a bird nerd and a question-asker my whole life.
I grew up in Buffalo, NY where I spent lots of time outside: playing with my sisters, gardening with my mom, hiking and birding with my dad, and camping with the whole family. I got an early start with bird feeders and binoculars, and have sketchbooks and canvases filled with birds. When I went to college at the University of New Hampshire, I took my first ornithology class—and that’s when it officially clicked. Birds are stunningly beautiful, amazingly adapted to their environment, and eggs! Gosh, eggs. They’re perfect. Then I looked back at all of my photo albums and sketchbooks and thought “Oh yeah, that makes sense: I’ve always loved birds!”
My love of birds and science grew from there. I ended up being a teaching assistant for that same ornithology class and turned some of my friends into bird nerds (including my now-husband, BJ). I took a Field Ornithology class at SHOALS Marine Lab where I learned how to mist net and band birds. I spent one summer as a field tech searching for sparrow nests in saltmarshes and another banding birds and collecting blood samples in Maine. Grad school brought me to UW-Madison, where I studied grassland bird nesting ecology (check out more in our blog, Into the Nest!). After graduating I had one more field season banding winter feeder birds. Hearing a mixed flock of Black-capped Chickadees, nuthatches, and Tufted Titmice filtering through snowy trees still makes me grin!
These days I live on the east side with my husband BJ (he works at Groundswell), my kid Jay, and a pile of pets. When I’m not teaching kids about nature, I’m the artist behind Green Sparrow Arts and collecting hobbies: growing and preserving veggies and fruit, restoring our yard to prairie, creating things with fabric and yarn, building furniture, camping, canoeing, hiking, and learning to play mandolin and ukulele.
Carolyn (right) shows students the plumage of a Cooper’s Hawk that struck a window. The class declared it was “awesgusting”—awesome and disgusting (photo by Muir Elementary teacher).
Why did you want to join the team at Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance?
I realized I’ve always been teaching: giving swimming lessons, coaching swim teams, TAing every class I could, and volunteering to lead nature field trips. Becoming an environmental educator at Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance (then Madison Audubon) was the perfect chance to combine so many of my passions into a job. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I’m certainly never bored!
Most of all, I love forming long-term relationships with amazing teachers and how rewarding it is working with kids. When I plan a lesson or create a new game and the kids all have a blast, it’s such a win. When I can see them becoming comfortable in nature and they move from asking “what” questions to “why” questions, it’s amazing. I get to watch them grow their science skills and feed their curiosity.
What's your favorite bird?
It’s hard to pick a favorite bird. The Gray Catbird was the first bird I ever got to band—those grumpy gray fluffballs with rusty underpants—so they have a special place in my heart. I love all sparrows, especially those that live in grasslands. Crows and ravens are brilliant birds, and I dig that glossy black plumage. Whenever I find a bird’s nest and peek in at the eggs I’m astonished anew by their quiet beauty. I can’t pick a favorite egg, they’re all perfect for different reasons. Swallow-tailed Kites make my heart soar, so does hearing Sandhill Cranes through a misty tallgrass morning.
The Byers family on a backpacking adventure in Black River State Forest, WI (photo courtesy of Carolyn).
Name your top three favorite outdoor places.
In the Madison area, I enjoy Pleasant Valley, Pheasant Branch, and Schoeneberg Marsh. A bit farther afield I love to canoe camp in Turtle Flambeau. My favorite place ever is the Old Forge area in the Adirondacks. That’s where my family has been camping each summer since before I could walk, and where my strongest, earliest memories of nature are. BJ and I got married there, we’ve gone back to climb mountains, paddle, and explore bogs. We don’t visit as often as I’d like, but it’s the place I picture when I’m stressed and need a moment of peace.
Share something cool you've learned since joining the team.
Gosh, I feel like I’m constantly learning. Kids ask the BEST questions. I think after almost every lesson I find myself googling something like “How do whales hear?” or “Do chickadees overnight in paper wasp nests?” It never ends!
People experience nature in lots of different ways. If you haven’t tried slowing down in nature, I recommend it. Some people enjoy sit spots and some like writing about what they see or hear. I love keeping a nature journal in a sketchbook. Taking the time to pause and really absorb what you’re seeing helps you engage with nature in a different way. When I draw something, I remember its details more clearly, and I also remember the details of the day—who I was with, where we were, what we talked about while I painted. I love flipping through old journals to remember past adventures!
SoWBA offers a few nature art classes . . . and I teach a fair few of them. Check out the courses and come make some art with me!
Cover image: A Grasshopper Sparrow perches on a National Wildlife Refuge sign, photo by Kelly Colgan Azar/Flickr.
