Author

Melissa Fratello, Steven Prager

Melissa Fratello is an ardent southwest explorer, nature photographer, and illustrator. She has worked to advance a more equitable and approachable birding community through her efforts to establish Feminist Bird Club chapters in Tucson, Arizona and Buffalo, New York, and for the establishment of urban bird habitats through native plant restoration as Executive Director of Buffalo Audubon Society, where she kick-started the construction of an island in the Niagara River designated as habitat for breeding common terns. She has authored and contributed to publications for Buffalo Audubon, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the International Dark Sky Association, and as a communications professional, has put her writing prowess to work raising more than 8 million dollars for conservation efforts. A Certified Arizona Master Naturalist and President-Elect of Pima County Master Naturalists, she spends her time hiking through the far reaches of the Sky Island region supporting community science efforts, surveying for sparrow-sized elf owls, listening for the dog-like bark of elegant trogons, releasing broods of endangered masked bobwhites, and delighting in the biodiversity of the Sonoran desert.

?Steven Prager is a field biologist, science communicator, conservation advocate, and lifelong Arizonan. As a biologist and educator with Audubon Southwest, he has worked to engage people in conservation through storytelling, photography, community science, environmental advocacy, and hands-on habitat improvement projects. He has trained and organized volunteers in annual efforts to survey the federally threatened Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo, engaged craft breweries in water advocacy through the Western Rivers Brewers' Council, and lead community bird walks for new and expert birders alike. He believes that the future of birds and other wildlife depends on broad participation in conservation, and that this cannot be achieved without addressing historic and ongoing environmental injustices and ensuring equitable access to healthy outdoor spaces. Steven has put in countless hours in the field and his community for the benefit of birds and their habitats. If he fails to identify a passing bird, it's because he got distracted by a snake.